This paper asks you to write a short formal analysis of an artwork in the Dallas Museum of Art or Meadows Museum from Spain or Latin America, 1492-present. It is a short exercise—about 2-3 pages, double-spaced—in which you discuss the visual form of the artwork.
Formal analysis is a process that combines close observation with keen, polished writing. In it, the visual and compositional particulars of a work are addressed in such a way that the author makes pointed conclusions about the object’s form. A formal analysis is not merely description; it is an argument about the work’s visual structure. Go about your formal analysis, as you would analyze a piece of poetry: make your observations pointed, even technical, and be careful not to use terms that are vague.
What is formal analysis? In your paper you will want to address some of the following questions: how do the visual characteristics of the object constitute a sort of visual language? In what ways do distinct aspects of the object’s form (color, surface quality, etc.) work together, and how might they in certain ways contrast each other? How might certain aspects of the object’s form be the result of materials or technique of manufacture? In general, think about the object as a structure—just like a bridge, or a dancer’s pose, or a piece of music, it will have coordinating elements, tensions, and harmonies. The works you will examine for this assignment often engage tensions—they are dramatic, self-consciously “powerful” works often allied with social/political/cultural movements of their time. Keep this in mind…
Remember that your paper is not about the broad cultural significance of the object. In writing this paper, don’t worry about cultural context, or any symbolic meanings to which the museum label may refer. This information is important, but it is not part of this short writing exercise. Your interest is in the object’s visual properties: how do the object’s visual forms work together as a unified composition?
/////BELOW THIS POINT IS A DESCRIPTION FOR THE IMAGE I CHOSE FOR YOU TO UNPACK
According to Roman Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ, was conceived free of original sin, the condition of sinfulness and separation from God into which all humanity is born. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin began appearing as a subject in art in 17th-century Spain, and from there it spread into the Spanish colonies of the New World.
The artist has adapted the vision of St. John, as expressed in Revelations 12:1:”And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” The Virgin is flanked by her parents, St. Joachim and St. Anne, who hold branches representing the Tree of Jesse, the symbol of the Virgin’s earthly forebears. Meanwhile, the tiny figures of Adam and Eve in the background allude to the fall of humanity from grace, thanks to temptation by Satan, indicated here by the seven-headed dragon at the bottom of the canvas. As the New Eve, however, born without sin and the mother of the savior of humanity, the Virgin triumphs over Satan, represented by her dominant position at the center of the canvas.
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