Choose a work of art in Volume 2 of Stokstad’s Art History and write down its figure number. It will probably be helpful for you to read what Stokstad says about your work, but you shouldn’t need to do any additional research. This is meant to be a thinking-exercise, and should even be (I dare say) kind of fun.
1.-Why did you pick the work you did?
2.-If in the future you had the opportunity to write a research paper about the work you picked, what would you focus on?
3.-If you could ask the person who made the work three questions, what would you ask?
4.-Apply a Sociological/Marxist approach to your work. See page 11 of Donna Reid’s Thinking and Writing about Art History, within the content page of D2L course site. Using your particular work, what would a Sociological/Marxist interpretation focus on?
5.-Apply a Formalist approach to your work. See page 11 of Donna Reid’s Thinking and Writing about Art History, within the content page of D2L course site. Using your specific work, what would a Formalist interpretation focus on?
6.-If you were a curator of a themed exhibition that features your work, what kind of exhibition would you organize, what would be its theme (I am using the word “theme” in a very broad, “loose” and flexible way). Describe the exhibition in a couple of sentences, what would be its title?
7.-Name three other works within the text book that would fit within your themed exhibition. In a sentence, explain how these works fit into your overall scheme for your exhibition.
Questions 8-10.
In case you chose a “Non-Western” work from any of the following chapters (24, 25,26, 27, 28, 29) for questions 1-7, pair it up with a “Western” piece (i.e. an example of European or American art) from any of the following chapters (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33). In case you chose a “Western” work for questions 1-7, pair it up with a “Non-Western” work. (For questions 8 – 10, if you want to, it is alright to choose a different work from the one you have been dealing with in questions 1-7).
8.-How are these two works similar visually?
9.-What do the two works in your pairing share in terms of how they are “used”? For this question it might be useful to read what Stokstad says about your works.
10.-What does your particular pairing tell you about the “issues” a and/or “problems” of using such categories as “Western” and “Non- Western” in the first place?