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Unit Critical Response

A cartoon showing two monkeys. One is painting a soup can on an easel, and the other is standing behind the first, speaking. The caption reads “Personally, I think you should have stuck with Abstract Expressionism.”

Cartoon (Two monkeys painting a mock Campbell's Soup can), ca. 1964
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Learn how to critique a work of art using a combination of intuitive and critical responses. In this unit, students explore the difference between informed and uninformed opinions, and how individual tastes and biases can influence the interpretation and judgment of a work of art.

Lessons

Lesson 1: Intuitive Response

This is a photographic silkscreen print of actress Elizabeth Taylor in black ink on a silver background. Her face has been underpainted, so her skin appears to be a pinkish/purple while her eyeshadow appears turquoise and her lips are an orange-red. The black ink on the left-hand side is faint and seems faded.

Andy Warhol, Silver Liz [Ferus Type], 1963
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution
The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., © The Andy Warhol
Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Lesson 2: What is a Critic?

A cartoon showing two monkeys. One is painting a soup can on an easel, and the other is standing behind the first, speaking. The caption reads “Personally, I think you should have stuck with Abstract Expressionism.”

Cartoon (Two monkeys painting a mock Campbell's Soup can), ca. 1964
The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Lesson 3: Tastes and Biases

Blank brainstorm web for a critical response exercise to the sculpture Brillo Box (Soap Pads).

Lesson 4: Research and Analyze

This is a life-sized abstract figurative painting of a woman. She is standing in the center of the composition and is made up of black-outlined geometric shapes, such as triangles, squares, and circles. There are two small black circles towards the top center of the painting resembling a pair of eyes looking out at the viewer. Only three fourths of her body are depicted since the painting stops at her knees. The predominant colors used are reds at the center with blues, greens and yellows making up the background.

Willem de Kooning, Woman VI, 1953
Oil on canvas, 68 x 58 in.
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh Gift of G. David Thompson © 2002
The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Lesson 5: Writing a Critical Response

Image of 3 students writing in journals, leaning against a wall. The wall text behind them reads “tools and techniques” and “work and play”.