General Guidelines for the Research Project
Here is some basic information that your presentation should contain (feel free to add whatever you think would be suitable)
- Be sure to start collecting the information about you research subject (monument) as early as possible
- Start collecting the images of your monument(s) as well as other relevant images
- When you obtain the VERY BASIC information about your monument – do meet with me for a discussion
BASIC INFORMATION for presentation:
Name of Artifact
Artist (if known; otherwise you can discuss what is known about this general category of artists/artisans that presumably made this object)
Date (how is that particular date is determined: contextually; stylistically, etc.)
Location (where is it located geographically)
Material(s) (what it was made of and how)
Dimensions
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
- Technical Aspects (how was it made; what media and techniques were employed)
- Iconography
- Who/what it represents?
- How does it represent what it represents – what elements of visual language are employed to convey particular message(s)?
- Be sure to ask ‘why’ all the time
INTERPRETATION
- Levels of Meaning
- Why was the monument built? What was/is its function?
- Why was it built/made the way it was? Where does it belong stylistically?
- How does this work fit into the oeuvre of a particular artist (if the artist is known)? How does this work fit into the works produced at the time? (Is it typical of the artist/time period/geographical area?)
- How and why did it change overtime? Did it? If yes, why? If no, why?
- How was it understood when it was first made?
- How was it interpreted/understood in subsequent times?
- Were there any particular reasons for making it the way it was made?
- Is there any symbolism in the representation? What is it?
- How people contemporary to the object would have understood it? What message(s) would it convey to them?
- How do people understand it/interpret it nowadays? What message(s) does it convey to people nowadays?
- Can the elements of any kind of propaganda be detected? (political, social, religious, historical, etc.)
Setting Where and how is the monument placed/displayed?
Where is it located and what is it surrounded by? How is it related to its surroundings? Do the surroundings/location add any additional meaning/understanding to the possible interpretation/messages of the monument?
Patronage Who and why commissioned this monument? Was it a public or private commission? Are there any implications of the patronage?
Conclusions
Bibliography (list of books and articles used in research)
(We will discuss what an annotated bibliography is)