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Art History
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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.

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Paper Undergraduate
Calligraphy and the sacred word in Islamic art
¶ … Islamic art: Glorification of God and the Qur'an
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Research Paper Undergraduate
Stylistic comparison of Cole's "The Oxbow" and Van Gogh's "Starry Night"
Stylistic Comparison of "The Oxbow" and "Starry Night"
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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.
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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…
~1 min read
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Thesis Masters
One-point linear perspective in Renaissance art history
This paper discuses the history of single-point perspective from the Easy Renaissance onwards. It explores the development of Western ideals of perceptive in the works of Masaccio and Brunelleschi, and others. The paper also discusses the denial of the centrality of perspective and the alternatives to perspective in modern. At the same time the fact that modern artists and art movements like Surrealism make use of single- point perspective is also discussed.
~1 min read
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Research Paper Undergraduate
How eighteenth-century artistic values shifted from rococo to neoclassical
Artistic styles reflect the values of their times. Much as our world celebrates technology, speed, and innovation, previous periods in Western civilization depicted beliefs and goals of contemporary importance.
~1 min read
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Thesis Doctorate
The Louvre's transformation from royal palace to democratic symbol
¶ … Louvre: Influences of an Art Museum on Vistors, People, and Politics
~1 min read
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Research Paper Undergraduate
Mark Rothko's "Earth and Green" and abstract expressionist style
Mark Rothko's "Earth and Green" exemplifies the artist's peak period. Painted in 1955, "Earth and Green" represents Rothko's characteristic style, which is generally defined as abstract impressionism.
~1 min read
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Research Paper Undergraduate
Naturalism reconsidered: Picasso, Cézanne, and Matisse's departure from Renaissance ideals
¶ … naturalism in art -- a reconfiguration of Renaissance ideals
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Research Paper Undergraduate
Pop Art: aesthetic innovation and cultural transformation
Pop Art: An aesthetic and historical overview
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