AH 104-Museum Visit Paper Due: Tuesday April 5th--no late papers accepted! Description_________________________________________________________________ Images of artworks, such as presented in class, our textbook, or on the internet, can serve as useful introductions to art and art history. But, they cannot replace the experience of seeing works in person. Viewing an actual objectstanding in front of it, walking around it, and seeing the details close upcan profoundly change our understanding of it. Equally, the context of an object within a space can have a significant impact on our viewing experience. Museums and individual exhibitions/galleries are specifically designed to present not only the object and its information, but also a narrative about it. Museums shape our experience of seeing as much as the actual object itself. For this short essay paper, you are asked to visit a museum, pick and visually analyze one object, and consider how the museum/display setting impacted your experience of seeing that work. This essay will not require researchin fact, research or speculation on the cultural context of production or cultural meanings of the work will detract from your grade. Objectives__________________________________________________________________ 1) to visually analyze one particular artwork. This involves looking, describing, explaining, and interpreting the formal elements (line, color, scale, composition, contour, etc) of an object. From a viewers standpoint, if we consider the object as the product of a series of decisions made by the artist (to use this type of line, these colors, this shape, etc), identifying those small decisions shows us how the individual elements come together to make the larger form. Whenever possible, use the vocabulary you have developed thus far in the semester to concisely and accurately describe what you see. 2) to critically consider your reactions to the museum context itself. This entails thinking about the placement of the object within the gallery space (its location, accessibility, etc), its display (as a single object, part of a collection, on a display stand, hanging on the wall, etc), the lighting, or any other factor relevant to your experience of it. This might even include whether seating was available nearby or the museum offered additional multi-media resources (such as monitors with videos or apps for your phone). Instructions___________________________________________________________________ 1) Visit a museum! A list of approved museums is in the Museum Visit Paper folder on Moodle. *If you would like to visit one not on the list, please talk with me before visiting the museum. *Dont drive? Not a problem! One of the collections on the list is on the 4th floor of our own Kresge Library. 2) Choose one artwork currently on display. *A work in any medium (painting, sculpture, calligraphy etc.) is acceptable. *Cultural and temporal limitations. The work must correspond to a point within the chronology and geographic regions we will have studied in class by the end of the semester. In other words, any work produced in Asia or within the Islamic empires from the prehistoric to the early modern period is acceptable. Works produced in Europe, America, or other areas outside of Asia/Islamic worlds are not acceptable. 3) Spend a significant amount of time looking at the object. Take note of its size, shape, colors, lines, etc (visual analysis). Equally, look around at the museum environment noting your reaction and experience of it. 4) Document your visit through a ticket stub, photo of you with the object, brochure or any other method that proveswithout a doubtyou viewed the object in person. 5) Write the paper! This is NOT a research paper. As such, DO NOT engage with issues of iconography (beyond what we have discussed in class), cultural context, or suppositions about the audience/viewership. Your writing should be limited to what you can observe about the object and your own reactions to the museum. Going beyond visual analysis will result in points deducted from the paper grade. If you are in doubt, ask yourself whether or not you can support your observations/analysis through the visual material alone. If you cannot, then you have probably wandered into speculation related to the cultural context. Format_____________________________________________________________________ *500-750 words (1.5-2.5 pages) double-spaced with a 12-point font (preferably Times New Roman, but one with a similar size is also acceptable). *Your name and the date should be in the upper section (right or left) of the first page. You do not need a separate title page. *Provide some proof of having visited the museum, such as a ticket stub or museum brochure. Staple this to the paper itself. If you do not submit proof of attendance, 10 points will be deducted from your paper grade. *As this paper is based entirely on visual analysis and your experience of a museum, there is no outside research. Thus, you do not need a Works Cited page, bibliography, or footnotes/endnotes. *The paper needs to be have been proofread with no (or few) grammatical, spelling, or mechanical errors. DO NOT rely on Spellcheck to catch mistakes. Print out a hardcopy, sit down, and read through it yourself to locate any errors. Structure____________________________________________________________________ *As an academic paper, it needs to have an introduction, thesis (or guiding statement), and a conclusion. *Your introduction should include all of the basic biographical information on the artwork: title, artist (if available), date, and material. Clearly identify the museum you visited as well. *The thesis does not have to be complex, but should provide a framework for the rest of the paper. *The body of your paper should NOT consist of a random litany of superficial characteristics of the object (e.g. the object is round and red; the object is big). You are selecting visual elements you consider significant, so explain to your reader why they are significant. *The conclusion should bring together your visual analysis of the object and your experience of the museum. It is not simply a repetition of your

AH 104-Museum Visit Paper Due: Tuesday April 5th--no late papers accepted! Description_________________________________________________________________ Images of artworks, such as presented in class, our textbook, or on the internet, can serve as useful introductions to art and art history. But, they cannot replace the experience of seeing works in person. Viewing an actual objectstanding in front of it, walking around it, and seeing the details close upcan profoundly change our understanding of it. Equally, the context of an object within a space can have a significant impact on our viewing experience. Museums and individual exhibitions/galleries are specifically designed to present not only the object and its information, but also a narrative about it. Museums shape our experience of seeing as much as the actual object itself. For this short essay paper, you are asked to visit a museum, pick and visually analyze one object, and consider how the museum/display setting impacted your experience of seeing that work. This essay will not require researchin fact, research or speculation on the cultural context of production or cultural meanings of the work will detract from your grade. Objectives__________________________________________________________________ 1) to visually analyze one particular artwork. This involves looking, describing, explaining, and interpreting the formal elements (line, color, scale, composition, contour, etc) of an object. From a viewers standpoint, if we consider the object as the product of a series of decisions made by the artist (to use this type of line, these colors, this shape, etc), identifying those small decisions shows us how the individual elements come together to make the larger form. Whenever possible, use the vocabulary you have developed thus far in the semester to concisely and accurately describe what you see. 2) to critically consider your reactions to the museum context itself. This entails thinking about the placement of the object within the gallery space (its location, accessibility, etc), its display (as a single object, part of a collection, on a display stand, hanging on the wall, etc), the lighting, or any other factor relevant to your experience of it. This might even include whether seating was available nearby or the museum offered additional multi-media resources (such as monitors with videos or apps for your phone). Instructions___________________________________________________________________ 1) Visit a museum! A list of approved museums is in the Museum Visit Paper folder on Moodle. *If you would like to visit one not on the list, please talk with me before visiting the museum. *Dont drive? Not a problem! One of the collections on the list is on the 4th floor of our own Kresge Library. 2) Choose one artwork currently on display. *A work in any medium (painting, sculpture, calligraphy etc.) is acceptable. *Cultural and temporal limitations. The work must correspond to a point within the chronology and geographic regions we will have studied in class by the end of the semester. In other words, any work produced in Asia or within the Islamic empires from the prehistoric to the early modern period is acceptable. Works produced in Europe, America, or other areas outside of Asia/Islamic worlds are not acceptable. 3) Spend a significant amount of time looking at the object. Take note of its size, shape, colors, lines, etc (visual analysis). Equally, look around at the museum environment noting your reaction and experience of it. 4) Document your visit through a ticket stub, photo of you with the object, brochure or any other method that proveswithout a doubtyou viewed the object in person. 5) Write the paper! This is NOT a research paper. As such, DO NOT engage with issues of iconography (beyond what we have discussed in class), cultural context, or suppositions about the audience/viewership. Your writing should be limited to what you can observe about the object and your own reactions to the museum. Going beyond visual analysis will result in points deducted from the paper grade. If you are in doubt, ask yourself whether or not you can support your observations/analysis through the visual material alone. If you cannot, then you have probably wandered into speculation related to the cultural context. Format_____________________________________________________________________ *500-750 words (1.5-2.5 pages) double-spaced with a 12-point font (preferably Times New Roman, but one with a similar size is also acceptable). *Your name and the date should be in the upper section (right or left) of the first page. You do not need a separate title page. *Provide some proof of having visited the museum, such as a ticket stub or museum brochure. Staple this to the paper itself. If you do not submit proof of attendance, 10 points will be deducted from your paper grade. *As this paper is based entirely on visual analysis and your experience of a museum, there is no outside research. Thus, you do not need a Works Cited page, bibliography, or footnotes/endnotes. *The paper needs to be have been proofread with no (or few) grammatical, spelling, or mechanical errors. DO NOT rely on Spellcheck to catch mistakes. Print out a hardcopy, sit down, and read through it yourself to locate any errors. Structure____________________________________________________________________ *As an academic paper, it needs to have an introduction, thesis (or guiding statement), and a conclusion. *Your introduction should include all of the basic biographical information on the artwork: title, artist (if available), date, and material. Clearly identify the museum you visited as well. *The thesis does not have to be complex, but should provide a framework for the rest of the paper. *The body of your paper should NOT consist of a random litany of superficial characteristics of the object (e.g. the object is round and red; the object is big). You are selecting visual elements you consider significant, so explain to your reader why they are significant. *The conclusion should bring together your visual analysis of the object and your experience of the museum. It is not simply a repetition of your