Art Test Content & Analysis
Color meanings
1) natural associations 2) psychological symbolism (Affects moods)
Meaning
1. We analyze works formally (Visual Elements and Principles of Design; along with the style of the artwork) 2. We study their content (subject matter, its symbolic or iconographic references) 3. We learn about the context in which they were created; and 4. We look at the ways that we encounter them, to see how that affects their meaning.
Convention
A set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom (unwritten law of custom like how people greet each other by shaking hands)
Art
An expression and communication, "an embodied meaning"
Symbol
An image or element that stands for or represents some other entity or concept. They are culturally determined, and must be taught (object, pic, word, sound, that represents something else by association)
Nonrepresentational
Artwork deliberately not recognizable as something we might see in the world around us
Abstract
Artwork that has been simplified or distorted
Representational
Artwork that represents reality as closely as possible
Memento mori
Reminder of death, "Remember that you are mortal, and you will die, you must die, remember your death" (This is the reminder seen in vanitas paintings)
Skull
Reminder of the certainty of death
Common vanitas symbols
Skull, rotten fruit, bubbles, smoke, instruments, deathers, money, gold
Rotten fruit
Symbolizes decay like aging
Bubbles
Symbolizes the briefness of life or suddenness of death (smoke as well)
Iconography
The branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images (literally means image writing)
Content
The message communicated by a work of art (what the artist expresses). An artwork's theme or message
Context
The personal and social circumstances surrounding the making, viewing, and interpreting of a work of art (the surroundings, circumstances, background, setting of a work of art)
Formal analysis
The process of examining the elements and principles used by the artist.
Subject matter
The specific idea or theme of an artwork. It is what the work depicts, and is the most obvious factor in content (all works of art have it)
Vanitas
Type of symbolic still life painting that is designed to induce in the spectator a higher order of thought (these paintings remind us of the fleeting, emptiness, or frivolous quality of human existence - human skull is very common)
