Arts 1304 - Rinck, Jonathan: Museums Research

RESEARCH PAPER- Part II

DUE:   Nov. 20

Part II of the Museum Research Paper assignment will allow you to investigate the art of a specific period, culture, and/or movement related to one of the objects you researched in Part I of this assignment.  While this assignment will be a much broader study of a particular type of art, the originally selected museum object will be integrated into the paper.  This will give you an opportunity to learn more about the specific object by placing it within its cultural and artistic context.  In doing so, you should bring a new understanding to the object and/or redefine the specific category of art (period, style, object type, etc.) to which it belongs.

To begin, select one of the objects you reviewed in the Museum Research Assignment, and begin your examination by identifying the cultural ideas from which it emerged in order to assess howand why it came into existence.  You have already completed a thorough description of the object and have begun some research.  Next, you will be required to find two more sources to help you better understand the artwork (four sources total, two of which were used for the Museum Assignment Part 1.  Here is how to start:

1. First, through your research you will try to learn as much as you can about the art of the period, the culture in which the artwork was produced, and the aesthetic considerations of the time period and/or specific art movement (possibly even a single artist if he/she has had a long and prolific career).  What type of artwork (medium, style) was being produced in this particular time and place?  What are the characteristics of this style of art?
2. Next, examine a broad range of artworks related to the culture and discuss conventions and variations among those objects. You may want to compare and contrast objects in terms of their subject, style, function, and/or content.  What are the physical traits of the art being produced either within the culture as a whole, the stylistic movement, or a particular artist’s career. 
3. Then, assess how the particular work selected from the museum falls within the aesthetic and cultural context you have researched.  How does this object reflect the cultural (political, religious, philosophical) and aesthetic ideas of its time and place?

Your final paper will be a well-written essay, approximately four pages in length (typed, double-spaced, standard 10 or 12 pt. font), with Four or more properly cited sources in a Works Cited page.  (Do not use your textbook or encyclopedias as a cited source, as both are far too general to be considered scholarly.)  No more than one of your sources should be from a website, but note that any cited internet reference must be from a scholarly source--museum, publication site, or university (look for sites ending in .org or .edu).   

All sources must be properly cited in either the MLA (Modern Language Association) or Turabian style. Guides to both formats are available online: https://lib.trinity.edu/lib2/cite.php, or http://sacguide.libguides.com/writeguide.  Your complete and properly cited Works Cited page (or bibliography) will constitute ten-percent (10%) of your final paper grade

There’s no formal template for this assignment. However, you might consider setting up your paper as follows:

Introduction: 

Introduce the work of art you’re writing about, and provide a very brief visual description of it. Let me know who the artist is, and what the medium is. Then let me know what culture or time period this work was produced in. In your opinion, was this work of art typical or unusual for its time and place? (no more than ½ page)

Body 

Here you could tell me about the time/place in which your artwork was created. What movement was your work a part of? What were the attributes of that artistic movement or time period? Visually, what defined that particular style? What sort of themes or ideas were prevalent in the time/place in which your work of art was created? Here, you’re addressing the big picture (cultural context), and not really addressing your specific work of art. (1.5-2 pages)

Next, turn the focus toward your work of art, and describe how your work of art falls within its time/place. Stylistically, what makes it either typical or unusual for its time period? What themes or ideas does your work of art convey? If it has a message, how does it compare/contrast with other works of art from that time? Can you find out anything about the artistic intent of the artist? Did the artist comment on their artistic intent? What purpose did your work of art serve? How does your work of art compare/contrast with other works also produced by the same artist (or other contemporary artists)? How did the public receive that particular work of art? (1.5-2 pages)

In short, specifically how does this object reflect (or oppose) the cultural (political, religious, philosophical) and aesthetic ideas of its time and place? You can take a middle ground too. Maybe some attributes of your work of art were reflective of its time and place, but maybe other attributes were unusual, or controversial for its time.

Conclusion:

You could structure your conclusion several different ways. But the simplest thing to do would be to summarize whether or not you think your work of art is representative of its time and place, and then summarize in brief the reasons why.  (No more than ½ page)