The Art of Writing About Art

This text provides numerous examples of writing about art, including samples written by arts and humanities students, artists, and professional writers.

The book helps students in the planning stages by offering numerous topic suggestions, research techniques, templates for planning and outlining essays, exercises in evaluating the workability of thesis statements, and advice in organizing the evidence for their assertions.

Students are given assistance in developing introductions, conclusions, and body paragraphs; citing sources in the MLA and footnote numbering documentation styles; and in finishing touches of writing titles, revising, editing, proofreading, and formatting papers.

Art-related examples are used to demonstrate principles of grammar and style particular to the discipline.

The second edition of THE ART OF WRITING ABOUT ART contains many updates and improvements. All of the illustrations are in color, making for a more attractive book that more readily facilitates discussions about art.

This edition also contains the work of more contemporary artists, such as painter Tom Wesselmann and photographer Shadi Ghadirian.

Every chapter, including the grammar and style handbook, is enhanced with exercises designed to assist students in verbalizing their responses to art and to reinforce their understanding of concepts. For example, the section on theories of art criticism is followed by an exercise in applying those theories; instruction on the organization of essay introductions is followed by an exercise in recognizing effective organizational patterns; instruction in syntax is followed by an exercise in reshaping awkward sentences.

Eight new student-written essays represent a level of writing that students can achieve with diligence and by following the instructions in the textbook.