Option 2.     

 Choose a review of an artwork from a newspaper, magazine, anthology, or online source of your choosing and answer the questions about it shown below. The review must be 500 words or longer to give you enough to work with, but it can be a review of any work, any type of art or craft, restaurant reviews included. The review can be, but need not be, a review intended for general audiences. Also, upload a copy of the selected review, or (if it’s an online review) give a link to it at the end of your essay. Please do attach the link, don’t just give the address — if the link address has an error in it, I won’t know what you had in mind.

(Option2,continued) Here are the questions:

a. Are there evaluations of the work in the review? What did the evaluations conclude? (By “evaluations”, I mean claims by the reviewer that something is a strength, weakness, a goodness, a badness. Or are there comparisons with another work as better or worse?) The claim be explicit or implicit.

b.  Are there parts of the review that accomplish some other purpose,  than presenting  an  evaluation?  Explain  your  answer  (e.g.,  why  did  you  say  what you did? If there are other purposes, what are they?)c.  Did  you  personally find  the chosen  review to  be informative?  Was there anything that made it unsatisfying to you? Explain

General Instructions for the Essays           

1.  Essays should be 3 – 4 double-space pages.

2.  Type all essays and use a normal margin and type. It is not necessary to write a very long essay, even for the best grade. On the other hand, if your essay is too short, you are probably staying too close to the surface. Are you sure you didn’t skip steps?   

3.   Your   answer   will   be   graded   on   the   basis   of   demonstrated understanding of the course materials, thoughtfulness, organization and clarity, and  writing  mechanics  (for  example,  grammar,  spelling,  and  sentence organization).   

4. For short essays, the requirements for citations are relatively relaxed:

a. If  you  refer  to  an  artwork,  be  sure  to  give  its  full  name  and  the artist’s or author’s name. 

b. Give the source for all direct quotes and  write the information in parentheses right after the quoted material. Thus, 

c. For  quotes  from  Neill  and  Ridley,  you  can  use  this  abbreviated form: Essay Author, “Essay Title”, The Philosophy of Art, page xyz. Similarly, “Dickie, Introduction, page xyz”, works for the book by George Dickie. 

d. Give  the  standard  bibliographical  information  for  any  other sources you refer to or quote from including other textbooks (i.e., author, title, publisher, year of publication, and page number).     FYI, this is much like the system that Philosophy journals use for book reviews.    

Chelsea Woods

PHL 360-001

March 9, 2020

Professor Leibowitz

Wo

m

en of Algiers

Women of Algiers is one of the most famous paintings by Eugene Delacriox

(1798-1863). During the Neoclassical era, this painting emphasized formal clarity,

intricate details, and smooth textures. The review focused on these attributes of the

painting and expressed great admiration towards the artist. The author of the review

goes into explain how the style that Delacriox had chosen shows style in fluidity,

expressive brushwork, intricate compositions, and high contrasts of light and dark,

ultimately creating a romanticized theme to the painting.

The review mainly pertains to the specific painting, Women of Algiers, but it did

also include information about the history of the painting as well as the introduction of

other pieces that Delacroix had completed. The author went onto explain the characters

within the painting and how they contribute to the style of art. They note that the various

women are languorous and sultry, or alert and attentive. They move onto focus on the

details of the painting and how the painting could be brought into a sensual experience.

For example, the author explains how the air within that room must have smelt of

incense, flowers, and smoke from the hookah resulting in a production that has an

influence of intimacy adding to the romantic theme.

The background of how Delacroix came to choose such a piece was quite

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interesting. It was explained that Delacriox accompanied the Duc de Mornay’s

diplomatic mission to Morocco as its official visual documentarian. Delacriox was

entranced by the sensualism and exoticism of morocco and obtained special permission

to enter a harem and paint its odalisques.

Comparison to similar artists gave context to the art piece as well. Specifically

mentioning Jean-Auguste-Dominique and her neoclassical version of Grande Odalisque

which also has references to the exotic with lush fabrics, peacock feathers, a jeweled

headdress, and a hookah. The piece in comparison has less of the romantic details but

Grande Odalisque still attains exact forms and line, smooth texture, and fine details. By

having another piece of art to compare the one in review to, I feel that this gives the

audience something to compare another piece of art that is similar but not exact to.

The purpose of writing so much background information about the artist’s

experience is essential to understanding the artist’s piece. I feel that information as such

really helps emphasize how Morocco was when an outsider explored the area.

Delacriox most likely noticed things about the area that a native wouldn’t of, ultimately

allowing him to see something exotic as inspiration for a piece of art.

I feel that this review was informative. There was history about the painting that I

was unaware of and that I feel was helpful for the background of what was painted. The

author had given much context about the feeling behind the piece and how the artist

utilized their abilities to create. I feel that more context about how the artist had created

the piece would have been helpful. For example, how did the artist attain a brush-less

style of painting? What influenced the artist to choose the style of coloring that he did? I

feel that background to these questions could be beneficial to understanding how the

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artist completes their process of creating art.

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