Art Analysis: The Turning Road, L'estaque by Andre Derain

MUSEUM ASSIGNMENT (20%) Upload Word.doc file format only
Write a 5-7 page paper on an artwork/theme from a stylistic period covered in the course (Prehistoric – Medieval BEFORE 1400CE.) You may any major museum online or in-person visit the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston www.mfah.org ; the Menil Collection www.menil.org (free admission); or the Museum of Natural Science, Houston. A MUSEUM ASSIGNMENT WORKSHEET is attached to help you in taking notes during your visit. Admission is free is you bring your assignment to the MFAH. Use the following sources in researching the cultural context of your object: a) your Gardner textbook; b) museum label and museum catalogues i.e. Menil Collection (available on reserve in the library or in the museum library and bookstores);
c) at least two additional published sources. Use interlibrary loan if
necessary . Please use the MLA citation style to document websites fully and correctly for this assignment.
*Use footnotes or MLA style format (i.e. author and page number at end of
paragraph or sentence: (Gardner, 21) and bibliography of works cited. See the MLA Handbook for reference, www.english.PurdueOWL.edu and use the UHD Writing Center if you do not know how to document your sources and prepare a Works Cited page.

Use the following outline in organizing your paper:

I. Introduction: Explain why you chose the object and why it appealed to you.
II. Cultural context: Place the object in a cultural context. Discuss the social hierarchy, religious beliefs, and other distinguishing features of the civilization. Identify iconography and patronage. Explain the purpose of the artwork within the society that produced it.
III. Visual Analysis: Analyze the object in visual terms. Begin by describing
it in terms of naturalism and realism or abstraction and stylization. Then
analyze the object in terms of style using the following vocabulary terms: 1) form; 2)
composition; 3) materials and technique; 4) line; 5) color; 6) texture; 7) space; 8) mass; 9) volume; 10) perspective and foreshortening; 11) proportion and scale. See your textbook introduction for definitions of terms. Be sure to explain exactly how the visual elements contribute to the style the artist uses. ( For example abstract stylization is a characteristic of Sumerian sculpture.) Use appropriate vocabulary introduced in each chapter, i.e. Ideal Canon of Human Proportions, contrapposto pose..
IV. Conclusion: What value or meaning does the artwork hold for us today? Is it
aesthetic, philosophical, historical?