A Short Guide to Writing About Art

The best-selling guide to writing about art

Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing About Art guides students through every aspect of writing about art. Students are shown how to analyze pictures (drawings, paintings, photographs), sculptures and architecture, and are prepared with the tools they need to present their ideas through effective writing. Coverage of essential writing assignments includes formal analysis, comparison, research paper, review of an exhibition, and essay examination. New to the 11th edition is a chapter on “Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials.”

In this Section:
1) Brief Table of Contents

2) Full Table of Contents

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1: Writing About Art

Chapter 2: Writing About Art: The Big Picture

Chapter 3: Formal Analysis and Style

Chapter 4:Analytical Thinking

Chapter 5: Writing A Comparison

Chapter 6: Writing an Entry in an Exhibition Catalog

Chapter 7: Writing a Review of an Exhibition

Chapter 8: Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials

Chapter 9: How to Write an Effective Essay

Chapter 10: Style in Writing

Chapter 11: Art Historical Research

Chapter 12: Some Critical Approaches

Chapter 13: Writing a Research Paper

Chapter 14: Manuscript Form

Chapter 15: Writing Essay Examinations

FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1: Writing About Art

What Is Art?

Why Write about Art?

The Imagined Reader as the Writer's Collaborator

The Functions of Critical Writing

Some Words about Critical Thinking

A Sample Critical Essay

What Is an Interpretation--and Are All interpretations Equally Valid?

Expressing Opinions: The Writer's "I"

Chapter 2: Writing About Art: The Big Picture

Standing Back: Kinds of Writing (Informing and Persuading)

Close-Up: Drafting the Essay

Checklist of Basic Matters

Chapter 3: Formal Analysis and Style   

What Formal Analysis Is

Formal Analysis Versus Description

Sample Essay: A Formal Analysis

Postscript: Thoughts about the Words “Realistic” and “Idealized”

Cautionary Words about Slides and Reproductions in Books and on the World Wide Web

Chapter 4: Analytical Thinking

Subject Matter and Content

Form and Content

Getting ideas for Essays: Asking Questions to Get Answers

Another Look at the Questions       

Chapter 5: Writing A Comparison

Comparing as a Way of Discovering

Two ways of Organizing a Comparison

Sample Essay: A Student’s Comparison

Rebecca Bedell: “John Singleson Copley’s Early Development: From Mrs. Joseph Mann to Mrs. Ezekial Goldthwait”

Checklist for Writing a Comparison

Chapter 6: Writing an Entry in an Exhibition Catalog

Keeping the Reader in Mind

A Sample Entry

Checklist for Writing a Catalog Entry

Chapter 7: Writing a Review of an Exhibition

 What a Review Is

Three Sample Reviews

Chapter 8: Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials

Kinds of Exhibitions

Kinds of Writing Assignments

Chapter 9: How to Write an Effective Essay

The Basic Strategy

Looking Closely: Approaching a First Draft

Revising: Achieving a Readable Draft

Peer Review

Preparing the Final Version

Chapter 10: Style in Writing

Principles of Style

Get the Right Word

Writing Effective Sentences

Write Unified and Coherent Paragraphs

A Note on Tenses

Chapter 11: Art Historical Research

Accounting for Taste

Historical Scholarship and Values

Chapter 12: Some Critical Approaches

Social History: The New Art History and Marxism

Gender Studies: Feminist Criticism and Gay and Lesbian Studies

Biographical Studies

Psychoanalytic Studies

Iconography and Iconology

Chapter 13: Writing a Research Paper

Primary and Secondary Materials

From Subject to Thesis

Finding the Material

Art Research and the World Wide Web

Keeping a Sense of Proportion

Reading and Taking Notes

Checklist for Note-Taking

Incorporating Your Reading into Your Thinking: The Art of Synthesis and Drafting and Revising the Paper

Checklist for Reviewing a Revised Draft of a Research Paper

Chapter 14: Manuscript Form

Basic Manuscript Form

Some Conventions of Language Usage

Quotations and Quotation Marks

Acknowledging Sources

Documentation

Footnotes and Endnotes: Chicago Manual Style

Chicago Manual of Style

Chapter 15: Writing Essay Examinations

What Examinations Are

Writing Essay Answers

Last Words

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