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Please select one of the following pairs of works for your essay (see next page) You can view a
slideshow of the pairs (pdf on Canvas), then use the link on Canvas to download high-res images of
the ones that interest you. The substance of your paper should be original formal analysis based on
careful study in front of the works themselves. Each pair represents a particular genre such as
portraiture, landscape, figure, or scenes of modern life. I want you to think about the changes in each
genre that can be understood through a comparison of the paintings: in each case, one work
emphasizes illusionism to a greater extent, and one work makes more ample use of abstraction.
All of the examples are American, and we are not studying American art prior to the WWII era in
this class. We cannot always map the styles of these paintings with trends in Europe at the same
moment, so do not worry about labels such as Romanticism and Impressionism. However, I expect
that you will be able to apply your growing understanding of stylistic devices evident in European
Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism in your descriptive analysis of these
works. In several cases, color is used quite differently in each: look for the degree to which the artist
makes use of earth tones and traditional black-white value contrast, or the degree to which s/he uses
color to represent light and shadow. Consider the extent to which the artist is concerned with
traditional representation of spatial depth and of the volume of the represented objects, and the
extent to which s/he brings objects and forms closer to the picture plane, employs more flatness, or
achieves more abstraction from nature. In general, one painting will try for a more seamless illusion,
and one will expose the materiality of the paint with visible brushwork and more sketch-like
techniques.
Your paper should have a basic argument about the changes visible in the genre between the two
works; the more modernist work is on the right-hand side. Most of your paper should be your own
formal analysis and conclusions. You may allude to basic historical information about the artists
considered, but this is not a research paper, and no research on the artists is required. Any sources
quoted or paraphrased in your text, however, must be cited in footnotes or endnotes; any sources that
were helpful to your analysis should be listed in a bibliography. Again, no research is necessary but
proper citations must be made for all research, whether quotation or paraphrase.
The papers should be 3–4 pages long, double-spaced, with normal 12-point type and normal 1-inch
margins on all sides. The paper is due by 11:59 pm Friday, April 5 on Canvas.
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