Compare and Contrast two paintings

Order Description
Compare and Contrast Art Essay Assignment Guide

General description
The compare and contrast essay gives you an opportunity select two works of art that you observe in person from our local museums and galleries. The assignment asks
you to use a compare and contrast format to examine the two works in depth while at the same time showing how one of the works inspires you and fits your aesthetic and
conceptual sensibility better than the other. The two works can both be inspirational in different ways; the two works can both inspire in the same way but one more
than the other, one of the works can inspire and the other goes in a different direction in one of the categories of analysis. Compare and contrast essays are most
effective when both similarities and differences are defined.

Specific structure
A. Give the essay a title that foreshadows your reason for choosing the works

B. Introduction:
1. Begin with a statement of what qualities inspire you when viewing works of visual art.
-Refer to at least one of the basic terms
2. Introduce the two works of art you selected
-Include the artist, title, and date for each work, and where it is located
-Include information about a work located next to the works you select
3. Follow by addressing how the two works relate to one another
-See the second to last sentence in the general description above for some ideas.
-Include a brief description of the works (ex. Landscape painting vs figurative sculpture)
-Emphasize specific qualities over judgements in the introduction
(Ex. “Both works are sculptural forms that inspire but one emphasizes the qualities of
balance and movement in three-dimensional space that connect with my individual
sensibility.”)
4. Finish the introduction with a statement of how you will convince the reader that the two
works relate in the way you say they do.

C. Body
1. The body of the essay must address the similarities and differences in each of the following
categories: -Form, Content, Historical Connections, Technique, and Value