1. Art criticism is studying, understanding, and judging works of art.
Henri Matisse, Harmony in Red, 1908, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

2. What if you don’t know what an artwork is communicating?
How can you figure it out?
Follow the steps of art criticism to help you discover clues to better understand a work of art

3. The Steps of Art Criticism
Description (Literal Qualities): What do I see? (Size, media, process, subject)
Analysis (Design Qualities): How is the work organized? (elements and principles)
Interpretation (Expressive Qualities): What is the artist trying to communicate? Meaning? Mood?
Judgment: Is this a successful work of art?

4. 1. Description
What do you see?

5. Red room
Wallpaper
Chairs, wooden
Table, table cloth
Woman
Fruit & wine
Cut flowers in vase
Window
Landscape
Trees, bushes, flowers, building
Colours- red, blue, green, yellow, white, black

6. 2. Analysis How is the work arranged?
Break down the painting into its composition, or the way the art principles are used to organize the art elements.

7. ELEMENTS OF ART/DESIGN
Colour=
Line=
Shape=
Form=
Space=
Texture=
Value=

8. ELEMENTS OF ART/DESIGN
Colour = red, blue, yellow, green, black, white
Line = straight-outline table, chairs / curvy- flower pattern / horizontal, vertical
Shape = geometric / organic
Form = flattened, table blends in with background
Space = crowded space, flattened plane
Texture = patterns
Value = flat, so shading

9. PRINCIPLES OF ART/DESIGN
Unity=
Balance=
Emphasis=
Movement/Rhythm=
Proportion=
Variety=

10. PRINCIPLES OF ART/DESIGN
Unity= color, shape & line, everything belongs
Balance= woman-chair, room- window, asymmetrical
Emphasis= woman arranging fruit, colour red, contrast between red and green, black and white, straight vs curvy lines
Movement/Rhythm= diagonal bottom right to top left, curved lines of pattern & trees, repeated curved pattern in wallpaper, cloth, trees, dots of colour in lemons and flowers
Proportion= perspective is off
Variety = lines, colours, shapes,

11. 3. Interpretation What do you think Matisse is trying to communicate?
Give your opinion based on the clues you have collected.
What ideas, moods, emotions, and stories do you think the artwork communicates?

12. How does the predominant redness make you feel?
In Matisse's Harmony in Red, red is the predominant colour in the painting.
How does the predominant redness make you feel?

13. The colour red usually makes one feel warmth because it is associated with fire, but also because the colour red has a physiological effect that excites and stimulates.
More energy is reflected from warm colours than from the cooler ones. "Warm" colours - red, yellow and orange - traditionally are thought to evoke feelings of heat, whether psychological or real.

14. 4. Judgment Do you think this work is successful? Why or why not?
What reasons can you give for your idea of why this is a successful or unsuccessful artwork?

15. Now look at the painting by Marc Chagall called Paris Through the Window and answer each of the art criticism questions on your own:
Description: What do I see?
Analysis: How are elements and principles of art used?
Interpretation: What is the artist trying to communicate?
Judgment: Is this a successful work of art?

16. Description: What do I see?

17. Analysis:
How are elements and principles of art used?

18. Interpretation:
What is the artist trying to communicate?

19. Judgment: Is this a successful work of art?

20. TEST YOUR UNDERSTANDING!
Look at the painting by Marc Chagall called Paris Through the Window and choose the Art Criticism step that each statement belongs in.

21. 1. This painting was includes a colourful window with a cat on the window sill.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

22. This seems like a very happy time for the artist.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

23. The artist uses the element of colour to add
The artist uses the element of colour to add visual interest to the painting.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

24. The artist is depicting his vision of Paris.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

25. 5. The artist uses a variety of shapes and colours.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

26. 6. The artist successfully uses surrealistic imagery.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment

27. 7. The cat represents the artist looking out at Paris.
a. description
b. analysis
c. interpretation
d. judgment