In describing the difference in effect, in expressive pictorial content, of these two paintings, we have used a number of terms to describe the material elements which seemed inseparable from our experience…Towering over all these elements was the way they were put together, the composition, how part related to part and to the whole: composition not as an arbitrary scheme of organization but as a dominant contributor to the expressive content of the painting….Each painting must be regarded as a new experience, and the analysis of its particular formal aspect simply as a means of characterizing its full expressive content. –Joshua C. Taylor, “An Analysis of the Work of Art,” p. 63 This paper assignment is an analytic exercise in which you will use the language of visual analysis (also called formal analysis) to give a full, detailed, and accurate account of the expressive content of a single (1) painting of your choosing in the ArtStor Database Group titled: Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People, 1830 Writing the paper: Choose a painting that interests you and take notes about what you see, paying particular attention to how the artist has constructed the image. Using the terms, techniques and tools of looking and describing from Joshua Taylor’s “An Analysis of the Work of Art” essay write a 4-5 page paper with an introduction and conclusion which explains to the reader the way your painting generates its expressive content as defined by Taylor. Your thesis statement for this paper should identify the work’s expressive content in your opinion–the mood or psychological effect of the painting on the viewer–and list a few of the formal qualities of the painting that you will discuss in the body of the essay to support your thesis about the painting’s expressive content.
