art styles research paper

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• Published: 05 June 2016

Style classification and visualization of art painting’s genre using self-organizing maps

• Sang-Geol Lee 1 &
• Eui-Young Cha 1  

Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences volume  6 , Article number:  7 ( 2016 ) Cite this article

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With the spread of digitalization of art paintings, research on diverse scientific approaches on painted images has become active. In this paper, the method of classifying painting styles by extracting various features from paintings is suggested. Global features are extracted using the color-based statistical computation and composition-based local features of paintings are extracted through the segmentation of objects within the paintings to classify the styles of the paintings. Based on the extracted features, paintings are categorized by style using SOM, which are then analyzed through visualization using the map. We have proved the feasibility of the proposed method of categorizing paintings by style, and the objective features of paintings can contribute to the research on art history and aesthetics.

In art history, the field of study that researches the history of art paintings, painting style has changed continuously according to the changes in time, and individual factors like changes in one’s psychological state, in particular, change the individual painting styles. Such styles have changed in different ways by Western and Oriental paintings, and they act as crucial determinants of deciding the author of a certain painting. Likewise, many factors affect the process of categorizing paintings, and these factors can be re-defined as features.

Every painter has his or her own characteristics that are displayed in each painting. While art historians have analyzed and classified paintings based on the accumulated literature research on aesthetics, there were limitations of interpreting the features that are not visually apparent, because their subjective opinions have been expressed. Therefore, there is a need to develop objective features to classify art paintings based on scientific methods [ 1 , 2 ].

Recently, art paintings are photographed by digital cameras and are being utilized in diverse ways [ 3 ]. There is also diverse research on the characterization of art paintings that have applied the signal processing theory, image processing and machine learning algorithms on digitalized art paintings [ 4 – 7 ]. Research related to extracting various features such as color, painter and time are carrying out brushstroke and texture of paintings to classify the paintings.

Related works

Brushstroke can be a great feature that displays the characteristics of a painter. Li. et al. [ 8 ] automatically extracted and analyzed the brushstrokes of van Gogh. Brushstroke was extracted through the combination of edge detection and clustering-based segmentation, and diverse feature values were calculated from the extracted brushstrokes. Diverse feature values including number and orientation standard deviation for brushstrokes for brushstrokes in a neighborhood, size, length, broadness homogeneity and straightness have been calculated statistically, and his unique brushstroke style was provided as scientific evidence. There are also numerous researches on the art works of van Gogh through the analysis of his strongly rhythmic brushstrokes [ 9 , 10 ]. Such analysis on brushstrokes, however, is limited for painters who are very unique like van Gogh.

There is research on the classification of art painting by style. Lombardi [ 11 ] extracted the features by light, line and color and classified the art paintings by k-nearest neighbor. Visualization and analysis of classification performance were conducted through unsupervised learning, hierarchical clustering, self-organizing maps. Jafarpour et al. [ 12 ] proposed the stylistic analysis of paintings through dual-tree complex wavelet transforms and Hidden Markov Trees.

Zujovic et al. [ 13 ] proposed the classification method for five genres: abstract expressionism, cubism, impressionism, pop art, and realism. Features of paintings are extracted using the edge map as the gray-level feature and histogram as color feature in HSV space. The classification performance was analyzed from the extracted features using KNN, ANN, SVM, and AdaBoost.

Centinic and Grgic [ 14 ] proposed the painter recognition method. The painters were recognized through various classifiers including MLP and Random forest using information and color-based histogram as well as texture-based features using GLCM and DWT.

Shamir et al. [ 15 ] proposed the method of recognizing painters and schools of art centering on Impressionism, Expressionism, and Surrealism. Because the sizes of the paintings are diverse, the paintings have been resized to 600 pixels in the smaller size of vertical and horizontal and have been cropped to 600 × 600 to establish the dataset unlike conventional research. 11 types of features have been calculated from the image, and a total of 3658 image descriptors have been extracted. Useful informations have been selected from the extracted descriptors using the Fisher score and used as feature vectors.

Li et al. [ 16 ] proposed the aesthetic visual quality assessment method for paintings. A total of 40 global and local features were extracted by characteristics including color, brightness and composition. Since the aesthetic visual quality assessment work is highly subjective, the art works of famous painters are scored visually and then surveyed. Based on the average of the score, the paintings are labeled as “high-quality” or “low-quality.” Naive bayes and adaptive boosting have been used as classifiers to analyze the performance. There is also research on utilizing the painting recognition in the field of mobile augmented reality like [ 17 ].

As mentioned above, we were motivated by the research of extracting various features of paintings and analyzing them, and this paper classifies art works as expressionism, impressionism, post-impressionism, and surrealism by their style. The tool of visualizing and analyzing the classifications is then proposed.

Paper structure

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. " Feature extraction for art paintings " section describes the proposed feature extraction method, including color features and composition features. " Classification and visualization " section describes the classification and the visualization for styles of paintings. " Experiments " section analyzes experimental results of the proposed method. " Conclusions " section concludes the proposed approach and discusses about future works.

Feature extraction for art paintings

Each digital image of paintings is different in resolution and horizontal and vertical ratio. In order to extract feature values from paintings with different sizes, the process of normalizing the paintings in a certain size must be preceded. However, the problem of this lies in the possibility of the distortion of ratio and features like texture. There is also the problem of the definition of the photographed paintings according to the environment. Clear pictures with high-definition provide more information and are appropriate to extract detailed texture features like brushstroke. However, as low-definition images have less high frequency components that can express the delicacy compared to high-definition images, they are relatively less appropriate to extract texture information as features. Therefore, we focus on extracting feature values that are independent from the definition and image resolution that differ from the environment where the paintings are photographed.

Painters express their emotions in paintings using the basic elements of point, line, area and color. In this paper, the features of paintings are extracted after being divided into either color or composition. Color is considered as the global features for the shades that are used or preferred by the painters, while composition is the local features analyzed and extracted from the segmentation of the paintings by region.

Color features

As the global features of paintings, color is important. When we look at paintings, we tend to look at the overall color first. Then, we look into the composition and detailed aspect of the paintings. Each painter has his or her favorite colors, and there are different color tones by painting style. In this paper, the color features are extracted through statistical computation of the overall pixel of the painting images. The painting images are generally inserted as RGB color model. Yet, the RGB color is a color model that is not intuitive as a visual recognition method. Therefore, we use the HSV color model that is intuitive to visual recognition when extracting the feature on the use of colors from paintings.

The average of hue and saturation is calculated and used to extract the rough statistic characteristics of paintings. Hue shows which colors have been used, and saturation shows whether the paintings are light or dark according to the amount of white pigment. Average hue and average saturation feature can be calculated based on the below Eqs. 1 and 2 .

where M and N are the size of rows and columns of the image, and \({ I }_{ H }(m,n)\) and \({ I }_{ S }(m,n)\) are the hue value and saturation value at the pixel ( m ,  n ) respectively.

The number of colors used mainly can express the colorfulness of paintings. While some painters prefer the combination of less hue, some prefer to express various colors using many types of hue. The types of hue used per painting style are calculated by Hue count, according to the following method. From the image of the HSV color model, bin is divided by the number of k for the hue component to calculate histogram \({ h }_{ H }(i)\) . Then, hue count feature is extracted as shown in Eq. 3 , and \(k=20\) , \(c=0.1\) is used in this paper.

where i is bin index, q is the largest value of histogram, and c is a constant( \(0<c\le 1\) ).

Then the hue distribution feature is extracted in order to show the ratio dispersion of each hue component in the image. From the above \(h_{H}(i)\) , the value of bin is divided by the overall image pixel value and used as shown in Eq. 3 .

Composition features

The color features depicted in " Color features " section show the overall visual characteristics of paintings. The composition of paintings can differ by style. By analyzing the structural elements of paintings, the composition of paintings can be characterized through each local feature. In order to extract the structural elements of paintings, the objects within the image must be distinguished. There are diverse segmentation methods to distinguish the interested objects in image processing. In this paper, the segmentation method is used for images as follows in order to separate each painting.

Assuming that the objects within the image will be expressed in similar colors, the dominant color is first extracted from the image. Dominant color is extracted through conducting the k-means clustering by HSV components. After the magnification by cluster to extract the location of the objects divided by color, the image is segmented by cluster using the morphology and connected component computation. Then the higher 50 % in size is selected and used as markers of watershed segmentation. The watershed segmentation is carried out through the marker developed for each cluster to finally segment the objects in the painting image. Figure 1 shows the process of segmentation of color-based objects in paintings using the watershed algorithm proposed in this paper.

Illustration of the proposed watershed segmentation method

Composition features consist of shape and color features by segment. In order to extract the shape feature, the variance and skewness for segment, the top three largest areas are calculated respectively. The following equations are used to extract the 12 different shape features.

where \(j\,(j=1,2,3)\) is the index of the largest three regions and \(({ x }_{ k },{ y }_{ k })\) is the normalized coordinates of a pixel and \((\overline{ x } ,\overline{ y } )\) is the normalized coordinates of the center of mass in the corresponding region.

For the extraction of color features, the average of each component of HSV for the segment, the top five largest area, is calculated and used. The following equations are used to extract the 12 different color features of a segment.

where \(j\,(j=1,2,3,4,5)\) is the index of the largest five regions.

Table 1 shows the 50 features extracted from " Color features " and " Composition features " section. All feature values have a normalized value from 0 to 1 regardless of the image definition. The 50 feature values are created into vector, which are then used as input vectors to be explained in " Classification and visualization " section.

Classification and visualization

In this paper, the self-organizing map (SOM) proposed by Kohonen is used in order to classify the styles using the extracted features from " Feature extraction for art paintings " section. As the unsupervised learning method, in SOM, the input areas of learning samples are represented in the map through the competitive learning process. The benefit of this method is its usefulness in visualizing the high-dimensional data into low-dimensional view. In this paper, such benefit of SOM is used to classify the paintings and connect them to the map for visual expression, and to be utilized in analyzing the correlation for each painting style.

Figure 2 illustrates the process of training and classifying SOM using the feature values extracted in " Feature extraction for art paintings " section. Normalized feature values between 0 and 1 are extracted from each learning data, which are developed into vector to be used as input vectors for SOM. SOM is trained using the developed input vectors. Once the learning process is completed, the best matching unit (BMU) for each input data is found and the class of each node is designated using the class number. At the same time, the painting image list connected to each node is saved.

Training and classification processes using SOM

Figure 3 shows the actual execution screen the developed visualization tool that uses SOM. Through learning and classification, each node of the map is connected to the painting image list. Selecting the node of the map segment in the upper left hand corner of the tool prints out painting images connected to the node selected in the upper right hand corner. The number shown in the mode of the map shows the class number of each node. In the lower left hand corner, the detailed information of the image list connected to each node is shown, and diverse information needed for analysis is printed in the lower right hand corner.

Execution screen of the developed tool: a parameter settings window of SOM, b train results analysis screen

Experiments

Image dataset.

In order to conduct experiments on the four different painting styles of expressionism, impressionism, post-impressionism, and surrealism, representative painters of each style have been selected randomly. The images of their paintings were used as experiment data. In this paper, a total of 1633 pieces of artwork painted by 19 painters have been collected from [ 18 ]. The collected images are of different resolutions and are shown in Fig. 4 . Table 2 shows the number of data by style and painter that have been collected for the experiments. From the collected data, randomly selected 50 % for each painter was used for training, and the remaining 50 % was used for testing.

Collected image samples by painting style: a expressionism,  b impressionism,  c post-impressionism,  d surrealism samples

Learning results

For the input data, the best matching unit (BMU) is found, and the class number of the input data is voted. The class number is designated by the painting style of the input data. The class number with the most votes within each node is designated as the class number of the node. In this paper, the train performance is evaluated according to the data ratio that matches the class number of nodes after inputting the learning data. Binary classification method of pairing the four styles into two pairs was used in this paper. Table 3 shows the train performance of each experiment. Although there are differences depending on the class pair, the average of the train precision is about 0.93.

Classification results analysis

The classification performance is verified by inputting the test data in the learning map. Figure 5 shows that the paintings have been well classified by style, and Table 4 shows the classification performance for the test data. As shown in Fig.  5 a, paintings of expressionism are clustered at the right-bottom on the map that is result for expressionism and post-impressionism. Likewise, as shown in Fig. 5 b, paintings of expressionism are clustered at the top-center for the pair of expressionism and Impressionism. Of course, the location of each cluster may be changed according to the training result of the SOM. However, the visualization results can be seen that the art paintings with the similar features are clustered by similar locations on the map.

Samples of classification by painting style through the dispersion on the map: a result of Expressionism and Post-Impressionism, b result of Expressionism and Impressionism

Conclusions

In this paper, we proposed the method of classifying paintings by style. Through the statistic computation, the features of the paintings have expressed in objective figures of pixels. 50 features that show the global and local features have been extracted and the extracted feature values have been clustered using the unsupervised learning method. Experiments have verified that the paintings can be classified by style, and SOM was visualized to enable the analysis of the correlation of painting styles of the art pieces.

Since painter limits the number of art pieces, there is the difficulty of establishing a vast amount of data. Therefore, different types of images digitalized in diverse environments should be collected to increase the learning performance by increasing the amount of data. In the future, more features should be extracted, and the classification performance should be enhanced using the machine learning method. Through increased research, scientific features to classify the painting styles should be suggested, and this can be used as the base data for research on art history and aesthetics. This can also be the base research for a system that suggested paintings of similar style or paintings by the same author when a certain image is shown.

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Authors’ contributions

SGL and EYC designed the study, developed the methodology, collected the data, performed the analysis, and wrote the manuscript together. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Lee, SG., Cha, EY. Style classification and visualization of art painting’s genre using self-organizing maps. Hum. Cent. Comput. Inf. Sci. 6 , 7 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13673-016-0063-4

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Writing a paper for an art history course is similar to the analytical, research-based papers that you may have written in English literature courses or history courses. Although art historical research and writing does include the analysis of written documents, there are distinctive differences between art history writing and other disciplines because the primary documents are works of art. A key reference guide for researching and analyzing works of art and for writing art history papers is the 10th edition (or later) of Sylvan Barnet’s work, A Short Guide to Writing about Art . Barnet directs students through the steps of thinking about a research topic, collecting information, and then writing and documenting a paper.

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Research papers should be in a 12-point font, double-spaced. Ample margins should be left for the instructor’s comments. All margins should be one inch to allow for comments. Number all pages. The cover sheet for the paper should include the following information: title of paper, your name, course title and number, course instructor, and date paper is submitted. A simple presentation of a paper is sufficient. Staple the pages together at the upper left or put them in a simple three-ring folder or binder. Do not put individual pages in plastic sleeves.

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The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), as described in the most recent edition of Sylvan Barnet’s A Short Guide to Writing about Art is the department standard. Although you may have used MLA style for English papers or other disciplines, the Chicago Style is required for all students taking art history courses at UA Little Rock. There are significant differences between MLA style and Chicago Style. A “Quick Guide” for the Chicago Manual of Style footnote and bibliography format is found http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The footnote examples are numbered and the bibliography example is last. Please note that the place of publication and the publisher are enclosed in parentheses in the footnote, but they are not in parentheses in the bibliography. Examples of CMS for some types of note and bibliography references are given below in this Guideline. Arabic numbers are used for footnotes. Some word processing programs may have Roman numerals as a choice, but the standard is Arabic numbers. The use of super script numbers, as given in examples below, is the standard in UA Little Rock art history papers.

The chapter “Manuscript Form” in the Barnet book (10th edition or later) provides models for the correct forms for footnotes/endnotes and the bibliography. For example, the note form for the FIRST REFERENCE to a book with a single author is:

1 Bruce Cole, Italian Art 1250-1550 (New York: New York University Press, 1971), 134.

But the BIBLIOGRAPHIC FORM for that same book is:

Cole, Bruce. Italian Art 1250-1550. New York: New York University Press. 1971.

The FIRST REFERENCE to a journal article (in a periodical that is paginated by volume) with a single author in a footnote is:

2 Anne H. Van Buren, “Madame Cézanne’s Fashions and the Dates of Her Portraits,” Art Quarterly 29 (1966): 199.

The FIRST REFERENCE to a journal article (in a periodical that is paginated by volume) with a single author in the BIBLIOGRAPHY is:

Van Buren, Anne H. “Madame Cézanne’s Fashions and the Dates of Her Portraits.” Art Quarterly 29 (1966): 185-204.

If you reference an article that you found through an electronic database such as JSTOR, you do not include the url for JSTOR or the date accessed in either the footnote or the bibliography. This is because the article is one that was originally printed in a hard-copy journal; what you located through JSTOR is simply a copy of printed pages. Your citation follows the same format for an article in a bound volume that you may have pulled from the library shelves. If, however, you use an article that originally was in an electronic format and is available only on-line, then follow the “non-print” forms listed below.

B. Non-Print

Citations for Internet sources such as online journals or scholarly web sites should follow the form described in Barnet’s chapter, “Writing a Research Paper.” For example, the footnote or endnote reference given by Barnet for a web site is:

3 Nigel Strudwick, Egyptology Resources , with the assistance of The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge University, 1994, revised 16 June 2008, http://www.newton.ac.uk/egypt/ , 24 July 2008.

If you use microform or microfilm resources, consult the most recent edition of Kate Turabian, A Manual of Term Paper, Theses and Dissertations. A copy of Turabian is available at the reference desk in the main library.

C. Visual Documentation (Illustrations)

Art history papers require visual documentation such as photographs, photocopies, or scanned images of the art works you discuss. In the chapter “Manuscript Form” in A Short Guide to Writing about Art, Barnet explains how to identify illustrations or “figures” in the text of your paper and how to caption the visual material. Each photograph, photocopy, or scanned image should appear on a single sheet of paper unless two images and their captions will fit on a single sheet of paper with one inch margins on all sides. Note also that the title of a work of art is always italicized. Within the text, the reference to the illustration is enclosed in parentheses and placed at the end of the sentence. A period for the sentence comes after the parenthetical reference to the illustration. For UA Little Rcok art history papers, illustrations are placed at the end of the paper, not within the text. Illustration are not supplied as a Powerpoint presentation or as separate .jpgs submitted in an electronic format.

Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream, dated 1893, represents a highly personal, expressive response to an experience the artist had while walking one evening (Figure 1).

The caption that accompanies the illustration at the end of the paper would read:

Figure 1. Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. Tempera and casein on cardboard, 36 x 29″ (91.3 x 73.7 cm). Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway.

Plagiarism is a form of thievery and is illegal. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, to plagiarize is to “take and pass off as one’s own the ideas, writings, etc. of another.” Barnet has some useful guidelines for acknowledging sources in his chapter “Manuscript Form;” review them so that you will not be mguilty of theft. Another useful website regarding plagiarism is provided by Cornell University, http://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/index.cfm

Plagiarism is a serious offense, and students should understand that checking papers for plagiarized content is easy to do with Internet resources. Plagiarism will be reported as academic dishonesty to the Dean of Students; see Section VI of the Student Handbook which cites plagiarism as a specific violation. Take care that you fully and accurately acknowledge the source of another author, whether you are quoting the material verbatim or paraphrasing. Borrowing the idea of another author by merely changing some or even all of your source’s words does not allow you to claim the ideas as your own. You must credit both direct quotes and your paraphrases. Again, Barnet’s chapter “Manuscript Form” sets out clear guidelines for avoiding plagiarism.

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Artistic Significance, Creativity, and Innovation Using Art as Research

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Art as research ; Art-based research ; Artistic research ; Imagination ; Inventiveness ; Practice as research ; Practice-based research

Introduction to Art as Research

In recent decades there has been considerable interest in research rooted in practice, which has begun to establish a range of new research paradigms that move away from scientific ways of investigating to approaches more useful to the creative practitioner where objectification, statistical analysis, and control groups may be of less usefulness. Unlike science, detachment, objectivity, controlled experimentation, random trials, and rationality do not reach the heart of artistic inquiry. In artistic research there are particular art-based considerations, which means that science or social science is not the mode of inquiry.

Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably across disciplines and even within specific disciplines. The range of new possibilities is complex, and this complexity is...

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McNiff, S. (1998). Art-based research . London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

McNiff, S. (2009). Integrating the arts in therapy: history, theory, and practice, Springfield: Charles C Thomas.

McNiff, S. (Ed.). (2013). Art as research . Bristol: Intellect.

Prior, R. W. (Ed.). (2018). Using art as research in learning and teaching: Multidisciplinary approaches across the arts . Bristol: Intellect.

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Prior, R.W. (2019). Artistic Significance, Creativity, and Innovation Using Art as Research. In: Peters, M., Heraud, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2262-4_64-1

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Before you begin conducting research, it’s important to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What’s my topic? Review your assignment closely and choose an appropriate topic. Is this topic about a single artist or an art movement? Is it a study of one work or a body of works? How long is the paper—will you need a basic overview, or detailed analysis? Guiding questions such as these can help you determine what the best approach to your research will be. If you aren’t sure where to start, you can ask your professor for guidance, and you can always contact an Arts Librarian using their contact information on this page.

2. Which sources are best for my topic? With infinite time, you would want to read everything available, but there are often resources that are more applicable depending on your research topic. How to Find Art Resources provides more detailed information about choosing helpful sources based on general topics. Watch this video for brief instructions on how to find information on a work of art at the Yale University Art Gallery.

3. How will I manage and cite my sources? When you turn in your paper or presentation, you will need to provide citations in keeping with the preferred citation style. Keeping on top of your citations as you work through your research will save time and stress when you are finishing your project. All Yale students have access to tools to keep citations organized, generate a bibliography, and create footnotes/endnotes. For a quick guide, see How to Cite Your Sources , and more guidance is available on the Citation Management guide .

Related Guides for Art History Research at Yale

• Religion and the Arts
• History of British Art

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Writing in Art History

This guide provides a brief introduction to writing in the field of  art history  through the lens of  threshold concepts.  It includes:

• A statement of threshold concepts in art history
• “So you’re taking an art history course”: A Description of Writing Characteristics Valued in Art History
• “This is how we write and do research in art history”: Resources for Writers

A Statement of Threshold Concepts in Art History

“Seeing comes before words, the child looks and recognizes before it can speak.” (John Berger,  Ways of Seeing )

“Seeing establishes our place in the world.” (John Berger,  Ways of Seeing )

“We do not explain pictures: we explain remarks about pictures.” (Michael Baxandall,  Patterns of Intention )

Threshold Concept #1: Connections between Looking and Writing

The statement:   It is not easy to write what you see. If seeing establishes our place in the world, art history is a tool to make sense of the visual world in which we all live.

What this means for our students:   Looking well is a time-intensive and skilled practice. Visual information is not self-evident, and writing about what is seen involves thinking about how and why visual information is understood in a particular way.

Where/how we teach this Threshold Concept : Visual analysis assignment in ART 285; Short essays in 100-level courses. Writing about and describing what is seen is also modeled in class examples and discussions.

Threshold Concept #2: Context Matters

The statement:   All art is conditioned by historical and cultural circumstances. Art history endeavors to understand these circumstances or contexts in order to explain the crucial role art occupies in humanity. The contexts that produced the work of art help art historians contextualize why art matters.

What this means for students:  Art is never understood by its visual appearance or form alone. The goal of art history is to place a work of art within its historic, religious, political, economic, and aesthetic contexts. Students should also understand that various contexts do not stand on their own, but usually overlap. Only by unpacking the circumstances that give rise to a work of art is one able to communicate how art matters and how its meanings change through time and place.      

Where/how we teach this Threshold Concept:  100-level courses engage with this concept while upper-level courses provide students with practical applications through the execution of research and writing assignments.

Threshold Concept #3: Frames of interpretation

The statement:  Art historical writing involves multiple frames of interpretation and—perhaps more importantly—the ability to hold multiple frames in suspension at the same time while producing an original argument. While there is no one “right” interpretation of a work of art, there are interpretations and scholarly arguments that have more quality or staying power than others. (See below for examples of quality art historical arguments)

What this means for students:   Research done in preparation for writing is framed not only as a search for facts to be relayed to the reader through writing, but also as discourses of interpretation within which the writer seeks to interject. This kind of writing involves a conversation with artworks, contexts, and prior interpretations and scholarship in service of an original argument.

Where/how we teach this Threshold Concept:   Research papers in upper level courses, at the end of Art 285 and the Art 480 seminar, and as part of the capstone project and honors theses ideally move students through this threshold. Being able to do this involves building upon awareness and skills gained in Threshold Concepts 1 and 2.

“So You’re Taking an Art History Course”: A Description of Writing Characteristics Valued in Art History

Art history is rooted in the study of visual, performed, and material expression. Goals for our work include interpretation, producing frameworks, narratives, and histories to understand the human experience and condition, and the expansion of what is considered “art”. We want you to know that there are some key things that we value in our field. We value the  complexity of seeing and the diversity of different ways of seeing . We tend not to value or prioritize subjective opinion and unsubstantiated claims.

What is considered effective or good writing in our field varies by genre and purpose, but overall we expect to see:

• a direct address of the subject or work of art.
• an interpretive analysis of a work of art backed by research from credible sources.
• engagement with significant interpretive and theoretical frameworks.

Writers in our field must provide evidence for their claims. We understand evidence to include:

• Formal analysis. Formal analysis is the description of the visual and material features of an object to support an argument. It can include a consideration of color, line, size, weight, form, shape, depth. Formal analysis is often a place to generate questions for research.
• Biographical records or artists’ statements
• Archival records
• Ethnographic data
• Historical events
• Significant secondary literature
• Adjacent artistic and cultural production (music, literature, theatre, etc.)

Writers in our field seem credible when they:

• Address current and historical debates about the interpretation of a topic
• Demonstrate an awareness of the historical and cultural context of a topic
• Cite credible sources accurately.  Credible sources  include peer-reviewed journals, books, or websites from reputable institutions and organizations.
• For more information on citing sources accurately, see the “ Quick Guide to Citations for Art Historical Writing ”

This is How We Write and Do Research in Art History

Art historical writing is about analyzing works of art to make a point or argument. Not every student in our classes needs to be able to write in the professional way of the field. However, depending on the reasons for taking our courses, we want students to become proficient and comfortable with analyzing art and the important place writing occupies in that process. Students taking an art history course should expect to write in the following genres:

• research papers
• exhibition reviews/evaluations
• book reviews
• visual analyses
• reading reflection/canvas posts
• museum labels
• essay exams

Writing goals and outcomes are different depending on the level of the course.  For example:

• Undergraduates taking Miami Plan (100-level) or elective courses  should recognize the relationship between how to develop a thesis and employ visual evidence in support of that thesis. Such a skill is undoubtedly useful for all students since looking closely coupled with the ability to make sense of what one sees are crucial for many other kinds of writing and ways of thinking. We argue the complexity and diversity of “looking deeply” is too often taken for granted in the visual world in which we live. In 100-level classes, students start to become familiar with how to write and think about art.
• Undergraduates majoring in our field  should recognize that art historical writing is approached as a conversation or dialogue. As students progress through the major, being able to place a topic and research paper within previous published and ongoing debates is crucial. In other words, students should start to understand that writing in Art History is about creating a dialog between one’s ideas and the sources the student engages. We also want our students to understand the value of inserting their own voice when writing. Over time, majors will need to become skilled at synthesizing their ideas and arguments with original research. This very process is how objects tell us something distinctive about their historical context and their value within human history.  

Resources for Art History Writers

Annotated Sample of Writing from Art History (ART 188)

The following is a student paper from the course ART 188: History of Western Art (Renaissance to Modern). Miami faculty from Art History have inserted comments to indicate and explain disciplinary writing conventions in Art History.

This sample contains 8 comments. These comments appear within the text of the article and are noted with bold text, brackets [ ], and the word "comment" before the text they refer to.  You can also view these annotations and the original paper in a  Google Doc format .

Sample Annotated Student Essay for ART 188

The essay prompt.

Compare Hyacinthe Rigaud’s painting  Louis XIV  (1701) (on the left) to Jacques-Louis David’s  Death of Marat  (1793) (on the right). Both of these artworks were made for explicitly political purposes, though they clearly depict very different types of figures and employ very different styles. Compare these two artworks in terms of how they convey their particular political message to the viewer. What strategies does each artist employ and why? What are they trying to communicate to the viewer about the state?

Introduction (2 comments)

A Martyr of Royal Proportions

[Comment 1: Introduction sets the context without making claims that are too broad or general. Also sets the tone for a focus on class conflict.]  For the majority of the eighteenth-century, French farmers stayed starving and cold while an elite class of nobility consumed them. For years, the upper echelon of French society relied on the blood and sweat of the layman to provide them with ample nourishment. But after the spring of 1791, the fields would be nourished by the blood of laymen and aristocrat alike, and the old ways would be no more. A revolution had begun, and revolutionary figures like Jean Paul Marat would be painted in stark contrast to the grandiose portraiture of King Louis the Fourteenth nearly a century prior.  [Comment 2: Clear thesis signals what the argument will be and why comparing these two paintings is worthwhile.]  Indeed, the transition in composition from the early eighteenth century spoke to more than simple brushstrokes. It represented the political enlightenment of the French people attempting to secure for themselves unalienable liberties they had been denied so long. Marat, therefore, was not simply a brutalized revolutionary lying lifeless in his bathtub;  The Death of Marat  depicts the efforts of the enlightenment revolution ferociously contesting with the old paradigm of French government.

Analysis (6 comments)

[Comment 3: Clear topic sentences signal what each paragraph will analyze.]  When comparing two pieces it is important to recognize their respective contexts first. The Louis XIV portrait is painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud during the early Enlightenment period of France in 1701. This painting has King Louis XIV surrounded by opulence in a very stately posture. Louis states, “I am the state,” reinforcing his role as monarch of France for anyone viewing his kingly grandeur.  The Death of Marat , however, imparts a very different sentiment. Painted by French revolutionary artist Jacques-Louis David in 1793,  The Death of Marat  displays the infamous revolutionary writer is lifeless in a tub. At the height of the French revolution, he is soaking in a mixture of medicinal sulfur used to treat a rare skin condition he contracted in the sewers of France. Indeed, this disease that Marat contracted in the sewers placed him in the tub he would be murdered in. In this way, the poverty that drove him into the sewers also drove him to his demise; the French aristocracy could expunge the poor from the streets, but they could never extricate the ideas Marat imbued. The piece evoked compassion and provided justification to the many rebellious Parisians for whom he spoke. Furthermore, the painting immortalized Marat as a martyr and freedom fighter in the eyes of his fellow revolutionaries. The Louis XIV portrait flaunts power and status while  The Death of Marat  condemns monarchical rule in France.

After examining context, it is crucial to integrate the content of the works to get at their underlying meaning. Examining the content of the Louis XIV portrait gives the viewer an idea of the intentions and priorities of the French king. It is especially apparent that the king has a lot of money.  [Comment 4:  Descriptive prose points to specific aspects in the work of art.]  His encrusted sword and outrageously fanciful robe serve to bolster his status and wealth. It would almost seem that in a secondary effort to avoid being directly arrogant, these items are also imbued with a national relevance. The ludicrous robe displays the three-pronged lily representing the French monarchy, and his encrusted sword represents French military might. It is his shoes that cannot be accounted for. The king, old and sickly as he actually was, adorns some stylish footwear to juxtapose his position as self-proclaimed “Sun King” with some suave contemporary sneakers and a cheeky flash of the thigh. As powerful and sophisticated as he may have been, this portraiture shows  [Comment 5: Returns the analysis of symbols within the painting to the context of class conflict signaled in the introduction.]  a clear separation from reality; the wealth and power of “France” depicted in Louis’ portrait was not representative of the people who actually lived there. It was only relatable to the fancifully rich. Comparatively, the Marat portrait makes King Louis look like a bad attempt at humor.  The Death of Marat  was something extremely real and very relatable. It illustrated a man who suffered dearly at the hand of the monarchy and was ultimately killed by those who supported its rule. The rich and famous could never relate to  The Death of Marat  in the same way Parisians did; Marat would have been more honorable in the eyes of the public than any would-be king. Marat is shown in his tub, papers under arm and his quill in hand. It would appear that he was working on some enlightenment literature when he received a letter which tricked him into granting his killer access to him. Similar to the Louis XIV portrait, Marat’s body is sculpted with the precision and attention expected of the neoclassical age. The sickly and bleeding body of Marat elicits a specific emotional reaction of resentment and remorse. That the Marat painting gained the popularity that it did supports the idea that people began to relate more with enlightenment concepts and less of the idea of a king.

The skillful hand of each artist has a unique place in the message of each painting. The separate pieces are painted with unique and very different forms. Looking at the Louis XIV painting one notices that it is very full. This is assumed to be an intentional detail, as a king would surely have many possessions. Small shadows hide in the creases of cloth behind him. The only true shadow that rivals that of the king is in the very back of the painting almost out of sight. It would not be a stretch to say that the painting is full of cloth, and every cloth is radiant with color.  [Comment 6:  Attention to formal detail reasserts and supports the main argument about class and the king’s presentation within the painting.]  Light comes from the right-side illuminating Louis the XIV making him look larger with his robe on. The piece is extremely skilled but has some element of blurring when looked at closely. The overall atmosphere is one of style, color, and power regarding the king. The Marat piece does not share much with the Louis portrait; it is of a bath tub, a man, and a desk. The details of Marat are more vivid and retain their integrity upon close inspection. Marat himself is so realistic, he truly looks lifeless.  [Comment 7:  Formal analysis here connects to prior class content, and points to the art historical references within the painting.]   His posture is very reminiscent of pieta, reinforcing his martyr status in a Christ-like fashion. Despite the detail and realism of Marat,  [Comment 8:  Looks not only to what is in the painting, but how absences are treated, considering the entire composition.]  the stark ambiguity of the upper half of the painting is both unconventional and genius. With a black top half, there is nothing but Marat himself to focus on, the only thing one can really see and feel is Marat. As a result, the piece evokes keeps the viewers attention and feeling on the death of the man. One might ask who would do such a thing. Then answer inevitably reached is the monarchy.

Conclusion (0 comments)

The differences in context, content, and form of  The Death of Marat  and  Louis XIV  vary widely. These aspects are essential to the message and reception of the works. Their comparison brings out everything that is right, or wrong, with the messages they impart. In the case of David’s painting, it simply elicits the exact emotions people needed to feel; the emotions they needed reassurance of if they were to carry out their cause. The power of  The Death of Marat  inspired people to carry on fighting for the French Revolution. The influence of art certainly stretches beyond the construct of the mind, art is part and parcel of society, and should be regarded so dearly.

Annotated Sample of Read, Look, Reflect Essay

This sample contains 10 comments. These comments appear within the text of the article and are noted with bold text, brackets [ ], and the word "comment" before the text they refer to.  You can also view these annotations and the original paper in a  Google Doc format .

Assignment Context

As a student in ART 188, you might be asked to write a series of Read, Look, Reflect papers. The following paper is an example of exemplary student work. For this assignment, students are asked to read two sonnets by Michelangelo and look closely at Michelangelo’s sculpture Awakening Slave. Then they are asked to reflect on the questions below. This is a paper in which all students referenced the same assigned texts. No outside research was necessary, so footnotes were not required. Only clear references to the specific sonnet being discussed were necessary.

How does the allusion to the creative process in Michelangelo’s poems help us understand his philosophy of carving sculpture? How is that process visually apparent in the sculpture,  Awakening Slave ?

Introduction (3 comments)

Read, Look, Reflect: Michelangelo’s  Awakening Slave

[Comment 1: This introductory paragraph is effective because it begins providing an answer to the essay prompt. The author begins to explain a connection between hand and mind, which suggests a particular approach to the creative process.]   [Comment 2:  The author also gets straight to the point without making any sweeping historical claims or claims about beauty or greatness of a work of art.]  Michelangelo’s sonnets give insight into his beliefs about the mind’s vision and the hand’s product. Using sonnets to discuss the creative process and its resulting translation to Michelangelo’s sculptures is a testament to Michelangelo’s own mental capabilities, for both forms of art are quite difficult to produce well. Poetry and art require excessive refinement and revision on the part of the creator to convey what he or she wants to with a finished product. In the sonnet numbered 151, Michelangelo describes the “hand that obeys the intellect”,  [Comment 3:  Here’s one place where the author provides an interpretation of a specific quote.]  an indication that he believes that the mind is central to sculpting a vision from inspiration before the hand sculpts the stone itself. Further, Michelangelo’s choice of words here shows his reverence for the mind in its central creative role. In this paper, demonstrate how Michelangelo’s sonnets and the sculpture,  Awakening Slave , express a tension between idea and execution.

Analysis (7 comments)

With this in mind, Michelangelo’s second sonnet, numbered 152, delves further into the carving process.  [Comment 4:  The author focuses on a specific part of the poem here.]  Michelangelo speaks of a living figure “that grows larger wherever the stone decreases” in this poem, a more direct allusion to what stone is literally subtracted as artistic additions are made to the stone. From there, the sonnet further describes the process of addition, discussing how one cannot see his or her own good in the same way that others can.  [Comment 5:  The author comes to a thoughtful interpretation of the quote here.]  Rather, according to Michelangelo, other people seem to see the good in an individual and can bring it out to the surface in a way that the individual is unable to introspectively.  [Comment 6:  The author continues to reflect on the significance of that interpretation to the creative process.]  This is a powerful observation both psychologically and artistically, and though Michelangelo is commenting on both, the latter alludes more to the creative process. Artistically, it seems like Michelangelo is alluding to his personal definition of inspiration. When artists like himself create, they seek to bring out qualities worth displaying, whether they be qualities like grace and beauty, or in the case of his sculpture,  Awakening Slave , a quality like the beauty of struggle.

Because Michelangelo’s sculpture,  Awakening Slave , is still very much confined to the stone, viewers can see his poetic description of replacing raw stone with a mental vision in artistic practice. It could be argued that the sculpture is either intentionally or accidentally unfinished, but with the information from the sonnets, the former seems to be a more accurate reflection of Michelangelo’s beliefs in this art. For Michelangelo, crafting a seemingly unfinished sculpture can successfully show the struggles of the creative process, especially conflicts with inspiration itself. Conflicts could entail a situation such as if inspiration were to run dry, or a time when the pressure on the creator to produce a fully developed vision becomes too much.

The man who is supposed to be awakening in the sculpture is facing a personal struggle that he cannot escape from.  [Comment 7:  The author makes a clear and specific observation about the sculpture.]  It is worth noting that a body is more clearly defined in the sculpture than a head.  [Comment 8:  The author suggests a possible interpretation of the observation above.]  This structural observation could mean that the head, and therefore the mind, is the source of the struggle for the man depicted in the stone.  [Comment 9:  The author again makes a specific observation in the next sentence and then moves into interpretation for the rest of the paragraph.]  The central parts of the body are more prominent in the stone than the upper and lower regions of the body, giving the sculpture a warped look on the top, but also a little bit on the bottom as well. This further enhances the theme of struggle and the overtaking of the mind by said struggle. The all- consuming nature of struggle is made more powerful and central to the sculpture by that design choice, especially since viewers know that Michelangelo’s anatomical accuracy was part of what has made many of his other works so respected.

The ability that viewers have to pair Michelangelo’s  Awakening Slave  with written explanations from the artist centuries later undoubtedly adds to one’s interpretation of the art. Michelangelo’s decision to reflect on his own creative process shows that while he was a renowned artist, the talent was accompanied by other highly developed talents, too. In more than one respect, Michelangelo continues to succeed in making critics and common viewers alike understand the complexity of the artistic profession.

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Art and Art History Research Guide

• Terminology
• Background research and finding books
• Advanced searching in databases and Google
• Evaluating sources
• Chicago / Turabian Style

What is MLA?

Mla resources, citing your sources in mla style, cite right in mla library workshop, microsoft word templates, mla handbooks in the library.

Each academic discipline has its own rules for presenting research and citing ideas and words borrowed from other writers and researchers.

• Courses in English and the humanities use the  Modern Language Association  (MLA) style rules.
• The  MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers  contains comprehensive rules and examples for citing.
• MLA 9 Quick Guide
• MLA Style Sample Paper
• Excelsior OWL MLA Guide
• ZoteroBib Citation Generator
• How to Create a Hanging Indent in Word
• How to Create a Hanging Indent in Google Docs

How does citing in MLA work?

Step 1: Create a Works Cited page

• Include a Works Cited page at the end of your research paper. It should contain a full citation for each source referenced within your paper. The full citation should include the specific publication information required by the MLA rules. This allows your reader to find the sources, if desired.

Step 2: Use in-text citations throughout your paper

• Use an  in-text citation  to acknowledge that you are quoting or paraphrasing another author's words or ideas in the text of your research paper.
• Your reader will use the information provided in the signal phrase and in-text citation to find additional information about the source in your  Works  Cited  page.

Critser noted that despite growing numbers of overweight Americans, many health care providers still “remain either in ignorance or outright denial about the health danger to the poor and the young” (5). If the author is not named in the signal phrase, place the author’s name and the page number in parentheses after the quotation or paraphrase like this (Critser 5). 

Step 3: Double-check your formatting

• The MLA Handbook dictates the rules for formatting your in-text citations, Works Cited page, and your final research paper.
• Review the links in the " MLA Resources " box on this page to see formatting examples.

• Take the Quiz: Cite Right in MLA Complete this online quiz after watching the video above. A certificate of completion will be emailed to you.

Use MLA templates in Word and Google Docs

When creating a new Microsoft Word document (or Google Doc), search for "MLA" to see  MLA-style research paper templates. 

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