A Short Guide to Writing About Art

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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.”

Chapter 1

• Increased emphasis on the ways museums shape the experience of art

Chapter 4

• A new essay by a student on Michelangelo’s David has been added

Chapter 7

• Increased emphasis on non-Western Art
• Clearly defines the term “Western Art”
• Calls attention to the special difficulties of reviewing exhibitions of cultures unfamiliar to most viewers

Chapter 8

• “Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials” – an entirely new chapter on writing materials for virtual exhibition
• Increased emphasis on the ways museums shape the experience of art

Chapter 13

• Revisions by an art-research librarian include the latest electronic sources

• Presents Step-by-Step Writing Instructions – Clear step-by-step writing instructions guide students through the research and writing processes, showing students how to use the terminology of art history, how to cite sources, solve issues of style, and use proper manuscript form.
• Demonstrates Good and Poor Writing – Examples of good and weak prose are presented throughout the book. Examples range from students’ writing to works by published scholars such as Rudolf Arnheim, Leo Steinberg, Albert Elsen, Mary D. Garrard, and Anne Hollander. These sample essays, with analytic comments by the author, demonstrate the strengths of effective writing.
• Provides Helpful Tips – Boxed feature Rules for Writers help readers become stronger writers by encouraging them to think about what and how they are writing. Checklists appearing throughout the book guide students step-by-step through the writing process strengthening their skills. New checklists this edition include: Examinations, Revising a Review, and Thesis Statement.
• Stirs Students’ Thoughts – Early chapters provide questions students can ask themselves when they look at any work of art. These questions prompt students to respond, helping them to realize they do have opinions about the works they see.
• Discusses Importance of Writing – Later chapters discuss matters of writing showing readers how to properly form their writing in the most effective way. Topics include: the importance of getting the right word, shaping each sentence effectively, organizing each paragraph, and more.

In this Section:

1. Brief Table of Contents
2. Full Table of Contents

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Writing About Art
2. Writing About Art: The Big Picture
3. Formal Analysis and Style
4. Analytical Thinking
5. Writing A Comparison
6. Writing an Entry in an Exhibition Catalog
7. Writing a Review of an Exhibition
8. Virtual Exhibitions: Writing Text Panels and Other Materials
9. How to Write an Effective Essay
10. Style in Writing
11. Art Historical Research
12. Some Critical Approaches
13. Writing a Research Paper
14. Manuscript Form
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

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.”

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