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How to Write an Art Essay
Art essays involve evaluating a piece of art and writing about it. Art essays not only require evaluating the art from the writer's perspective but also require understanding of how well the mechanics (subject, composition, materials, etc.) are used. Art essay writing can become easy if one understands that the evaluation needs to be from the writer's perspective and not from the perspective of an expert.
Art essays writing involves two main stages – the first one is analyzing the work itself and the second one is writing down the analysis. The latter is similar to writing a basic essay. Hence, this article will focus on analyzing the art part of writing art essays.
Analyzing the piece of art
The first step in writing an art essay is to analyze the work: start with writing what you think the artist was trying to achieve with this piece of art.
The next step of art essay writing is to write whatever you know from looking at the piece of art. These facts need not identify people or places but could mention what it is all about. For example, a piece of art could show small houses with small streets giving a feel of a small town which is neat and clean (or perhaps dirty with garbage all around). It is important to jot down how you feel about it. The example painting could remind you of your home town or perhaps you disliked the garbage lying around. Remember, art essays is all about writing what you feel, not what you should be feeling.
Now compare the answers in the above two steps to see how successful the artist was in achieving his goal.
Next use the mechanics of the painting such as the subject, composition, materials used (paints as well as surface), brush strokes, color palette, etc. to understand how each contributes to the success of the art. Include a brief description of each aspect.
Once the notes are made as indicated above, use an essay writing guide to write the art essay. Remember, everyone has something to say about an art piece and that is what is required when writing art essays.
