TEST CASE Assignment for
Learning Goal of “Art in Context”
Art History Assessment
F13-W14
Language of Art
1. Formal Analysis – THE COMPOSITION: The formal properties of a work of art – What do you
see? – How is space organized?
(Line, color, texture, light, material and painterly technique)
Questions to ask in formal analysis are, for example: Where is the center of the image? Is what is most important to the content simultaneously in the
geometric center of the picture? Who or what is central in the composition? What is the hierarchy of importance between different parts of the picture?
What is/are the relationship(s) of the figures etc. to each other? What is the work’s mode of address/how does it invite us, the viewer, into the
composition? What is the relationship between the figure and the ground? What do you see in the foreground, middle ground, background? Discuss the
light, use of color, and the way the figures are painted (e.g. emphasis on line: silhouetting of figures in black), etc.
2. STYLE – How do observations from formal analysis form continuities between artworks of
shared place/moment? A discussion of style is a discussion of visual characteristics. Is the work
representative for its cultural, historical context? Determine the style, its general characteristics,
and how the work of art in question fits into the general category of “period” or “personal style”
3. Content Analysis – ICONOGRAPHY: The content of a work of art, its iconography/subject
matter – Who is represented? What is story? Who are protagonists? Where does the story come
from? Which exact moment in time is chosen?
4. Political, Cultural, Historical CONTEXT: How does a work of art reflect on these?
5. INTERPRETATION OF ARTWORK: What does it mean?
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PROGRAM GOALS/ LEARNING OUTCOMES
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1. Visual literacy: The attainment of visual literacy enables the student to identify a
selection of great works of art and to understand the principles of stylistic analysis
and historical style.
Students will also learn to express visual literacy in writing.
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2. Art in context: The consideration of art in its context includes studying the
critical relationships between art and society and developing the ability to
articulate these relationships in discussion and writing.
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3. Critical and creative thinking: Critical thinking involves the development of skills
for describing, analyzing, and interpreting works of art and the development of
insights into the nature of human experience by understanding and appreciating
the various approaches of others. Students will also learn how to apply critical
thinking in writing.
Language of Art
1. Formal Analysis – THE COMPOSITION: The formal properties of a work of art – What do you see? –
How is space organized?
(Line, color, texture, light, material and painterly technique) :
VISUAL LITERACY / UNKNOWN QUESTION IN EXAM
Questions to ask in formal analysis are, for example: Where is the center of the image? Is what is most important to the content simultaneously in the geometric center of the
picture? Who or what is central in the composition? What is the hierarchy of importance between different parts of the picture? What is/are the relationship(s) of the figures etc. to
each other? What is the work’s mode of address/how does it invite us, the viewer, into the composition? What is the relationship between the figure and the ground? What do you
see in the foreground, middle ground, background? Discuss the light, use of color, and the way the figures are painted (e.g. emphasis on line: silhouetting of figures in black), etc.
2. STYLE – How do observations from formal analysis form continuities between artworks of shared
place/moment? A discussion of style is a discussion of visual characteristics. Is the work
representative for its cultural, historical context? Determine the style, its general characteristics, and
how the work of art in question fits into the general category of “period” or “personal style”
VISUAL LITERACY / ART IN CONTEXT UNKNOWN QUESTION IN EXAM
3. Content Analysis – ICONOGRAPHY: The content of a work of art, its iconography/subject matter –
Who is represented? What is story? Who are protagonists? Where does the story come from? Which
exact moment in time is chosen? ART IN CONTEXT TESTCASE ASSIGNMENT
4. Political, Cultural, Historical CONTEXT: How does a work of art reflect on these?
ART IN CONTEXT TESTCASE ASSIGNMENT
5. INTERPRETATION OF ARTWORK: What does it mean? CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING
TESTCASE ASSIGNMENT
UNKNOWN QUESTION: Visual Literacy
We created a three-part rubric for measuring
student success in an essay-based exam:
1.) very good 2.) good 3.) rudimentary.
Question 5: 10 min
15 points
Unknown Image:
For this question, first identify artist,
title and/or subject matter, rough
date, and period/style. Then, explain
why you gave that identification.
You may refer to works, artists,
styles, terms etc. discussed in class
and in the textbook.
EXAM QUESTION: Art in Context
Question 4:
20 min.
30 points
1. Anchored in your knowledge of this image,
discuss how the work is representative of a
moment-period in history? In other words,
what can we learn about the history, politics,
culture, and society of the time period by
looking at this artwork?
EXAM QUESTION
Art in Context
Each faculty photocopied her set of exam answers and
reviewed the results according to the three rubrics that
we had previously established: a.) very good b.) good, c.)
rudimentary.
We expect very good students to both assess situational
context (information about location work, patronage,
etc.) and how situational context informs interpretive
efforts that seek to ascertain political / historical
meaning. Good students are expected to ascertain
situational context and begin to discuss/hint at
interpretive possibilities. Rudimentary responses will
neither account for situational, nor mention interpretive
context. This way, the statistical results will more
realistically reflect the actual knowledge and ability of
our students in discussing “Art in Context.”
• In the Fall of 2012, the Art in Context proficiency of our
upper level students appeared to be approximately 4050% percent. About half the students did well or very
well and half of the students showed considerable
difficulties (with varying degrees).
• In the Winter of 2013, partially due to our concerted
efforts in the classroom and the streamlining of
aforementioned criteria, we find that roughly 2/3 of
the students do ascertain context to varying degrees
but about a 1/3 of students seems to be fairly unaware
of the complexities of the interpretive processes.
TESTCASE ASSIGNMENT for
Art in Context
• To discuss issues of Art in Context in a satisfactory manner,
as outlined above, is a three step process: 1.) visual
analysis/visual literacy 2.) analysis of composition and style
based on acquired knowledge of existing traditions 3.)
historical understanding. In order to discuss art in context
in a satisfactory manner, students need to touch on those
issues and interpret the artwork
•  To conclude, we agreed that asking students for Art in
Context in the brevity of the exam (in a single essayquestion with about 10-15 min response time) is too
challenging and does not reward analytical thinking, but
rather promotes a weak regurgitation of facts memorized.
Guidelines for TESTCASE ASSIGNMNT:
IN - CLASSROOM or as HOMEWORK
• A work of art previously discussed in class will be rehearsed
again in a later session. To further a deeper understanding
of the work, one which leads away from the visual toward
the analytical and contextual aspects of art interpretation,
an excerpt from a scholarly text (be it a short passages from
a textbook assignment, a text never read before, or another
work of art) will be closely analyzed by students in the
classroom and mined for information about context.
• The instructor will walk the students through the different
steps that lead up to contextual analysis using this image as
a test case. This assignment can also contain a homework
component to be discussed in class at a later date or
graded by the instructor accompanied by additional
feedback.
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Nicole Bensoussan: ARTH 351: Southern Baroque Art, Winter 2014
Description of the “Art in Context” Assignment:
Nicole Bensoussan assessed students’ comprehension of cultural context in an impromptu assignment. Students had twenty minutes in class
to write a response. They saw two images on a screen in a compare and contrast: a painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and a painting by
Peter Paul Rubens with the same iconography. Both of these artists and works had been discussed in previous class sessions. Students were
asked to discern the differences and continuities between the iconography of the Immaculate Madonna in the age of the Spanish Baroque
versus the age of the Northern Baroque (but both images were made for Spanish audiences). A previously discussed primary source text
written by Francisco Pacheco was provided to deepen the analysis of this particular motif and explain the changes in the varying depictions
culturally and contextually. The task was to understand changes in art related directly to changes in 17th century religious and social structure.
Students were expected to draw on the images as visual evidence for the specifically Spanish dedication to the cult of the Virgin Mary. This
assignment was drafted as a memory-based exercise.
Diana Ng: ARTH 426: The City of Ancient Rome, Fall 2013
Description of the “Art in Context” Assignment:
Diana Ng created a 3-5 page graded writing assignment asking students to review a film, “Roman City with David Macauly,” on Roman
urbanism by drawing on two assigned readings of primary sources and two secondary examples of modern scholarship. This upper level
course, on the development of the city of Rome in antiquity and on the spread of Roman urban architecture through the empire, consistently
employed a mix of scholarly essays and ancient historical accounts to give historical and cultural context to the visual and archaeological
material presented in class.
The film, “Roman City,” was chosen because it presented archaeological data and analysis within a fictional story of a Roman
engineer and city planner establishing a new colony in the province of Gaul. The fictional account of the film is based on certain aspects of
ancient Roman perspectives on the imperialistic deployment of urban culture in the provinces. Students were shown the film in class, after
having read excerpts by the Roman authors Strabo and Tacitus, a textbook reading on the Roman city of Arelate in France, and an essay by
Roman art historian Paul Zanker on the symbolic meaning of Roman urban architecture. Students have had at this point two full lectures on
iterations of Roman cities and colonies. Students were then asked to evaluate the accuracy of the film and its portrayal of Roman colonialism
and the architectural components of the city.
Nadja Rottner: ARTH 363: Twentieth Century Arts, Fall 2013
Description of the “Art in Context” Assignment:
Nadja Rottner created a take home writing assignment. At the end of a lecture session on Surrealism that prominently featured an artistic
strategy called “psychic automatism,” students received instructions to read the textbook pages on this topic. They were asked to extrapolate
different artistic conceptions of psychic automatism mentioned in the text. They had to describe how a selected textbook image by the artist
Jean Miro (which was not seen in class) illustrates this strategy. Lastly, they discussed how this new strategy is largely the result of a crisis in
society after World War II that promoted a skepticism toward intellectual thought, language, and reason. Instead, art now draws on the
psyche, repressed feelings, and free compositional structures outside of the cannon of traditional means of composition. Students then drew
connections between DADA and Surrealism as both movements followed an anti-intellectualist agenda in response to the horrors of WW1.
This exercise was intended to bring attention to the textbook reading and allow students to apply their gained knowledge to an
image they had not yet seen. It asked to synthesize different strands of information from texts and lecture and embed those historically and
contextually.
Nicole Bensoussan: Findings
Out of 15 assignments, there were 8 who
received a grade of very good (✓+), 5 who
received a grade of good (✓), and 2 who
received a grade of fair/modest (✓-).
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Diana Ng: Findings
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Out of 8 papers, the very good students (2/8) understood the were able to situate the
archaeological and fictional material presented in the film, “Roman City” within their proper
contexts as examples of Roman architecture and urbanism; They were able to evaluate the
accuracy of film.
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The good students (4/8) fall into two categories. The first category (2/8) were performed the
same analytical tasks as the very good students, but were less perceptive than the very good
students, especially in incorporating the secondary source on the use of Roman architecture
and urbanism and instruments of imperialism. 4/8 students can also be considered good, but
they engaged very selectively with the different facets of the assignment, concentrating on
the archaeological content of the film and secondary sources or on the historical and
ideological content of the film and primary sources. Nevertheless they made good
observations in the areas on which they chose to focus. This incompleteness may be due to a
misunderstanding of the assignment, or might be due to less thorough preparation or
comprehension. In all cases, what was done was rather well done; however, they were asked
to do more than what they turned in for the assignment.
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2/8 students did insufficient work. One did not hand in any work.
Winter 2014
Findings Nadja Rottner
• 9 out of 13 students handed in the assignment. Out of those 8, 7 delivered
a very good response paper. 1 delivered a good response. 1 did
rudimentary job.
• The very good students were able to describe the characteristics of the
technique of psychic automatism, describe various artistic interpretations
of it, apply knowledge to selected image, and discern the cultural,
historical, and social background and how it informs art. The good student
described the artistic strategy properly but was not able to contextualize it
in-depth. She only mentioned the war but did not further assess how the
war brought about a new compositional technique.