Grade by Grade
B. Reflecting, Responding, and Analysing · Responding to Art: Critical Analysis, Context and Responsible Practice

Description and Analysis: Deconstructing an Art Work

B1.2 C1.3About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can describe an art work using facts, not opinions.
  • I can analyse how the elements and principles of design create effects, using "because".
  • I can find a focal point and trace the visual path in an art work.
  • I can deconstruct my own art work to plan improvements.

Words to know

description
Stage of the critical analysis process: an objective list of what is in the work (subject, medium, size, elements).
analysis
Explaining how the elements and principles of design are used and what effects they create.
deconstruct
To take an art work apart, idea by idea, to see how it was built.
focal point
The area of a work that draws the eye first; the centre of interest.
visual path
The route the viewer's eye follows through an art work.
medium
The material an art work is made with, such as oil paint, graphite, clay or digital pixels.
foreground, middle ground, background
The areas of a picture that seem nearest, in between, and farthest from the viewer.

Hook: be a detective, not a judge

A detective at a crime scene does not start by deciding who is guilty. First they record everything: footprints, the open window, the half-finished tea. Then they figure out how the clues connect.

Look at art works the same way. Description is collecting the clues. Analysis is figuring out how the clues work together. The curriculum calls this deconstructing an art work: taking it apart to see how it was built.

Step 2: description, just the facts

A description lists what anyone could see, without opinions. Cover:

  • Subject matter: what is shown (a person, a landscape, objects, nothing recognizable at all).
  • Medium and materials: oil paint, acrylic, watercolour, pencil, charcoal, photograph, clay, beads, digital, mixed media.
  • Size and format: large or small, vertical (portrait format) or horizontal (landscape format), 2D or 3D.
  • Elements of design you can see: lines, shapes, forms, colours, values, textures, space.
  • Style: realistic, stylized, abstract or non-objective.

A test for a good description: someone who has never seen the work could sketch a rough version from your words. Also check for sneaky opinions. "A beautiful sunset" contains a judgement. "A yellow half-circle of sun on the horizon" does not.

Step 3a: analysis, how is it built?

Analysis explains how the artist used the elements of design (line, shape, form, space, colour, value, texture) and the principles of design (such as contrast, emphasis, balance, unity, variety, movement, rhythm and proportion) to create an effect.

The key word in analysis is because. Not just "there is contrast" but "the dark tree stands out because it contrasts with the pale sky". Ask these questions:

  • Emphasis: Where is the focal point? What makes it stand out (contrast, colour, size, placement, lines pointing to it)?
  • Movement: How does your eye travel through the work?
  • Balance: Is it symmetrical, asymmetrical or radial? What has the most visual weight?
  • Space: What is in the foreground, middle ground and background? Is the space deep or flat?
  • Unity and variety: What holds it together? What adds interest?

(The Creating and Presenting unit teaches the elements and principles in depth through your own art making. Here you use them as tools for looking.)

Contrast: dark trunk andbranches against light skyFocal point: the sun, warmcolour + strongest contrastLow horizon line: lots ofsky = open, spacious feelingScale: a tiny canoe makesthe lake feel huge
Deconstructing the practice painting. Each label names an element or principle and the effect it creates.

Following the eye

Artists guide your eye on a path, often called the visual path. Lines (like a tree trunk or a road), pointing shapes, light against dark, and warm colours all pull your attention. Tracing the path tells you what the artist wanted you to see first, second and last.

1234Numbers show one likely path for the eye.
A visual path: the trunk and branches lead the eye up and right to the bright sun, its reflection pulls the eye down, and the small canoe catches it last.
Worked example

Let's deconstruct a real Canadian painting

Lawren Harris, North Shore, Lake Superior, 1926, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. It shows a large, broken tree stump on a rocky shore in front of a lake, with rays of light streaming down from the clouds. (View it online with a grown-up.)

  1. Description: a tall, smooth, broken tree stump stands near the centre in the foreground on rounded rocks. Behind it: a calm lake, a distant shoreline and a sky with long rays of light. Oil on canvas, horizontal format, simplified smooth shapes.
  2. Emphasis: the stump is the focal point because it is the largest shape and is placed near the centre, in front of everything else.
  3. Line and movement: the rays of light are straight lines that lead the eye down toward the stump.
  4. Shape and style: the shapes are simplified, smooth and almost sculptural, so the scene feels calm and still rather than detailed and busy.
  5. Space: strong foreground (stump and rocks), middle ground (lake), background (far shore and sky), so the space feels deep and wide.

Analysis connects each visual choice to an effect: big central shape → focal point; rays of light → eye movement; simplified shapes → stillness.

Worked example

Let's deconstruct your own work

Priya drew a pencil still life of her running shoes for a class assignment. Here is how she deconstructs it in her sketchbook.

  1. Description: "Graphite pencil on paper, 28 cm by 21.5 cm, vertical. Two running shoes, one on its side, on a wooden floor. Mostly mid-grey values."
  2. Analysis: "My focal point is supposed to be the laces, but my eye goes to the dark shadow under the shoe first, because that is the strongest value contrast."
  3. More analysis: "The shoes are both in the middle, so the balance feels symmetrical and a bit static."
  4. What it tells her: "Next time I will darken the laces' shadows and move one shoe to the right third to make the composition more interesting."

Deconstructing your own work shows you what is really happening on the page, so you can make better choices in the next draft.

Description words that are facts, not opinions

Instead of beautiful, ugly, messy, perfect, try: thick, thin, curved, jagged, diagonal, smooth, rough, transparent, opaque, warm, cool, saturated, muted, light, dark, large, small, central, off-centre, repeated, layered.

Just for fun

Funny but true: Lawren Harris's later paintings became so simplified that some are completely abstract: no lake, no tree, just shapes. Imagine a detective whose clues gradually disappear.

Hands-on activity

Deconstruct a cereal box

You need: a cereal or cracker box (or any package), paper, a pencil, coloured pencils, a ruler.

Packaging is designed by visual artists, so it is perfect for practising.

  1. Describe the front panel: subject, colours, lettering, shapes, format. Facts only.
  2. Find the focal point. What makes it stand out? (Size? Colour? Contrast? Placement?)
  3. Draw a quick thumbnail of the box front and draw a visual path with numbered arrows (1, 2, 3...).
  4. Name two principles the designer used (for example, contrast, emphasis, repetition, balance) and explain each with because.
  5. Now pick a drawing you made recently and do steps 1 to 4 on it. Write one change you would make.

Your turn

1

What is the difference between description and analysis?

2

Remove the opinion: "A gorgeous red barn sits in a lovely field."

3

Name the seven elements of design.

4

In the practice painting, what is the focal point and why?

5

What three areas of space can you describe in a landscape?

6

Turn this into analysis: "There is a lot of blue."

7

Why should you deconstruct your own art work, not just other people's?

More practice: warm-up

1

True or false: "oil on canvas" is part of a description.

2

What does "deconstruct" mean when looking at art?

3

Is a vertical picture in portrait or landscape format?

4

Name two things that can make a focal point stand out.

5

Who painted North Shore, Lake Superior (1926)?

More practice: on your own

1

In North Shore, Lake Superior, how do the rays of light affect the viewer's eye?

2

Explain how the tiny canoe in the practice painting creates a feeling.

3

A drawing has two equally dark, equally large shapes on the left and right. What kind of balance is that, and what is a possible effect?

4

Write a 3-sentence description of a household object (no opinions).

5

Why is "because" called the key word of analysis?

Challenge

1

Analyse how the practice painting would change if the horizon line were moved up near the top of the frame.

2

Your focal point is a small face in a busy crowd. Suggest three ways to make it stand out.

3

A classmate says analysis "kills the magic" of art. Respond with a thoughtful argument.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which statement is a description, not an opinion?

2.

Which is an example of analysis?

3.

Which of these is a principle of design, not an element?

4.

The path your eye follows through a work is called the...

5.

A low horizon line in a landscape usually...

6.

Why deconstruct your own work?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: B1.2 asks students to deconstruct the visual content and the use of the elements and principles of design in their own art work and the work of others. Description must be objective; analysis must explain effects.

How to help: Use packaging, posters, book covers and ads. Ask "Where does your eye go first? Why?" and insist on a "because".

Common difficulties:

  • Opinions sneaking into descriptions ("pretty", "messy"). Ask, "Could everyone agree with that?"
  • Naming principles without effects ("there is contrast"). Ask, "So what does the contrast do?"
  • Not analysing their own work. Encourage a short written deconstruction in the sketchbook after each project.