How to Write an Art Review Essay

Writing any review essay might be one of the toughest assignments in school or college. And when you first hear about art review essay writing, it might sound like something completely unrelated to your field of study.

However, if you know the importance of art review and critical thinking in education, then you know that a piece of coursework like this can be really important. Further, having a great background in art history, critical thinking, and art criticism is pretty hard to find in a textbook, especially if studying something unrelated.

Nevertheless, this article provides you with the information to get you started writing an art review essay. It is also ideal if you need extra tips to sharpen your skills and become better at writing these types of writing.

Generally, the essay has description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation segments all rolled into one. However, they are distinct, and knowing how to write them, plus what information to put in each, will set you above the rest.

Parts of an art review essay

Before looking at the tips, here is a quick view of these parts and what each cover.

Description Part

The first part of these reviews is an introduction to the artwork’s general characteristics. This part describes what it’s made from, its size and other distinct features such as size, color, and age, among others.

In addition, this section gives a brief history of the artist and where they’re from. If you have more specific information about these things, include that as well.

• Describe what materials are used in making this piece
• Describe how large or small this work is compared to other pieces by this artist, if there are any. If there isn’t another piece to compare, describe its size relative to something else. For example, you can say, “This sculpture is so tiny; I could hold it in my hand.”.
• Describe where this piece was made.

The next step is diving deeper into your feelings about the piece. Specifically, you should discuss your emotional responses as you experienced the artwork.

Describe how you felt, whether excited, happy, sad, confused or irritated. Write down these emotions and how they made themselves known in your body.

In your description, be creative and deeply innovative in your word choice because you want to make readers see the art through your words. For example, you can say, “I felt my jaw drop as I stared at the giant rock formations jutting from the ground like giant teeth.”

Additionally, describe those feelings once the art was out of sight. Did they leave behind any lasting impressions? This section is aimed to draw a reader more into your piece because you want the mental picture created to stick with them for longer.

Also see: When to start a new paragraph in an essay

The description might be challenging to write, but there are tips to help you. One of the best ways to do this is by looking at your emotions before, during, and after viewing the piece of art. This will give you an idea of what emotion or feeling was evoked by whatever made up your experience with this piece of art.

Analysis Section

Now that you’ve fully described the work, it’s time to analyze it. What does this piece mean? How does it relate to other works by the same artist, works by different artists, and historical periods and current events?

To analyze a painting, for example, you could write about how its composition was typical of paintings made during a certain period. You can also analyze how it differs from most paintings made during the same period.

You could also write about how this piece relates to other paintings by renowned artists such as Leonardo da Vinci or those that are similar and discuss why these similarities exist.

Interpretation Section

After analyzing your writing piece, the next step is interpreting it, which entails giving meaning to the artwork in this part of your review. Basically, you aim to decode the art.

Some questions to consider while writing this part include: What is the painting, sculpture, or drawing about? Further, you can answer what message the artist is trying to convey, or does this piece have a purpose?

If so, what feelings do you get from it and does it remind you of something else that has been created before?

For example, if writing a review on a painting with a night theme in a particular country, the artist probably chose to set the scene at night because they wanted readers to see city lights and stars.

Generally, an artwork’s meaning revolves around society and its activities. Therefore, the origin or place where a piece is done significantly influences your interpretation.

Evaluation Section

The evaluation section entails the impact of the piece. In this part, your writing should explain to readers if the piece lives up to its expectations and whether you think it achieved its purpose.

Conclusion Segment

An art review essay’s conclusion is the last part, where you sum up all the previous parts into one. This section also includes your final opinion and suggestions about the artwork.

Tips for Writing an Effective Art Review Essay

Besides knowing the sections of a review art essay, knowing these tips will help you produce a stellar review.

1. Follow instructions

Following your instructor’s instructions is a critical aspect of art review essay writing. If the assignment asks you to review multiple pieces or an entire collection, you will need to write a few paragraphs on each piece individually before moving on to the next.

However, if asked to review only one piece, ensure you do that so that you do not include other information and go off-topic or become redundant by repeating yourself too many times

2. Research

Research the historical context in which the piece was made and why it was created at that time. This also helps to give your readers a better understanding of the art. Further, the research should entail the artist, society depicted in the art, and other socio-cultural happenings.

Researching also ensures you have enough information to accurately judge the artist, their work, and the piece’s meaning.

3. Be objective

Even though reviews have an element of personal opinion, this should not affect your writing. Also, the opinion should come at a later stage of the paper. The first part should be used to paint the picture to a reader before you give your opinion.

These tips will help you be objective.

• Be objective in your tone and content.
• Present the facts without making any subjective comments regarding the work of art under review.
• When writing an art review essay, remember you’re not criticizing the artist but simply evaluating their work based on established criteria of criticism

The golden rule in giving an opinion is to remember your opinion is not always right or wrong, and some people may like what you don’t like. Therefore, try to look at things from different perspectives before giving your opinion on something which may be controversial or debatable

Conclusion

Writing an art review essay is a great opportunity to show your critical thinking skills and creatively express yourself. Artistic works are complex and often open to interpretation, so you must be able to look beyond what’s on the surface level of the work itself and consider its deeper meanings.

And with these tips, you can now go forth and write a perfect art review essay.