Topic: Audio tour of artwork "The Sword of Damocles"

1) Description: Write this section as though you take a blind friend to the Ackland and bring him/her to the piece on which you'll write your audio tour. Describe the work with complete objectivity. Remember, your reader cannot see the work; it's up to you to re-create the piece through your writing but you do not want to bias your friend's view of the work, so it's important to maintain perfect objectivity. You want to list the things you see. Be careful not to interpret: for example, just say “black and grey clouds fill the sky” and not “it’s a stormy, dark day.” Include the name of the work, the artist, the date, the media and where the artwork is (museum, etc) and/or was created. 2) Analysis: Here you will look at how the elements used in the work shape the principles that determine the visual effects. How do the elements create emphasis, unity, balance, etc.? Point out here that the emphasis is on the face of the woman, for example, but don’t say why yet (that’s for the interpretation). Elements: • Line, (thick, thin, straight, create space), • shape/form, • value (lightness or darkness of a color), • space (negative or positive), • color (intensity), • texture (real or created from lighting), • perspective Principles: • balance, • emphasis (what is the center of interest?), • contrast (the differences in the elements of art), • repetition, • unity (how things work together), • proportion (ratio of things), • variety (notice difference more than unity) 3) Interpretation: Here you decide, based on your analysis and description, what you think the artist is trying to say in the work. Infer from evidence in the text what’s the mood? theme? message? symbolism? Support your interpretation with evidence from the work. 4) Judgment: Here you get to express your opinion about the work. Do you like it? Why or why not? What merits does it have as a piece of art? Do you like it because it evokes emotion? seems realistic? uses well the elements of art? Description In the year 1912, Richard Westall painted The Sword of Damocles, which is exhibited in the Ackland Art Museum now. The oil painting on canvas has a size of 130 x 103 cm. There are nine people in the painting. (combine sentences and get rid of “is”)One man wearing a red robe sits at the center on a chair that has numerous patterns and carvings. A woman kneels beside the seated man and serves him with drink in a glass. Two women on the bottom right corner present a plate with fruits on their knees. Two women carry musical instruments behind the seated man on the left side of the painting. Two men on the top right corner look at the seated man from a distance; one of the men wears a protective armor, and the other man wears a white robe. One man stands behind the seated man at the center of the painting. He has a black beard , and he raises one of his hands upwards. A suspended sword faces directly above the seated man, and the seated man looks up at the sword. The room has two sculptuores, and the walls have engraved drawings. The color of the chair, musical instruments, table surface, stick on the ground, serving jugs and plate resembles the color of gold. Analysis Richard Westall uses the neoclassical style of painting, and so applies to The Sword of Damocles (this doesn’t belong in this section because it names rather than details the elements and principles in the work). The presence of the decorative art, the fashion sense of the people and the architecture of the drawing depict an Empire setting. Even though the space seems quite small, the artist captures various aspects of the painting (this seems vague; what do you mean to say?). The characters look towards the center, and the line of sight also focuses towards the center. The artist evenly distributes features (what features? Be specific) on the artwork and thus makes it appears balanced.be detailed here; explain what’s balanced and how The huge man in the middle appears to hold a superior role and draws a lot of attention (this is interpretation; tell us here what makes you think that? He’s huge, so that’s on thing. How else does he draw attention? Do the other figures look at him, drawing our attention to him? Does he contrast to the background or others around him through color or size?) . Everyone attends to the needs of the seated man. The colors appear intense and full of freshness since the paint is thick. Moreover, the paint has a smooth texture. The thickness of the paint helps contrasts the different shades of red in the robes. The standing man has the brightest red robe; the seated man has a brighter red robe and the woman carrying a musical instrument to the left has the least bright red robe. great; here you discuss color and intensity! The background has pink and white colors, and the gold color dominants the artwork at the center. Interpretation I believe that the artist tries to explain a story about the joys and dangers of leadership. The smiling women on the left, fruits and wine at the feast symbolize joy, while the sword faces above the seated man symbolizes danger. (rephrase this sentence to clarify; do the smiling women and the fruits and wine symbolize joy? How?) why does the sword induce danger? Just because it’s a sword or do the elements and principles of the work that suggest this? In spite of the fact that Damocles enjoys himself at the beginning of the banquet, his life lies on a balance. The fright and shock on the face of Damocles detect a tense mood as he stares up and sees the sword suspended. Even though the seated man enjoys wine, fruits, and music, a suspended sword appears above him and nothing may be done even with the security guard present. Therefore, the artwork reaffirms that even the most prestigious leadership position may not guarantee security. According to a historical legend, Damocles was envious of his ruler Dionysius. Damocles admired material wealth, leadership role, and lavish lifestyle. Dionysius invited him to a banquet, he enjoyed himself with the wine, music, and fruits there but to his dismay as he looked up and saw a suspended sword. It showed Damocles that the life of Dionysius wasn’t as interesting and fulfilling as he had anticipated. The suspended sword symbolizes the enemies that constantly wait for an opportunity to kill him and seize his power. In your analysis, you convey careful observations that deserve attention in your interpretation. Your interpretation should be a discussion of what you've discovered in your analysis--the elements and principles of the work; you want to ask why these elements and principles (symmetry, contrast, for example) exist in the work and to what end. This enables you to interpret with support from the text. Your interpretation should be based on your analysis and description. If your thesis suggests that power comes with great instability, you need to support it with evidence from the work (from your description and analysis). Work on pulling out more about the work in terms of your analysis and then interpreting based on these elements and principles; ask why as we did in class yesterday and develop a theory based on what you see rather than what you know. The story of Damocles should inform your interpretation, but you need to look at the work for an interpretation of the painting itself and how it conveys this story, rather than depending on the story to tell you how to interpret the work.