H101 Formal Description Primer

The actor and painter and RISD alum Martin Mull once famously observed, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” This was not a compliment. The statement suggests that music stands on its own, and language (or poorly crafted language, anyway) only dilutes it. The same skepticism has been applied to writing about art. How many times have you heard the phrase “Art should speak for itself?”

There’s a lot to be said for sensorial, non-verbal experiences of art, but there’s much more to be said when art comes into dialogue with its viewers and viewers come into their own dialogue through language, whether written or spoken. When we create language about art—descriptions, reflections, negotiations, and even digressions—we see, feel, and think more for ourselves, and when we encounter others’ language about art, we understand how they see, feel, and think. Art is not, to borrow a phrase from poet John Donne, “an island, entire of itself.” It is a piece of a lineage, a part of a discourse that enriches its voice and expands its existence. And anyway, wouldn’t you love to see a dance about architecture?

At RISD you’ll have many opportunities to write about art and design—whether formally (describing an object in the RISD Museum for your H101 class) or informally (brainstorming ideas before a crit), for yourself (notes in a sketchbook) or for others (e.g., in the student publication v.1).

Describing art and design is a unique challenge and pleasure, an act of translation for your eyes and mind. You’ll want to be precise, poetic, expansive, selective. You’ll struggle sometimes before it feels right. Or it may not yet feel quite right, as you practice the skills that will one day match your desires. Remember the original meaning of “essay,” or essai, in French: to attempt or to test out an idea. And remember that you, as artists and designers, have intimate knowledge of materials and process, which may bring deeper meaning to your seeing and your writing. 

Here is a strong example of writing about art—an essay about the work and positionality of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye by RISD alum Sabo Kpade, published in the student publication v.1. Note how Sabo moves meticulously and purposely through the portrait’s subject matter, a figure whose clothing is described in thorough and straightforward detail. He then describes subtle color (“the background is a deep black-brown with tints of purple, blush-pink, and cream”) and makes a lovely comparison that elucidates the effects of technique (“loose, white brushstrokes … suggest a bale of hay rather than the solid mass of a chair”). Composition notes keep us oriented throughout. In the end, the attention he lavishes on the subject mirrors that of the artist.

Next, spend some time with Jason Farago’s “Close Read”—of Still LIfe: The Table, by Juan Gris. (All RISD students can subscribe to the New York Times for free.) Here you’ll notice extensive description of materials, form, and technique and how even describing the simplest formal elements (“an oval, of mostly light colors, set within a darker ground of blue and black”) helps you see the work more clearly. Farago also plays with metaphor to bring his description to life (“the composition is sprung like a trampoline”). By comparison, Farago’s “Close Read” of Hokusai’s Ejiri in Suraga Province lingers mostly on an extensive description of subject matter (“a serpentine passage cuts through an ordinary little marsh”), and extends to context (“woodblock prints … were considered vulgar, commercial images”), and interpretation (“We’re somewhere commonplace, undistinguished”).

In both Kpade’s and Farago’s writing, you’ll notice they combine description, context, and interpretation, often choosing what they describe to support their interpretation. This is a hallmark of almost all art writing. For your H101 paper, you’ll focus on formal description alone, writing expansively about each formal element of the chosen work, whether subject, composition, color, line, scale, texture, or technique. Take your time putting each detail into prose, letting yourself and inviting your reader to luxuriate in the complexity of even a single mark or hue.

As you read the samples above, remember that writing doesn’t start out so coherent and polished. When writing in response to a work of art or design in particular, we often begin with a first impression that’s quite obvious but maybe not so unique, or with a bunch of half-thought impressions that are all muddled up. The complexity and ambiguity of art and design can easily lead to complex and ambiguous responses. For just these moments, we recommend this formal observation and analysis brainstorming sheet designed to use in writing about any object of art or design, whether for an H101 paper or in preparation for talking about your own work in critique. (For your H101 paper, you’ll stick to the left-hand column of the chart.) 

This brainstorming chart is borrowed from Jesse Day’s Line, Color, Form: The Language of Art and Design, one of our favorite resources at A&L. We have copies for in-house use at A&L, and you can check one out at the Library. In this book, you’ll find vocabulary to describe color and line with visual examples for reference; short entries on key concepts in art in design; and a series of tools and models to support writing your H101 paper. 

Want more information and inspiration? Check out:

An overview of descriptive writing about art from Marjorie Munsterberg’s Writing About Art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s The Artist Project, in which dozens of artists describe and reflect on their favorite works of art in The Met’s collection.   

The Poetry Foundation’s collection of ekphrastic poetry (poems written in response to artworks). 

And don’t forget to share your Formal Description draft with a tutor. They can give you feedback on clarity and expression, and you can both enjoy the pleasure of looking and finding language together. Make an appointment here.