Unit 1 Summary

When deciding to take the course of Art History & it’s Meaning, I wasn’t sure where one would even begin in learning about a subject that seemed so broad and substantial. In looking at the syllabus and taking in what would be discussed in Unit 1, I was still lost. What is Formal Analysis? What is Critical Pedagogy? How do both of these fit into art history and it’s meaning? Despite being unsure, I was open to learning about both. All it could do for me is unlock the door to a subject that always intrigued me and further help me understand what it is I’ll be learning this semester.

It turns out that formal analysis is where one must start before delving further into art history and it’s meaning. Without learning about formal analysis, we wouldn’t be able to analyze or depict the artwork we’d evidently be exposed to further along in the semester. All formal analysis is asking us, as viewers, to do is simply take note of what the artist has done visually in his or her work. In formal analysis it is important to hone in on visuals such as color, line, space, mass/scale, material, contrast, position, composition, and illusionism. Taking note of each of these components works to conceptualize the artwork at hand and form an idea of what it is the artist is trying to express. An artist’s use of a certain range of color, their emphasis of line and linear contours and the space they create within their work are integral to the message the artist is trying to convey. Other vital components to pay attention to when using formal analysis is subject matter and historical context. While subject matter is more blatantly obvious to analyze in artwork, it still aids us in understanding the artwork at hand, what or rather who’s important. Historical context, however, requires some outside research. Once this outside research is conducted, we can understand the artists choices much better and it becomes clearer why certain elements were incorporated.

I enjoyed learning about critical pedagogy because my own beliefs were finally being firmly relayed before my eyes. My opinions in relation to the education system that we subject our children to have never been formed in an honorary degree. I have always believed it to be corrupt and degrading, and Paulo Friere’s Pedagogy and Power reaffirmed this for me. In his famous novel, Friere ridicules the education system by constructing the banking model of education. In doing so, he argues that the relationship between teacher and students is an oppressive one. The teacher is assigned all of the power and knowledge and all of the student’s previous knowledge before entering the school system is completely dismissed. Instead students become “empty vessels” in which the teachers simply deposit knowledge in them. In this kind of relationship, not only is knowledge limited but creativity is stunted. The teacher’s intelligence and authority can never be questioned, even if it should be, and the student can never pass along any information or intelligence of their own, because it’d be deemed unworthy and illogical. The students simply receive and memorize the knowledge bestowed upon them and spit it back out when taking standardized testing.

In learning about formal analysis, art history and it’s meaning is prescribed a meaning. Without taking formal analysis into consideration, without using it, we’d be looking at art but we wouldn’t be seeing it. Formal analysis is integral to art history, without it one can argue that the study of art history and it’s meaning would be rendered useless. In also learning about Paulo Friere’s critical pedagogy, I’m even more aware of the faultiness of our education system. It helps me  appreciate the open and creative environment that I’m privileged with in attending college, where students thoughts and opinions are heard and valued. I believe unit one will prepare me immensely for the units that lie ahead and I’m interested in seeing how they aid me in my further understanding of art history.

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