Critique of a

Visual Statement
 By the beginning of 1770, there were 4,000
British soldiers in Boston, a city with 15,000
inhabitants, and tensions were running high.
On the evening of March 5, crowds of day
laborers, apprentices, and merchant sailors
began to pelt British soldiers with snowballs
and rocks. A shot rang out, and then several
soldiers fired their weapons. When it was
over, five civilians lay dead or dying,
including Crispus Attucks, an African
American merchant sailor who had escaped
from slavery more than twenty years earlier.
 In Kingstreet
 One of the most iconic images of the
20th century, Guernica depicts the
carnage from the bombing raid on a
Spanish village by the Nazi air force.
During WWII, when Nazi officers visited
Picasso's studio and saw a print of the
famous image, they asked, "Did you do
that?" Picasso answered, "No, you did."
 Pablo Picasso is recognized as the world's most
prolific painter. His career spanned over a 78
year period, in which he created: 13,500
paintings, 100,000 prints and engravings, and
34,000 illustrations which were used in books.
He also produced 300 sculptures and ceramic
pieces during this expansive career. It is also
estimated that over 350 pieces which he created
during his career, have been stolen; this is a
figure that is far higher than any other artist
throughout history.
 With a price tag of $104 million, Garson a la
Pipe, was sold in 2004.
 Guernica
In 1936 the holy city of the Basque people, Guernica, was
bombed to the ground on behalf of Fascist Franco by the
Hitler’s airforce.
No image I know captures
more powerfully of a
mother’s anguish over the
death of her child than this
A panicked
face
A speared horse shrieking
Bull as a long time symbol of spain
A dead soldier
 It is interesting to consider the significance of
other things such as the light bulb
Engage the audience in an interesting problem
 a. Cubist style
 b. Filtered through the artist’s eyes
 c. Visual argument
 d. Multiple perspectives
 e. Stronghold
 f. Outrage
 g. Mural
 h. Devastation of war
 i. Commissioned
 j. Atrocity
 k. Imminent
 l. Critically acclaimed
 m. Depicts images simultaneously
 n. Assumptions
 o. Emotional cacophony of war
 p. Carnage of war
 a. Explain how and why “art is an interpretation,” not a
faithful depiction of reality.

 b. What is meant by art as a visual argument?

 c. What are achieved by the cubist style of painting?

 d. On which shared historical experience does Picasso

base his painting, Guernica?

 e. Why would Picasso think that “people viewing the

painting would be upset by it?”

 f. In what way does cubism allow Picasso to paint “truth

rather than reality?”

 g. Which symbols in the painting would the viewers have

readily recognized?
 a. Which images catch your attention, and why?

 b.What, do you think, is the main image? Which

images are found in the foreground? Why do you
think Picasso arranged the images in the way he
did? How do these images relate to one another?

 c.
How would you describe the images? Which of
these images are underscored? Which are
exaggerated or idealized?

 d.
What are gained by his use of black and
white?
 List at least ten famous politically
committed art works of the world, the
occasion or event that each work reacts
to/against, and the message and impact
of the work on the people for which it
was created.
 Write a three-paragraph essay explaining
how and why visual art works make for
effective visual socio-political
statements/arguments.
 Event that each
Name of The message
Artist work reacts
Artwork and impact
to/against
 Introduction
Saying/quote, Anecdote, brief history
 Body
explaining how and why visual art works
make for effective visual socio-political
statements/arguments
 Conclusion