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1. Introduction: What is art, how do we study art?

Defining” Art,” its Elements, and the study of Art History 1 2 3 4 5

Art History: A Preliminary Handbook 1

  • Elements of arts:
    • Form:
      • Form means the constituent elements of a work of art independent of their meaning.
      • E.g., the color, composition, medium or size of a flag, rather than its emotional or national significance.
      • The Primary features that are not a matter of semantic significance (i.e., which do not carry meaning the way a word does): include color, dimensions, line, mass, medium, scale, shape, space, texture, value, and their corollaries.
      • The secondary features are the relations of the primary features with one another: these include balance, composition, contrast, dominance, harmony, movement, proportion, proximity, rhythm, similarity, unity, and variety.
      • A third or tertiary level concerns the way form interacts with content and/or context.
    • Content
    • Context

Approaches to Art Historical Analysis 6 7 8

Optional Resources 9 10 11

References

  1. Belton, R. J. (n.d.). Art History: A Preliminary Handbook. The University of British Columbia, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies. https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/student-resources/arth/ ↩↩

  2. The Art Assignment. (2020, July 23). The Definition of Art [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2VpNx5ZxSA ↩

  3. Glass, R. (n.d.). What is art history and where is it going? Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/start-here-apah/intro-art-history-apah/a/what-is-art-history ↩

  4. Is there a difference between art and craft? [Video]. (n.d.). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/approaches-to-art-history/approaches-art-history/questions-art-history/v/is-there-a-difference-between-art-and-craft-laura-morelli ↩

  5. The Art Assignment. (2018, February, 15). Art Must Be Beautiful [Video]. YouTube. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/approaches-to-art-history/approaches-art-history/questions-art-history/v/art-must-be-beautiful ↩

  6. Glass, R. (n.d.). Introduction to art historical analysis. Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/approaches-to-art-history/an-introduction-to-art-history/a/introduction-to-art-historical-analysis ↩

  7. Smarthistory. (2017, September 18). How to do visual (formal) analysis in art history [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM2MOyonDsY ↩

  8. Harris, B.& Zucker, S. (n.d.). Art historical analysis (painting), a basic introduction using Goya’s Third of May, 1808 [Video]. Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/start-here-apah/intro-art-history-apah/v/goya-third-may ↩

  9. The School of Life. (2015, December, 9). HISTORY OF IDEAS – Art [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ECzduUWx0 ↩

  10. Harris, B., and Zucker, S. (n.d.). Common questions about dates. Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/start-here-apah/brief-histories-apah/a/common-questions-about-dates ↩

  11. Understanding calendar notation [Video]. (n.d.). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/science/cosmology-and-astronomy/life-earth-universe/humanity-on-earth-tutorial/v/understanding-calendar-notation ↩