Art Critiquing

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How to Critique Art Like An Art Professor

​Art is the tangible embodiment of an artist's imagination, creativity and skill. It can often evoke emotion and offer an escape from reality.

What is Art?

• Color - monochromatic, complimentary and analogous

• Value - Lightness or Darkness of a color

• Texture - can be actual texture or implied texture

• Line - can be directional, leading or continuous

• Shape - 2-D area defined by an outline

• Form - 3-D objects

• Space - Area around and within shapes (can be positive or negative)

Basic Words for Fancy Artists

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7 Principles of Art

• Balance - symmetry, asymmetry or radial symmetry

• Movement - guide the eyes around the piece naturally

• Rhythm - tends to set the mood

• Pattern - repetition

• Contrast - opposite elements

• Unity - using the art principles as a whole

• Emphasis - most significant parts

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What Makes An Art Piece Harmonious?

Title: Impression, Sunrise
Artist: Claude Monet
Date: 1872
Medium: Oil on canvas
Describe the piece using art principles
example: Monet uses repetition of the shadowed boat, in combination with the faded value of the boat to convey a fog over the water. The way the artist contrast the bright red sun with the cool toned blues creates unity within the piece.

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How to Critique Art Like An Art Professor

Open Ended

Pictured : The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai (1831)

What makes this piece harmonious? Include at least 3 principles of art in your critique.

Open Ended

Pictured: The Elephants by Salvador Dali (1948)

Using at least 2 art principles, describe this art piece.

Open Ended

Pictured: Astarte Syriaca by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1877)

Critique this piece (don't forget to sound like a fancy artist)

Draw

Now take a break and draw something with a lot of emphasis and a patterned background :)