Art 2201 Fall 2009 MUSEUM WRITI

Art 2201 Fall 2009 MUSEUM WRITING ASSIGNMENT
You will go to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University, which has a good selection across the early periods that we cover in the course, from Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian, through Roman (see the list below), and complete your writing assignment in response to the works you will see there.

due on Friday November 20th, by 5:00pm, via CourseDen, prepared in MSWord.

NB: You must turn in your museum receipt (stamped and dated when you go there) Submit your assignment through CourseDen, but write your name on your receipt and hand it in to me when you come to class on November 18th. Or bring it to my office during office hours M, T, W, or Th that week -- 4-5PM. If you do not find me in my office, you should take the receipt, sign with your name, put it into an envelope, write "for Dr. Tekippe" on the envelope, take it to the Art Dept. Office, ask them to put it into my mailbox. No museum writing assignments will be accepted without the receipt. There is NO alternative assignment.

۞ The museum is generally only open Tuesday through Sunday, but you should first visit their website. It is often more convenient to go on the week-end, as traffic and parking are usually easier then, but look at their calendar and be sure to check schedules before you set out.
Please consult the website for directions to the Carlos and information about their hours of operation, parking, etc. http://carlos.emory.edu/

The purpose of this assignment is to examine at first hand a work of art in the Carlos Museum of Art, selected from the attached list, and to analyze and discuss it in terms of the phased writing assignment, following these guidelines:

1) CHOOSE THE WORK OF ART only FROM AMONG THE FOLLOWING:
( numbers after entries are the Carlos museum acquisition numbers – verify that you are studying the correct work and put the title and the number on the written paper you submit to me.   It is possible that some of the works will not be on view at the time you go -- if this is the case, simply select another work that is on the list -- do not select any works that are not on the list)

CARLOS MUSEUM: EGYPTIAN:

1) Wrapped Mummy with Cartonnage Trappings 1921.6

2) Anthropoid Coffin 1921.3b

3) Trial Piece. limestone relief of Akhenaten 1998.10

4 Faience Taweret, late period 1999.2.103

5) Faience Shabti of Neferbresaneith. 1998.11

6) Statuette of Isis and Horus 2000.4

7) Relief of Mentuemhet 2007.13.1

CARLOS MUSEUM: ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN:

1) Master-of-Animals Standard Finial 1985.19.5a

2) Cylinder Seal with Watergod, Birdman, and Deities 1985.22.2

3) Cylinder Seal with Presentation to the Weathergod 1985.22.3

4) Cylinder Seal with Winged Sun Disk and Lion Attacking Animals 1985.22.6

5) Elamite female figurine, from Susiana. 1986.32

CARLOS MUSEUM: GREEK

1) Bronze Hydria 2000.12.1

2) Red-Figure Lekythos 1983.9

3) Black figure Band cup with Herakles and Triton 200.1.2

4) Aryballos (perfume vessel) in the Form of a Kneeling Ram L1990.2

CARLOS MUSEUM: ETRUSCAN

1) Mirror with scene from the Judgment of Paris 1989.10.1

2)Villanovan Biconical urn with lid L1994.1.22

3) Etruscan Archaic Kore figure 1986.9.9

CARLOS MUSEUM: ROMAN

1) Hermanubis Statuette 1999.11.4

2) Garland Sarcophagus with the Four Seasons 1999.11.7

3) Cinerary Urn from Julio-Claudian or Flavian Period 1999.31.37

4) Venus, Roman copy 2006.41.1

5) Portrait of a Priestess 2005.6.1

2) PROCEDURES TO WRITE YOUR PAPER

A) Select your work by browsing through the museum works on the list as you visit the museum. Pick something you like or that interests you in some way. Be sure that the work is on display in the museum at this time. I have made every effort to select works which I am assured will be there throughout the term, but the museum may make changes at any time.

B) While you are the Museum, in front of the object, write about it in response to Parts I and II of the Museum Object Writing Assignment.   Be very thorough and very careful to distinguish among the separate phases of the analysis. Take a pencil and paper, you are likely to be rebuked for trying to use an ink pen of any sort.

             LABEL EACH OF THE PHASES AS THEY ARE LABELED BELOW

I. DESCRIPTION: Give a general, overall description first, then address the particulars in a systematic, organized fashion. "What do I see?" (Relate to the idea of "pure seeing," the simple physical act of taking in visual sensations. While it is, of course, impossible to divorce the act of seeing from cognition processes, you should suspend judgment and other thought processes as much as possible. Seek to divorce the mental and emotional responses from physical recognition, for a time.) Try to describe the work as though you were trying to convey a purely visual image of it to potential viewers who could not see it themselves, with no commentary on your responses.

A. Make an objective list of what you see in the work and only what you see -- no interpretation of what it means. Give only visual facts, and make no suppositions or guesses. Once you have organized and prioritized your list, write in essay format.

B. Note or guess the size of the work, the medium (media) in which it was created. (Height, width, depth (if applicable) in inches, feet, centimeters.) Ω any information from the wall cards or museum descriptions must be credited to them

II. ANALYSIS: "How is the work organized and achieved?"

A. How has the artist used the formal elements at his disposal? Use the vocabulary/terminology that we covered in the introductory part of our course, from text, website material, PPT videos. What has been done with line, color, shape/form, value? Has the artist created an illusion of space? How? Is there an emphasis on texture? Is it implied or actual? Etc., etc., etc. (You might review the guide for this at http://www.westga.edu/~rtekippe/2201/form%20vocab1.htm )

B. How are the elements of design used? How is the composition laid out? Is there a sense of rhythm or movement? Balance? Proportion? Variety or unity? Emphasis or focus? How were these effects achieved, in specific terms?

Consider the roles that the media and materials play in the work.

Do not use data or descriptions from museum wallcards, museum written descriptions, catalogues, online presentations, or any other source, for your writing. Other than titles, media, or measurements, all information supplied must come from your own observations.

Following are the phases that SHOULD NOT appear in your writing -- Be careful to avoid them. If you are dubious as to whether a thought or observation you have about the work should belong in your writing, see if it fits in the points below, If it does, then omit it from your writing. .

III. INTERPRETATION: What did the artist mean to convey? "What was the artist trying to say here?" "What is happening in this work of art?"

A. Try to explain what the artist seems to have meant to say in the work. Is it narrative – telling a story? Does there seem to be a viewpoint taken? Does the artist seem to endorse the activity or make a statement in opposition? If it is non-narrative, is the work about observation of the material world or perhaps about the formal elements of art? Obviously, you must make some guesses here. Does the title influence your assessment? Is there a wall card which explains any part of it? If so, be sure to give credit to that.

B. Do not be afraid to make an interpretation which might differ from that of someone else. Your response can only come from you. Your interpretation will be affected by what you have seen and done and thought and learned in your life. However, you should be sure that your interpretation is based on facts and clues you gathered in the first two steps of the exercise. Back up your statement with what you have gleaned from careful observation. This helps you to learn what particular aspects of the work led to your own responses and feelings about the work.

IV. JUDGMENT: "What do I think of the work?" "How do I respond to it, personally?"

A. To formulate a credible judgment, you will need to be honest with yourself, and to critically evaluate your own feelings and the reasons why they emerge in response to the work of art. For example, if the work is of the Nativity of Christ, whether or not you endorse Christianity will color your response.

~~B. Evaluate (only if appropriate to your choice of work) these three theories for judgment which are used by art critics:~~

1. Imitationalism: It may be important that the work of art imitates what we see in real life, in some manner. This is not necessarily a slavish copying of an exterior visual appearance, but may, rather, include the responses which one might have to a given visual experience. For example, the reddish glow of a sunset cast over a landscape may not seem entirely naturalistic, but may have a strong emotional appeal to you, or not.

2. Formalism: The work might seem successful because of careful or innovative use of formal elements or design principles – in ways which elicit your strong response. Such treatment by the artist may or may not be made in relationship to a narrative basis for the work. For example, the exaggeration and change of compositional emphasis which Giotto used in the rendition of The Lamentation.

3. Emotionalism: The work may derive its impact primarily from the visceral, emotional, reaction of the viewer, in what may be a communication of narrative content, or may rely entirely upon the effects of more or less pure formal elements. See The Crucifixion, by Matthias Grünewald versus Current by Bridget Riley.

C. You might apply one or two of these theories of judgment to a greater extent than the others, but it is necessary to consider the work in light of all three, even though you do not necessarily respond in writing to all three. Then you will be able to discover the most possible information about the work and your responses to it.

III. Interpretation. You will formulate an interpretation of the work, but only in relationship to the material we are covering in our course. Find artworks we are studying that seem similar enough to your museum work to give you information to discuss some aspects of their apparent significance. Consider how it might have been used and by whom. Where might it have been used or seen in its original context? What messages were conveyed and how? Is the message pictorial? Does it come, in any measure, from material or craftsmanship? To support your discussion, cite a specific work (or more, if you like) that we have explored as having been created for similar purpose or with with a similar message. Or select a work that has something in common but which comes from a different era or culture and discuss how it is different as well as how it is similar, as long as there is a clear rationale for the works to be related to one another. Be objective and avoid personal interpretation (what the work means to you, personally) and avoid any judgment of its aesthetic qualities or artistic merit. Be specific in naming the comparative work by giving its title and its illustration or page number from the text or the PPT video number in which you found it.

In writing these three parts, label them as Description, (first part) analysis (second part) and Interpretation (third part). Pay attention to proper writing and grammar. Be very systematic in addressing the issues and take the time to organize your essay

Format: 3 minimum-5 maximum pages (1250 -2000 words). Your essay must be typed, double-spaced , 11-12 point type, standard font (not all script). Text should be aligned flush left, NOT justified. Put your name at the top of each page and supply page numbers.
Grading: Your essay will be evaluated for the use of terms and concepts that are part of the course, your attention to relevance, detail and completeness in your description, and your synthesis of the description, analysis, and significance as they relate to one another in the work. Please be concise. You will also be evaluated for the quality of your writing and your attention to details of grammar, syntax, spelling, and overall organization of the essay. This assignment is worth 10 points or 10% of your total grade. Make sure that you edit and proofread your essay before you turn it in -- donot give me your first draft, rather, you should submit the most polished work you can.

For citation issues, please consult your Maimon Writing Handbook or this link on the UWG Library website: http://libguides.westga.edu/content.php?pid=10699&sid=71596. There is a pretty-good guide to grammar usage at http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index2.htm , although I have a couple of differences of opinion with it, but it will be useful to for most grammar questions. Maimon is also good for this.

It is a good idea to either take a photo or find a picture or make a sketch of the work to bring home with you, to have for use in finishing the assignment. The museum will generally allow photography if you do not use a flash, but ask at the desk before you go in, as you may need a pass (or they may not allow it).

Directions for submitting your work as an attachment through CourseDen:   If you have technical difficulties with the submission process, call the Distance HelpDesk at 678-839-6248. Prepare the document in your word processing program (MSWord ONLY), then import it into the assignment submission site. At the Assignment Dropbox submission site, find the ADD ATTACHMENTS button and click on it. Then click on UPLOAD FILE, then BROWSE; This will take you to your computer, where you will need to locate the file you saved there. When you find the file on your computer, select it, and click on SAVE. Its title should appear in the Window, with a checkbox next to it. Click on the checkbox, then click on ADD SELECTED and then click SUBMIT. (Make sure you click on both ADD SELECTED and SUBMIT). You will see the title of your file there as a confirmation that you have submitted it.

HAVE FUN AT THE MUSEUM