Topic: art exhibition critique and review: Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s royal Court at NGV – part A (critical review)and Part B (review artworks online following guidelines)

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Assessment task: Art exhibition critique and review
this assessment task has two components: section A and Section B. students are to find one art review and critique published in a newspaper or journal. word count is 1650 words. 750 words for each section (A and B) the review had to be a current art exhibition taking place right now in melbourne. choose to do the assignment on the ITALIAN MASTERPIECES FROM SPAINS ROYAL COURT AT NGV (NATIONAL GALLERY OF VICTORIA)

Section A: in an essay format, 750 words

1. supply an original review (attached)
2. Discuss the reviews of the exhibition, its findings and highlight the key analysis and any emotive or subjective words or phrases. what is there agenda?
3. what argument is the art critique making in the review and what evidence is provided?
4. do you agree or disagree with the reviewers findings, discuss.
5. you may use extra references for this section if you wish!

section B

from viewing the artwork on line you are to review the works yourself. 750 words

1. minimum of 7 references (harvard). you are to view the artworks online included pictures of reviewed artworks please at the end of essay.

for part B (review of the artworks)you must consider the following steps required to “read” an artwork
…………

step 1- DESCRIPTION
*name of the artist who created the artwork
*what kind of artwork is it (photo, sculpture??)
*Title of the artwork?
*when was the artwork created?
*name some of the major events in history that took part at the same time as when this artwork was created… the historical context
*list the literal objects in the painting.(animals, mountains, trees)
*consider the significant art elements that are present in the artwork and describe them…….
including LINE, SHAPE, FORM (VOLUME/LIGHT), SPACE (PHYSICAL INTERACTION), TEXTURE (ROUGH/SHADOWS),COLOUR,VALUE, PATTERN

STEP 2 -ANALYSIS
Consider the most significant art principles that were used in the artwork. describe how the artist used them to organise the elements.

….. BALANCE, HARMONY,PROPORTION, CONTRAST, MOVEMENT,DEPTH, EMPHASIS, UNITY, RHYTHM, COMPOSITION

STEP 3- INTERPRETATION
based on what you have learned so far about the artwork, what do you think the artist was trying to say?
why do you think the artist created this work?
what do you think it means? what feelings do you have when you look at this artwork? do you think there are things in the artwork that represent other things/symbols?
is it successful at communicating what it is suppose to/

STEP 4- JUDGEMENT

do you like this artwork? do you think it is a good artwotk? do you think it is an important artwork?
JUSTIFY YOUR OPINION.
Explain why you feel the way you do, based on what you have learned about it.

Aesthetics and Art Criticism Art Review and Critique
(3926374)
NGV’s Italian Masterpieces: martyrs, gladiators, tourists and spectacle
by Mark Holsworth

May 16, 2014
Seven rooms of magnificent paintings by Italian Old Masters from the 16th to 18th centuries make up the National Gallery of Victoria’s  exhibition, Italian Masterpieces From Spain’s Royal Court, Museo Del Prado. Some of the rooms in the St Kilda Road Melbourne gallery have themes; still life, ancient Rome and religious art. The exhibition is nothing like visiting the Prado in Madrid; the paintings are more sparsely hung, more obviously curated, and there

are more works on paper on display that are well worth seeing for looking at how the artists sketched out their ideas.
Guido Reni
Italian 1575–1642 Saint Sebastian (San Sebastiano) 1615–20 oil on canvas 170.5 x 133.0 cm (Detail).
Two works seemed to sum up so much about the collection: Guido Reni’s Saint Sebastian, 1615-20, which clearly shows the influence of Caravaggio; and Jusepe de Ribera’s Women gladiators fighting, 1636. I like Ribera’s paintings but not when he is portraying cruelty, which he is in this painting and in his martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (there is another painting on this subject in the exhibition by Valentin de Boulogne). Ribera’s reality is touching, shown vividly in his Allegory of Touch; his cruelty is too touching.

Jusepe de Ribera
Spanish c.1591–1652, worked in Italy c.1611–1652 Women gladiators fighting (Donne gladiatori combattenti) 1636
oil on canvas 235.0 x 212.0 cm (Detail).
The cruelty in these works is enough to make you step back and ask yourself why are you looking? Is it because it is very well painted? Why has the sacred blood in Christian iconography and archaic Roman funerary rites has become the subject of art?
The sensationalised suffering of martyrs and gladiators from the Prado’s collection now serve slightly different propaganda model for a different empire. Italian Masterpieces From Spain’s Royal Court, Museo Del Prado is part of the NGV’s very successful Melbourne

Winter Masterpieces series of exhibitions. The income from religious tourists that once made the relics of martyrs a good investment for a city has been updated; importing exhibitions of Italian masterpieces is a good investment for Melbourne.
At the media preview for the exhibition yesterday the Victorian Minister for the Arts, Heidi Victoria, demonstrated her art history education (boasting that the NGV had a better Tiepolo – its Banquet of Cleopatra), but also spoke about the economic impact of the Winter Masterpiece series.
The NGV, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the Melbourne Museum attract 4.3 million visitors a year. A total of $360 million is brought in to the state as Melbourne’s inner city hotels, restaurants and bars all share in the profit of being in a city with an event and spectacle-based economy.
What could be more spectacular event than the Italian Masters from Spain’s Royal Court? The very names of Raphael, Titian and Tiepolo are, in themselves, a spectacle. The art of the 16th to 18th centuries was about the spectacular; the technique, composition, subject matter, colours, and  size. Even the cruelty portrayed are all created to be magnificent, impressive, spectacular.
The institution of the public art gallery is an invention of the nation state; a spectacle created to suit the needs of the state. The decoupling of painting and sculpture from religious and royal propaganda functions that occurred in France after its revolution and gave birth to public collection of the Louvre only happened in France.
In Spain there was no such divorce. The great royal collection of the Prado was just that – a royal collection- and very much the collection of one man, Philip IV of Spain. It included many family portraits and many of the artists he loved. The old accession numbers written on the left-hand side of the painting in red or white paint are still clearly visible and show that the collection is about ownership.
The art of the Italian Masters and the spectacle of the royal bling of the Spanish empire is still relevant to the NGV. This collection from the Prado now in Melbourne is a kind of public relations or marketing that Mazda, the principal sponsor of the exhibition, is proud to be associated with. To build on this association there were two new Mazdas parked in front of the famous water wall at the NGV’s entrance yesterday.
It is hard to know if the Italian masters themselves would be disappointed or pleased that Spain is now close to bankrupt, that the Catholic church is morally bankrupt, and their paintings are being shown on a continent that, to them, was mere geographical speculation. Or would they simply move on to a patron with more money?
Italian Masterpieces From Spain’s Royal Court, Museo Del Prado is the NGV International in Melbourne until August 31. Main image: Viviano Codazzi, Italian c.1606–1670 and Domenico Gargiulo (Micco Spadaro) Italian c.1609/10–c.1675  Perspectival view of a Roman amphitheatre (Vista prospettica di un anfiteatro romano) c.1638 oil on canvas 220.5 x 352.7 cm (Detail).

Assessment Task 2: Art Exhibition Critique and Review – Part a and B