The trick to writing about whatever you want is
really quite simple, and boils down to one simple tip: connections, connections,
connections. Find a connection between your required topic and a topic that
interests you and then write about it.
Sometimes your secondary topic will be something
that is already sitting in the back of your mind, and sometimes you’ll discover
it during your research.
 |
| James Ensor The Bad Doctors |
A
Predetermined Interest
I took 20th Century Art History the
semester before my Baroque class and fell in love with the work of James Ensor,
particularly his painting The Bad Doctors.
The painting was still on my mind when it came time to write my Baroque research
paper. Remember my essay on Hendrick Heerschop’s The Doctor’s Visit from Part 2 of my essay tips? I really chose
that painting so that I could write about Ensor’s painting. Both paintings
convey doctors that society believed had bad medical practices. In the 17th
century, old-fashioned doctors were mocked
as fools, and in the 20th
century, patients feared the development of invasive procedures. I researched
each era’s medical beliefs (another reason researching outside of art is
beneficial) and BOOM, I had the perfect way to connect these two paintings. I
got to write the paper I wanted, while still fulfilling my Baroque requirement.
 |
| Indonesian Shadow Puppet |
A New
Interest
If you remember from Essay Tips Part: 1, I picked
my Asian art research paper based on aesthetics. During my early research, I
found an article that inspired my thesis. I read the article Relationship Between the Art of Wayang Kulit
and Disney’s Twelve Principles of Animation by Dahlan Abdul and Sidin Bin
Ahmad. With this new lens to my research, I found so many other connections
between the shadow puppets and Disney Animation. I expanded on Abdul’s and
Ahmad’s thesis to write my own paper. I strengthened my argument by using the animations of Lotte Reiniger as a stepping stone between the two styles.
Now if I had just said that I wrote a Baroque
paper on James Ensor and an Asian art paper on Disney, you would have thought I
was crazy. But, with the right connections, it’s possible.
The important thing when trying to write a paper
about “whatever you want” is to remember that you still have to stay within the
parameters of your paper requirements. Do
not completely abandon the period or art movement of your assignment. Even if
you write the best paper in the world, you will probably fail for neglecting
your real assignment. Art history is such a vast area of study that if you can’t
find something that interests you,
you probably shouldn’t be taking an art history class.
Some
Connection Ideas:
- Compare how the art reflects a change in society over time
- Compare how the art reflects differences in two societies at the same time
- Explain how an art style was adopted by another culture and used to inspire a new movement (African and Asian art had a huge influence on Western Modern art)
- Was a historical artwork used in a movie? Did they use it correctly? Are the location, time period, and purpose accurate? If not – provide all the corrections with strong evidence.
- Are there stylistic similarities between two far away cultures? Explore why.
- Compare two artworks that are responses to the same societal upheaval (Reformation/Counter Reformation, War, etc.)
- Compare how two artists approached the same topic (annunciation, nativity, the seven deadly sins, etc.)
- Approach an artwork from a feminist lens.
- Combine the last two – see how a topic is approached differently by a male and female painter (Judith and Holofernes, and Susanna and the Elders are great topics for this)
- And so many more connections to be made!
Good luck with your semester and don’t hesitate to
email me with topic requests and essay questions! boiledbunnies@gmail.com
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