Example Images

[painting name and artist]

What can we say about this image based solely on formal aspects?

What adjectives describe this?
energetic
dramatic
fleshy
crowded
violent

What is foreground/background? How is that achieved?
Bodies in foreground/landscape in background
Achieved through color, lines, space, mythical references

[painting name and artist]

What can we say about this image based solely on formal aspects?
Is there an up or down?
Is this telling a narative?

What adjectives describe this?
ambiguous
moody
static
landscapy

Travelers' Insurance Co. Advertisement

What does this image evoke?
anxiety--but not too much

What's foreground/background?
Accidents
Cash assets
Numbers and dollar figures

How is that done?
Font size
Bold
Caps

ING Advertisement

What adjectives would you apply to this?
power
winning
fierceness

What year is this from?

What is foregrounded?
hair/virility
NOT your fears

[name]

What adjectives would you apply to this?
skelatal
life-like
emotional
crying or praying? but not a happy emotion

An Overview of the Major Skelatal Muscles

Where are you here?
No place
Note distance of emotions
Figure as the object to be studied

Generalizations to Note

• You can place these images in time
• These images place the reader as well (class, literacy, cultural knowledge)
• Images can evoke affect and/or cognitive response
• Images can tell explicit stories or allow the reader to "read into" them
• Scale can communicate (both in the paintings and the advertisements)