Visual Analysis Sample Paragraphs Chrystal Ho

Visual Analysis: Sample Paragraphs
by Chrystal Ho
This handout annotates sample paragraphs, taken from visual analysis assignments from
YHU2267 Modern Art in East Asia. The complete essays can be found in the Writers’
Centre, along with the following handouts: Visual Analysis: A Quick Guide and Close
Reading Visual Art.
Assignment Type: Close Analysis Prompt
This prompt requires students to engage in a visual analysis of Red Plum Blossoms
(1916) by Wu Changshi, a Chinese painter who primarily works with ink on paper.
Assignment goal: describe in detail what is depicted in the artwork.
Sample Paragraph 1: Close Analysis of Technique

Other than the outline of the petals using black ink, there Visual observations on
lack of linear information,
is not a significant amount of linear information in the
and use of brush pressure
painting, as the branches in the foreground are depicted by to depict petals
applying pressure to the brush to create a wash of ink,
rather than outlining and then coloring in. These
brushstrokes appear to have been laid down with a heavy
hand, hence the texture of the brush hairs have transferred
onto the work in the form of uneven and patchy lines in
some places. This allows the painter to represent the Interpreting effect of
brush pressure in painting
uneven and knobby texture of plum branches in reality, observations from nature,
which might have been done by shading in Western art. interpretation in relation
to other artistic traditions
This play on the pressure of brushstrokes is used in
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various other elements of the painting. For instance, at the
Further visual
very bottom of the painting, the tips of the branches are
observations on use of
represented by lines that lighten in color towards the ends, brush pressure
almost disappearing altogether. Moreover, some blossoms
have been represented with a single dot of the brush rather
than as a cluster of petals. Visual information is hence
conveyed by varying brush pressure and brushstroke
length rather than through modelling or shading.
Sample Paragraph 2: close analysis of visual elements
Finally, Wu’s use of the vivid red pigment uncommonly Topic sentence: visual
observation of use of red
found in Chinese traditional ink to paint the flowers on the
pigment, and
plum blossom tree suggests his influence from both interpretation using larger
artistic influences
Western and Chinese elements. The vividness of this red
pigment is further amplified by the monochromatic ink Further observations of
materials used in details of
washes spanning throughout the Wu’s canvas, as the sole
painting
spark of colour in the painting can be traced to the painted
red blossoms. The stylistic choice to paint the flowers in
Interpretation of red
bright red pigment reveals certain contextual features of pigment use, in relation to
this painting: suggesting that bright, saturated colours artwork’s context: the
socio-economic
were deliberately employed in accordance to the backgrounds of art patrons
preference of an emerging urban class who were
becoming the new art patrons of rapidly modernizing
Shanghai.

Assignment Type: Comparative Prompt
This prompt requires students to compare two posters designed for Mitsukoshi
Department Store in Japan – Hashiguchi Goyo’s Kimono Beauty (1911), and Suguira
Hisui’s Mitsukoshi Gofukuten Haru no Shin Chinretsukai (Spring Collection at
Mitsukoshi) (1914). Taking into consideration the nature of the artworks in question as
advertisement material, students were required to discuss the artists’ attitudes towards
their subject matter, and how they each created a particular image for the department
store.
Assignment Goals: Structured visual description, with an intentional comparative strategy

that supports a clear thesis statement.
Sample Paragraph 3: Introduction and Thesis
Goyo produced his poster at a time where shopping in a Relevant contextual

department store was a relatively new concept and drew information about poster
production, and the
upon the familiar image of the bijin to appeal to a larger
relationship between
audience. Hisui on the other hand, produced his poster a department stores (which
few years later where viewers were already familiar with commissioned these
posters), and the poster’s
this association between the bijin and the department
intended audience.
store. While both grounded themselves firmly in the
traditional Japanese image of beauty, each artists’ usage
of it reflects the different historical contexts during which
they had to appeal to viewers. This essay argues that the Comparative thesis
image of beauty that Goyo portrays is more assertive and statement that addresses
how the figure of the bijin
direct in its viewer engagement, presenting the bijin as is used differently by Goyo
one who invites the viewer to participate in the lifestyle and Hisui
advocated by the Mitsukoshi department store. The image
of beauty that Hisui presents on the other hand has far less
direct engagement with its viewers; instead he portrays
the bijin as an integral part of the lifestyle that Mitsukoshi
wanted to sell to viewers.
Sample Paragraphs 4: Comparative Argument through Visual Analysis

This distinction between bijin as guide and bijin as Topic sentence
product is clearly seen in the differences between their
physical postures. In Goyo’s poster, the subject is seated
upright with her neck slanted to the right while her head is
turned slightly to the left. Coupled with the opposite Visual observations of
subject, in this case the
diagonal created by her right arm, a curvature is formed bijin’s posture and eye line
that draws the eye from her hand along the contours of the in Goyo’s work
subject’s form all the way to her eyes that make direct
contact with the viewer. This image of the bijin is an
Interpreting effects on
assertive one, directly addressing the viewer and inviting viewer engagement with
them in to engage with poster. The magazine is also poster
opened toward the viewer, adding to the invitational tone

of the poster.
The bijin in Hisui’s poster is also portrayed in a seated Visual observations of

bijin’s posture and eye line
position, but she leans toward the right instead of sitting in Hisui’s work
upright. Her eyes glance toward the right as well, refusing Interpreting effects of eye
line on viewer engagement
to directly engage the viewer and leaving him or her
with poster
unsure of whether she is observing the bouquet of flowers
on the table, or whether she is looking at something
beyond the frame of the poster. This draws attention away
from the woman herself, making her less the focal point Interpreting effects of
of the scene depicted and more just a part of the larger Hisui’s work in relation to
poster’s purpose as
poster. The non-centrality of the bijin in Hisui’s poster advertisement material, in
and lack of direct viewer engagement characterises the comparison to the different
effect that the bijin creates
beauty not as someone who is inviting the reader to in Goyo’s work
partake in a particular lifestyle, but who is part of its
general aesthetic available for consumption.


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Visual Analysis: Sample Paragraphs

Assignment Type: Close Analysis Prompt

Assignment goal: describe in detail what is depicted in the artwork.

Sample Paragraph 1: Close Analysis of Technique

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Sample Paragraph 2: close analysis of visual elements

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Assignment Goals: Structured visual description, with an intentional comparative strategy

Sample Paragraph 3: Introduction and Thesis

Goyo produced his poster at a time where shopping in a Relevant contextual

Sample Paragraphs 4: Comparative Argument through Visual Analysis

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opened toward the viewer, adding to the invitational tone

The bijin in Hisui’s poster is also portrayed in a seated Visual observations of

website: http://writerscentre.yale-nus.edu.sg/ | booking an appointment: www.yalenus.mywconline.com |

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