Comparative Analysis Essay EXAM # 2 "The Stylistic Evolution of the Body in Art"

Description of essay: Your second exam is a comparative analysis of three Works of Art (Aegean, Greek and Roman).

You can use additional research but it must be an appropriate scholarly source; if online, it must be from a website ending in .edu or .org. and it must be cited correctly in MLA of Chicago or APA format. (Avoid just copying and pasting URL links, you will lose points for doing so. Many online sources (including your assigned readings) now include a section at the bottom for how to cite the article appropriately.

In this second lesson module, you have learned about the rapid evolution of not only architecture but of art depicting the human body. The theme of your essay will be the stylistic evolution of the body in art. Make sure to have a thesis that you follow and argue with the examples you chose to back up and expand upon your thesis. The best essays will choose a specific aspect of this theme to describe an evolution of the representation of the human body in art from the Aegean through the Roman periods. At a minimum, your essay should be approximately 800-1000 words, and it must be in essay format (not bullet points or just bits of information or description.) Describe, compare and analyze each artwork not only in terms of the symbolism or subject matter but also what the stylistic evolution of the body in art tells us about the cultures that produced them. As well as stylistic analysis (again remember that the short videos in your assigned readings are excellent examples of describing artworks using appropriate art historical terminology), historical context will be important here. You want to know how the style of each artwork reflects the values of the culture that produced it.

Think about the culture in which the work was created. What do the work’s appearance and its choice of art elements and design principles tell us about the cultural beliefs and meaning? Review the discussion section on Art and Historical Context from earlier. Finally, make sure to write a comparative analysis, not just a description with a short comparison at the end. Make sure to use only the assigned readings to find your examples, and always include the following identifying information for each artwork (if available): title, artist, date artwork was created, medium, and culture/period.