1. William Hartnett’s A Smoke Backstage on page 9, fig. 1.9.
2. Use the help sheet and example critique below to write your critiques.
Be sure to use the terms for your Analysis:
Formal elements: line, shape, form, value, texture, space, color.
Principles of art: balance, emphasis, harmony, variety, gradation, movement, rhythm, proportion, space.
Craftsmanship refers to the medium (materials) and techniques that the artist used.
And finally, give your Interpretation of the work: What does this work mean to the intended audience? For whom was this work made? Why was this work made? What is the artist trying to communicate? What signs/symbols does the artist employ to communicate this message? What feelings or emotions does this work elicit? How is this achieved?
Your name:
CRITIQUE SHEET
DESCRIPTION
Artist/ Title /Medium
ANALYSIS
Discuss the Formal elements:
Discuss the principles of art:
CRAFTSMANSHIP
HISTORICAL PRECEDENCE
INTERPRETATION
Critique Form
Description:
Berthe Morisot. In a Villa at the Seaside. 1874. Oil on canvas.
Berthe Morisot depicts a quiet and relaxed moment shared between a mother and a child at the
seaside.
Analysis:
Morisot uses various techniques to portray a relaxed moment while vacationing. She uses a
public setting, the seaside, as her background; however the foreground of the painting depicts
seclusion. The vertical placement of the free formed woman and child help to create a sense of
depth. The overlapping of the woman’s shape and the size of the child create depth and space.
The juxtaposition of the foreground and the background help to create the illusion of privacy in a
public setting. The contrast between the cool blue green water and the sharp rigid lines of the
veranda give a sense of separation. Our eye level is immediately drawn to the point where the
vertical line of the veranda meets the horizon, focusing our attention on the busy seascape.
Morisot’s use of organic shapes gives the painting a very relaxed and informal feeling, almost
whimsical. Motion is created through the white trim of the woman’s dark skirt, and the parallel
lines in the gauzy white curtain, as well as the white caps of the waves. To create balance, she
places a bowl of bright red apples on the veranda. The bright red of the apples is complementary
to the blue greens of the sea. The vague shapes, the play of light, the organic lines, and her color
choices help to create an informal but striking composition.
Craftsmanship (technique, medium, etc):
Morisot uses a traditional medium of oil on canvas to forever capture a serene moment while
vacationing by the sea. Transcending the traditional, her use of bright colors and quick brush
strokes set her work apart from the customary artists of the time.
Historical Precedence:
Morisot, an impressionist artist, works quickly to capture an ordinary moment shared while on
vacation. Her quick brush strokes and the use of bright colors are in vivid contrast to the somber
colors of traditional artists. Her focus is on a public setting, rather than a historical event.
Interpretation:
In a Villa at the Seaside can be enjoyed by anyone as it depicts a quiet and serene moment while
vacationing. This purpose of the painting was to capture an exact moment in time, precisely how
the artist perceived it. Morisot communicated a relaxed, informal, and serene setting. She did
this through color choice, organic lines, and use of white light.
Representational Art
Representational art depicts the appearance of things.
(When the human form is the primary subject, it is called
figurative art.) It represents-or “presents again-objects
we recognize from the natural, everyday world. Objects
that representational art depicts are called subjects.
There are many ways to create representational art. The
most “real”-looking paintings are in a style called trompe
l’oeil (pronounced “trump loy”)-French for “fool the eye.”
Paintings in this illusionistic style impress us because
they look so “real.” In William Harnett’s painting A Smole
Backstage (fig. 1.9), the assembled objects are close to life
size, which contributes to the illusion. We almost believe
that we could touch the pipe and match.
Belgian painter René Magritte shows a different rela
tionship between art and reality (fig. 1.10). The subject of
the painting appears to be a pipe, but written in French
on the painting are the words, “This is not a pipe.” The
viewer may wonder, “If this is not a pipe, what is it?” The
answer, of course, is that it is a painting! Magritte’s title,
The Treachery of Images (La Trahison des Images), suggests the
visual game that the artist had in mind.
California artist Ray Beldner further complicated the
relationship between art and reality. He created a repro
duction of Magritte’s painting out of sewn dollar bills, and
te
1.9 William Harnett. A Smoke Backstage, 1877.
Oil on canvas, 7×8.
MAG
W164 (1)
Ceci n’est pas une pipe.
1.10 René Magritte. La Trahison des Images (Ceci N’est Pas
une Pipe). 1929. Oil on canvas. 25% x 37.
LA CALACA Pued with sunds proved by
Mr and Msan Preston Hatson Colection 1787 2018 Digital ma
The
Mud two
2015 COL
called it This Is Definitely Not a Pipe (fig. LII). Modern art-
ists are so famous these days, and their work sells for such
high prices, that they may as well be made of money, just
as this work is. Bekiner’s point is that even representational
art has a complex relationship to reality; artists almost
never merely depict what they see. Rather, they select,
arrange, and compose reality to fit their personal vision
The process can take them several steps away from the fact
of a pipe on a tabletop
1.11 Ray Beldner. This Is Definitely Not a l’ipe, 2000.
After René Magritte’s The Treason of Images (1929)
Sewn US currency. 24″ x 33,
C
THE NATURE OF ART AND CREATIVITY
CHAPTER 1 9