ART 100Summer 2015

Class 6Writing the Description Assignment

writing course papers

paperclip description assignment

due 7.6.15 by 5 PM

description paper

due 7.7.15 by 5 PM

analysis paper

due 7.14.15 by 5 PM

paperclip assignment

Write one paragraph (3-4 substantial sentences) describing this object. You don’t have to pretend you don’t know that it’s a paperclip, but at the same time, anyone can see at a glance that it IS a paperclip. So if we were just identifying/recognizing the pictured object, this paragraph would be over pretty quickly.

Instead, the idea of this paragraph is to practice what we discussed last time—the possibility of using an intensive visual study of the paperclip to restore the strangeness of perception.

If the process of doing this seems strange, awkward, slow, difficult, and unfamiliar, then you are doing it correctly. This assignment asks you to “defamiliarize” an ordinary object through sustained visual attention, much as Viktor Shklovsky claims that art can “make the stone stony.”

TIPS for good descriptive paragraphs:

• Show the reader in language as vivid and concrete as possible what you are SEEING, not what you are thinking, remembering, or speculating about.

• Avoid sharing your reactions; rather FOCUS ON THE OBJECT itself and try to evoke its appearance as completely as possible and as specifically as possible.

• Think about using your writing as a vehicle to express the look of a visual thing; try to find words that are richly descriptive and precise to bring to mind the shape, color, texture, and so on that you are seeing in the object.

• Avoid the extremes of science and poetry in your description; aim to evoke in simple language what this thing actually looks like.

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description assignment

FIRST

The first and most important step is LOOKING at the image. Take your time. Give yourself a chance just to look at the picture, without necessarily thinking anything in particular or worrying about what you are going to say.

SECOND

Start to think more specifically about the IMPACT the piece is having on you. At this stage it’s okay to jot down some notes if you want to.

• Is the work overpowering or reticent? Colorful or pale? Enticing or repulsive? Friendly or aggressive?

• What does the image remind you of or make you think of?

• How does it make you feel? What kind of mood or atmosphere is it creating?

THIRD

What is this a picture of?

If you know the genre—for example, portrait, landscape, still life—mention that. If you don’t know, that is fine.

What is the subject of the picture? In some cases, this is pretty simple, but at other times it can be quite complex.

FINALLY

At this point, you are ready to write your description. A good description will include (in any order, you decide how to work this all in):

• the artist, title and date (taken directly from the caption and spelled correctly!)

• the subject matter

• the style

• the overall impact of the piece

 

OVERALL

In writing your description, think of yourself as a seasoned guide who knows the territory. You know what the image feels like, you know what it looks like both in terms of its style and subject matter. Most likely you are beginning to have some sense about what it may mean. Your job now is to take your reader on a tour of the work, carefully guiding the reader from point to point in the work, indicating what to observe and why it is significant.

Paul Cézanne The Artist's Uncle, as a Monk1866oil on canvas 25 5/8 x 21 1/2 in.

detail of face

Roy LICHTENSTEIN, Blam!, 1962, oil on canvas, 68 x 80 inches

Ansel ADAMSMoon and Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, California1960gelatin silver print

Georgia O’Keeffe, Pelvis with the Distance, oil on canvas, 1943, 23-7/8 x 29-3/4 inches

Henri MATISSE, Still Life with Blue Tablecloth, 1909, oil on canvas, 35 x 46 inches