A Short Guide to Writing About Art, 11th edition

Sylvan Barnet

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The best-selling guide to writing about art

Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing About Art guides students through every aspect of writing about art. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture, and are prepared with the tools they need to present their ideas through effective writing. Coverage of essential writing assignments includes formal analysis, comparison, research paper, review of an exhibition, and essay examination. New to the 11th edition is a chapter on “Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials.”

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ISBN-13: 9780137612604

Subject: Art

Category: Art History Survey

In this Section:

Brief Table of Contents
Full Table of Contents

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Writing About Art
Writing About Art: The Big Picture
Formal Analysis and Style
Analytical Thinking
Writing A Comparison
Writing an Entry in an Exhibition Catalog
Writing a Review of an Exhibition
Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials
How to Write an Effective Essay
Style in Writing
Art Historical Research
Some Critical Approaches
Writing a Research Paper
Manuscript Form
Writing Essay Examinations

FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1: Writing About Art
- What Is Art?
- Why Write about Art?
- The Imagined Reader as the Writer's Collaborator
- The Functions of Critical Writing
- Some Words about Critical Thinking
- A Sample Critical Essay
- What Is an Interpretation—and Are All interpretations Equally Valid?
- Expressing Opinions: The Writer's “I”
Chapter 2: Writing About Art: The Big Picture
- Standing Back: Kinds of Writing (Informing and Persuading)
- Close-Up: Drafting the Essay
- Checklist of Basic Matters
Chapter 3: Formal Analysis and Style
- What Formal Analysis Is
- Formal Analysis Versus Description
- Sample Essay: A Formal Analysis
- Postscript: Thoughts about the Words "Realistic" and "Idealized"
- Cautionary Words about Slides and Reproductions in Books and on the World Wide Web
Chapter 4: Analytical Thinking
- Subject Matter and Content
- Form and Content
- Getting ideas for Essays: Asking Questions to Get Answers
- Another Look at the Questions
Chapter 5: Writing A Comparison
- Comparing as a Way of Discovering
- Two ways of Organizing a Comparison
- Sample Essay: A Student's Comparison
- Rebecca Bedell: "John Singleson Copley's Early Development: From Mrs. Joseph Mann to Mrs. Ezekial Goldthwait"
- Checklist for Writing a Comparison
Chapter 6: Writing an Entry in an Exhibition Catalog
- Keeping the Reader in Mind
- A Sample Entry
- Checklist for Writing a Catalog Entry
Chapter 7: Writing a Review of an Exhibition
- What a Review Is
- Three Sample Reviews
Chapter 8: Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials
- Kinds of Exhibitions
- Kinds of Writing Assignments
Chapter 9: How to Write an Effective Essay
- The Basic Strategy
- Looking Closely: Approaching a First Draft
- Revising: Achieving a Readable Draft
- Peer Review
- Preparing the Final Version
Chapter 10: Style in Writing
- Principles of Style
- Get the Right Word
- Writing Effective Sentences
- Write Unified and Coherent Paragraphs
- A Note on Tenses
Chapter 11: Art Historical Research
- Accounting for Taste
- Historical Scholarship and Values
Chapter 12: Some Critical Approaches
- Social History: The New Art History and Marxism
- Gender Studies: Feminist Criticism and Gay and Lesbian Studies
- Biographical Studies
- Psychoanalytic Studies
- Iconography and Iconology
Chapter 13: Writing a Research Paper
- Primary and Secondary Materials
- From Subject to Thesis
- Finding the Material
- Art Research and the World Wide Web
- Keeping a Sense of Proportion
- Reading and Taking Notes
- Checklist for Note-Taking
- Incorporating Your Reading into Your Thinking: The Art of Synthesis and Drafting and Revising the Paper
- Checklist for Reviewing a Revised Draft of a Research Paper
Chapter 14: Manuscript Form
- Basic Manuscript Form
- Some Conventions of Language Usage
- Quotations and Quotation Marks
- Acknowledging Sources
- Documentation
- Footnotes and Endnotes: Chicago Manual Style
- Chicago Manual of Style
Chapter 15: Writing Essay Examinations
- What Examinations Are
- Writing Essay Answers
- Last Words