Visual Arts

Visual Source Analysis: What Objects Document

Grades K-12 | BleuLearn Homeschool Practice Pack

BleuLearn Visual Arts standard: A painting, sculpture, or photograph is a primary source. It was made by someone, at a specific moment, with a specific purpose, for a specific audience. The Four Questions apply to visual objects exactly as they apply to written documents.

Choose a Visual Artifact (free sources: nmaahc.si.edu, americanart.si.edu, africa.si.edu)

Title or description: _______________________________________

Artist or maker: _______________________________________

Medium (what is it made of — oil on canvas, bronze, photograph, mosaic?): _______________________

Date created: _______________________ Institution where it is held: _______________________

Three Minutes of Looking — Before the Four Questions

Write only what you observe — not what you think it means. What do you see in the foreground? Background? What is the largest element? What draws your eye first?

Apply the Four Questions

Q1 — Who made it?

Q2 — When and where was it made?

Q3 — What does it show? (Describe specifically — not what you feel about it)

Q4 — What does it document that a written source cannot?

BleuLearn Pause

What specific element of the visual composition (color, placement, scale, what is in the foreground vs. background) tells you something about what the artist was arguing?