Critically Analysing the Work of Other Artists and Designers

Analysing, not copying

AO1 asks you to develop ideas by critically analysing sources, often the work of other artists and designers. The key word is critically. A grade-9 investigation does not admire a source, or copy it. It questions it, and this module works on actual sentences rather than on advice about sentences, because the difference between describing and analysing is easiest to see written down.

The formal elements

Analysis is much easier with a vocabulary. These are the building blocks of any artwork, and naming them precisely is what lets you say how a piece works:

Which element is this about?

The same observation, three ways

Imagine a painting of a harbour: mostly grey, with one red boat. Here is one observation about it, written at three different levels. Only the third is doing what AO1 asks:

Which one is critical?

Four students write about the same print. Which sentence is doing critical analysis?

• "Cutting away so much of the block leaves the figure surrounded by empty white, which makes the crowd behind feel distant rather than close."
• "The print is black and white, and shows a figure standing in front of a crowd."
• "I really like this print because the style is very effective and eye-catching."
• "The artist was born in 1898 and studied printmaking in Paris before returning home."

Mark the analysis

Here is a paragraph from a student sketchbook. Tap the ONE sentence that goes beyond describing and actually analyses.

• The photograph shows a row of terraced houses on a wet street.
• It was taken in black and white.
• Removing colour flattens the houses into one repeated shape, so the row reads as a pattern before it reads as somewhere people live.
• There is a lamp post on the left and some parked cars further down.
• I think it is a very good photograph.

The analysis ladder

A strong piece of writing climbs through four stages, and most students stop one rung too early: 1. Describe what you can see. 2. Analyse how the formal elements are being used. 3. Interpret the meaning, or what the work seems to be about. 4. Respond personally, and say what you will take into your own work. You do not have to spend equal time on each. A single sentence of description is often enough, and stages three and four are where the marks are.

Order the analysis

Put the four stages of analysis in order, from the most surface to the deepest.

• Describe what you can see
• Analyse how the elements are used
• Interpret the meaning or message
• Give your personal response and link it to your own work

What context actually changes

Imagine a printed poster: flat blocks of two colours, coarse paper, no shading anywhere. Without any context, a reasonable analysis might call it crude, or read the flatness as a bold graphic choice. Now add the context. It was printed during a period of severe paper and ink shortages, in a workshop that had to produce thousands of copies quickly on whatever stock it could get. The same flatness now reads completely differently. It is a designer working within hard limits and making them look deliberate, and the two-colour scheme becomes a decision about legibility at speed rather than a lack of skill. Nothing about the poster changed. What changed is that you can now tell a constraint from a choice, which is most of what critical analysis is.

Useful context

Select ALL THREE things that would genuinely help you analyse a source more critically.

• When and where the work was made, and what was available to the maker at the time
• The movement or tradition the maker was working in, or reacting against
• Who the work was made for, and what it was meant to do
• What the work sells for at auction today
• How tall the artist was
• How many people have liked the image online

Analyse a source

A student is investigating a painting for their sketchbook. Choose the strongest move at each step.

• Their opening note reads: "The artist uses a lot of blue and it is quite a dark painting." What is the single change that would improve it most?
• They want to show critical understanding. What should they add next?
• They find out the painting was made during a long illness. How should that be used?
• The analysis is finished. What has to happen for it to count towards AO1?

The analysis frame

To describe is to say what is there; to _____ is to say how the formal elements work; and to analyse _____ is to question why the artist made those choices and what they mean. The _____ of a work, meaning when, where and why it was made, helps you tell a constraint from a choice. Finally, an AO1 analysis must feed your _____ work, by naming what you will take from the source.

Write a critical paragraph

Choose any artwork, photograph or design you can see or remember. In about 70 words, write a critical analysis of it. Include:

• one sentence of description, and no more than one
• a named formal element and what it does to the viewer
• why the maker might have chosen it, and one thing you will take into your own work