Year 7 : Responding to Artwork- skills you need for the Exam

When you describe a painting or any piece of Art go through the 5 sections below in order to help with your piece of writing. Use the questions to help you form a sentence- see examples high lighted.

For example: " In the picture I can see a stream and houses in the foreground with green fields in the back ground"

Context

• Who is the artists? What dates was the work made?
• Did they work alone or as part of a group?
• Where was the work made? Which county or area?

Content

• What can you see in this picture?
• What is in the foreground, mid ground and back ground?
• Describe the picture in as much detail as possible.
• Do you think the subject-matter observed directly, remembered or imagined?
• Has it been treated realistically or is there deliberate exaggeration, distortion or abstraction?
• Form
• How has the work been arranged?
• What kind of colour scheme has been used, harmonious or contrasting?
• Is there one principal shape or is it composed of inter-relating combinations of shapes?
• Are there recurring shapes, lines, etc. which determine the design of the work?
• Process
• How was the work made, and what was it made with?
• Through what stages might the work have proceeded from commencement to completion?
• Was the work executed rapidly or might it have evolved slowly over a longer period of time?
• Mood
• Does the work affect you any way?
• Does it capture a mood, feeling or emotion which you have already experienced?
• Can you imagine what the artist’s feelings might have been while producing the work?
• Is the work quiet or noisy, soothing or disturbing, happy or sad, relaxing or jarring etc., in the mood it conveys and the feelings it arouses?
• What do you think the artist is trying to communicate through the work?