Essay Topic Hub

Art History
Essays

218+ paper examples, study guides & outlines

218 papers
UG & Grad levels
Free to browse
What is Art History?

In order to understand what an art history essay is; it is necessary to understand what the term “art history” means.  It refers to the academic study of the history and development of the visual arts, including painting, sculpture, and drawing.  Therefore, an art history essay is any essay that involves discussion of this history and development of art, and may focus on technical details of art that make it representative of a certain historical period or movement in art history.  Typical essay topics may ask you to explain how a work does or does not represent a specific type of art, and will require you to analyze different aspects of the painting such as color, line, texture, scale, contrast, size, medium, subject, technique, and the use of light to support your explanation.

218 papers
Sort by:
Paper Doctorate
Elizabeth Murray's life and artistic innovations
This paper is about Elizabeth Murray, who was an artist and who revolutionized the modern movement by introducing new method of representation of commonplace objects. Murray also experimented with three dimensional viewings of her canvasses, and rendered some very unique and interesting works for the public, all of which is described in this paper.
Paper Undergraduate
Henri Nouwen's spiritual formation and early influences
"…Compassion means going directly to those people and places where suffering is most acute and building a home there"
Essay Doctorate
Jenny Holzer's truisms and visual communication of social issues
Jenny Holzer Introduction Many artists seek to have a powerful influence on the public through the drama and communicative elements of their work. Neo-Conceptualist artist Jenny Holzer is certainly among those artists whose strong social and moral values motivate them to speak out on important social and political issues. Holzer's background shows that the artist found her artistic calling after her first two years in college. She was born in 1950 and first pursued her education at Duke University in liberal arts before realizing what she truly wanted to achieve was an education in fine arts and painting. She was awarded a B.F.A. (Bachelors of Fine Arts) at Ohio University in 1972 and an M.F. A. (Masters of Fine Arts) from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1977, according to The New York Times "Forums." This paper delves into Holzer's themes – in particular, her truism themes – her materials, the communication that radiates out from her artwork and the emotions she stirs in the hearts and minds of those who see her works.
Research Paper Undergraduate
The scenes depicted on the urn in Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
QUESTION # 1: "The poem is an extended apostrophe addressed to a painted vase from ancient Greece. There are two separate scenes on the urn; the speaker summarizes their subjects in lines 5-10 and then specifically…
Research Paper Undergraduate
Cubism as a revolutionary protest against artistic and social norms
Cubist sculpture and its significance in the development of art
Research Paper Undergraduate
Robert Arneson and the transformation of ceramics into fine art
¶ … ceramic artist Robert Arneson, an artist noted for his whimsical and distinctive ceramic pieces. Robert Arneson changed the way many people look at ceramics and sculpture, and his works helped create a new dimension…
Paper Undergraduate
Calligraphy and the sacred word in Islamic art
¶ … Islamic art: Glorification of God and the Qur'an
Research Paper Undergraduate
Stylistic comparison of Cole's "The Oxbow" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night"
Stylistic Comparison of "The Oxbow" and "Starry Night"
Essay Doctorate
Narrative painting and visual storytelling in a Renaissance depiction of Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Saint Catherine of Alexandria was a favorite subject of art during the late Renaissance. The painting of Saint Catherine to which this analysis will refer is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Paper Undergraduate
Marcel Duchamp's interrogation of art's essential meaning and boundaries
Many art critics and commentators do not consider Marcel Duchamp's later works to be art at all, especially his Green Box. A common critique of his work is that it is nonsensical and does not fit into any accepted idea…