DEADLINE: Essay Introduction Draft MUST be handed in Thursday 18 Dec 2024
DEADLINE: Final Essay MUST be handed in Fri 31 Jan 2025
ESSAY: In the Spring term will be spending 1 lesson a week, normally Wednesdays on writing and developing your essay. However, you will need to be working on it independently outside of lesson time.
Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus
- Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
- Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary. – use for image analysis
- Investigate a wide range of work and sources
- Develop a personal and critical inquiry.
How to start: Copy this essay plan into your own blog post, titled: Essay Draft:
Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .
- Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
- Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
- It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different points of view – not only your own.
- Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.
Essay Question
- Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
- Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.
Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:
possible-essay-questions-to-investigate
Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph. Further help can be found here essay structure or see link here The Royal Literay Fund
- Essay question:
In what way does Justine Kurland & Michelle Sank explore youth and femininity through their work?
How does Jeff Walls tableaux approach depict a seemingly photo journalistic approach?
How do Justine Kurland and Jim Goldberg portray childhood differently through their work?
To what extend have Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall used narrative as a way to explore female identity in their work?
To what extend has Justine Kurland used narrative as a way to explore female identity in their work?
To what extend have Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall explored narrative in their work?
- Opening quote
‘To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge- and therefore, like power.’ (Sontag 1997:4)
- Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
Female Identity and Narratives
Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall
Creating my own images recreating my own youth, while still borrowing concepts, ideas, compositions from both of them and other historical paintings, including Manet.
Tableaux photography
- Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian.
Tableaux photography and its origin in Pictorialism – explain its influence from Allegorical Painting and how it was a reaction against photography as a scientific experiment
– select an example from Pictorialism, eh. Julia Margaret Cameron, discuss how she constructed images using friends/ family to model exploring female identities influenced by Pre-Raphalite painters - Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
- Justine Kurland use of narrative using real people in staged situations and link with style of Tableux Photography
– select key image that was inspired by Manet breakfast painting - Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
Jeff Wall use of narrative using real people in staged situations and link with style of Tableux Photography
– select key image that was also inspired by Manet breakfast painting
- Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
- Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
Sontag, S. (1977) ‘In Plato’s Cave’ in On Photography. London: Penquin Boohs.
pictorialism-vs-realism-3Download
How Did Pictorialism Shape Photography and Photographers ?
A short PPT on Tableaux Photography
Bull, S. (2009), ‘The Photograph as Art’ in Photography. London: Routledge.
Bate, D. (2016) ‘Pictorual Turn’ in Art Photography. London: Tate Galleries.
a text about how Tableaux has been influenced by Pictorialism.
Bright, S. (2005). ‘Narrative’ in Art Photography Now. New York: Aperture.
Cotton, C. (2009). ‘Once Upon a Time’ in The Photograph as Contemporary Art. London: Thames & Hudson.
text, interview, articles about Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall
Bengal, R. (2020) ‘The Jeremys’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture
– see book in the classroom
Kurland, J. (July 14 2020). Justine Kurland Reflects on Her Photographs of Teenage Girl Runaways. New York: Aperture
https://www.frieze.com/article/justine-kurland
Kurland, J. (2020) ‘Cherry Bomb’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture.
Bengal, R. (2020) ‘The Jeremys’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Margaret_Cameron
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tableau_vivant
Use of AI / ChatGPT – go to this blog post here for guidelines.
Key Terminology: Here is a link to a glossary of key words, glossary of photographic processes, glossary of art movements and genres, and linking words and phrases.
Essay writing: Here is a link to another blog post which will provide you with guideline and more details about how to structure each paragraph in your essay.
Draft Introduction (250-500 words). Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies, if any? What have you explored so far, or what are you going to photograph? How will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or processes have you experimented with, or are you going to experiment with?
Essay Question:
Introduction: