Monday 24 March 2014

Great ideas on how to Write an Art History Essay



Art history is a newer subject taught nowadays at colleges to analyze visual arts. When writing an essay on art history is required, similar strategies are followed as of writing on literature or history. The only difference is the use of a visual vocabulary to express your impressions of the work in certain image building words. Such a paper uses different techniques, but the main purpose is to show the relation between the technical aspect of the work and the impressions that it may have left on the mind of the viewer and the overall effect created by the visual factors involved. Read the following ways to write a well-written paper on art history:

  • The first step is choosing a topic that you admire wholeheartedly based on its visual as well as personal appeal to have aroused interest in you. For this purpose, go through various art history books or a list of topics to gain ideas.
  • Research on the topic chosen by reading various books and articles and even going through certain websites. Also read the footnotes in the articles and books to think creatively.
  • Keep your mind active by asking yourself questions about your findings and the other aspects that confuse you with the information collected. Write down all the ideas and thoughts that cloud your mind while you are researching and going through the material collected.
  • Next comes the step of writing an introduction with the help of the matter collected. When composing a thesis statement, mention the aspect that you noticed about the art, artist, building or the architect that you were to write upon. If you are writing on a piece of art, write the artist’s name, the work's title along with the date in the first paragraph.
  • Everything that you want to explain and point out to the reader should be mentioned next. The argument should be mentioned in a proper sequence. The ideas to support your thesis may include appearance, medium, techniques employed, symbolism, history, imagery, biography of the artist etc. Same sequence may be followed for comparing other artwork, building, critic, architecture, architect etc. After a thorough analysis, compare and contrast them accordingly.
  • The conclusion should include a restatement of the thesis followed by a summarized account in a sentence or two. Convince your reader that the evidence and proof have made the thesis to be plausible and sound.
  • Proper references and footnotes need to be mentioned in the paper and the work should be checked for any grammatical or linguistic errors before submission.

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