Art History can be viewed as the marmite of the humanities. But just because you do not enjoy, it does not mean that you have to struggle with it. It is about analysis and research and you will find that with some help it is easy to succeed.
So you are looking at the painting and what is your immediate response? A sense of calm, or confusion? You like the painting's style? What about this painting? I have always been taught that your immediate thought or response to a painting is valid. You are not gonna like every painting you come across. Some may catch your eye but others will be almost invisible to you; never sparing it a second glance. Any first impression should always be noted; whether in a sentence, or a single word. But there is a way to bulk this by noting down four others, which you can later use in understanding the creation of the artistic work.
What are the first five things your eye views within the painting?
This will tie into the later sections of 'Reading Art', such as the use of colour and the composition. Using the painting by Klimt above, note the first five things that you see.
For myself, I saw (in order):
- the face of Judith,
- the gold foliage of the background at her head,
- the gilded work on the frame of the painting,
- the purple and gold clothing of Judith,
- the dark head of Holofernes.
Is there any similarities between our two lists ? If there is then there is a possibility that this was a conscious effort on the part of the artist.
What about these five things do you believe caught your attention?
There is always a reason for why a particular part of a painting caught your attention, and this point introduces you to the how, in a painting's creation. Next to each point of your list write down what you believe made you take notice. It does not necessarily have to be the actual part but the surroundings that made it stand out.
What I believe caused the points on my list to stand out are as follows;
- the face, and body of Judith is painted in a much lighter palette in comparison to the rest of the painting,
- the different style and use of bright gold is in stark contrast to the realism and cool tones of Judith's face,
- it is extremely unusual for a frame to be amalgamated into the composition of the painting,
- the colours of the clothing stands out against the lightness of Judith's body,
- the darkness of Holofernes' head is painted in the darkest palette of the whole composition. This stands out when positioned next to the point (Judith) painted in with the lightest palette.
You should now be able to make note of a possibility that your eye was meant to follow that pathway? Why do you think so?
What does this tell us about the painting's narrative (story)?
Your first impression of the painting may be closely related to an emotional reaction, but the painting still has a narrative. A preliminary, bulked out by further 'reading', narrative can be understand by what we have noted above, our first impression and our list.
The preliminary narrative for me, at this stage is that this painting depicts a wealthy, sexually confidant woman who resides in a warm exotic land who is somehow involved in the decapitation of a man. This could be a post-murder scene, with the possibility of it being a crime of passion. The words upon the gilded frame that would give further explanation, but any research into this does not need to be made until Context.
You do not need to have a wholly positive reaction to art. It is meant to be evocative, and there are artists who purposely set out to cause a negative response. So as long as you can express these feelings, and reasons, for why, you are already analysing the painting.
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