How are light and shadow handled?

Instructions
This assignment asks you to write a formal analysis on a work of art from the Dallas Museum of Art’s permanent collection (available online). Your final submission document should include 1. An image of the work with the identifying information (title, measurements, artist, year). 2. Your formal analysis should be 250-300 words double spaced and should address what you see (not the iconography or context of the work of art). 3. Citation for sources consulted. Remember to point to specifics and provide evidence in the work. Your analysis should feature and discuss relevant principles of design and visual elements. See a list below along with relevant questions to ask while looking at a work of art and beginning your analysis!

Visual elements and principles of design:

color
The colors used in the work and how they work together.
line
Real lines in the work and implied lines created by gazes, pointing fingers, or other directional indicators.
light
Real light as it falls on the work and implied light represented in it.
texture
Real texture of the work and implied textures represented in it.
shape
Real shape of the work and the shapes used to create items within it.
space
Real space taken up by the work and the illusion of space within it.
The artist uses these visual elements by arranging them according to the principles of design. These include:

composition
Organization of the parts to make the whole
balance
How the parts related to each other
proportion
How the items in the work relate to natural proportions
scale
How the sizes of items in the work relate to each other
motion
Whether or not the work has real motion or implies that items are moving within it
Questions to consider when doing formal analysis:

Is the work naturalistic? Does it look like things do in nature or does it depart from visible forms? How?
How is space presented? Does it create an illusion of three dimensions or is it flatter?
How is color handled? Do the colors look like they do in nature? Do they repeat throughout the image?
How is line handled? Are things outlined? Are there real lines (like a road) or implied lines (like a line of sight)?
How are light and shadow handled? Is everything bathed in an even light or are there dramatic highlights and deep shadows? Does shading help make things look three-dimensional?
How is the work organized? Is everything lined up in a row or are they grouped in a pyramid? How are things arranged in the work?

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