In today’s class, we did check-ins of visual analysis project as well as the process reports on the collection project. Both professors emphasized the importance of doing deep and broad research on artists and works because it would give us a better understanding of the background of the work so we would be familiar to the artist and his/her works and thus to be able to form a concrete and unified analysis. Professor Smith mentioned two major resources of the research: major publications on the artist, which can be found by searching through WorldCat and borrowed via InterLibrary Loan, and the monograph of the artist which could show the development of the artist’s career. Based on the research on the artist, we could find the clue of how this particular piece fits with other pieces from the same artist and why this piece is special to art history. One very impressive sentence that Professor Sadler referred to is that “Without too much, one cannot be enough.” Saying that becoming the authority of the artist and the work is crucial to build up a successful analysis and talk on them.

In my visual analysis, as suggested by Professor Smith, I need to add much more descriptions of the image, such as what the figure wears, how she looks like, and the settings around her. And then to reorganize my ideas and paragraphs to make different points connect to and support each other. More research on the original painting that Morimura incorporates in his image has to be done: which Baroque painting did he use? Why did he use this particular piece? What thoughts did he plan to express? Also, as mentioned before, knowing what he is doing in general is important to understanding his intentions and ideas in this work.

On my research project, as I am interested in the impressionism in both music and art, I first thought to compare art and music in the same period and find how they echoed to each other. Professor Smith suggested that it would be better to focus on one specific artist rather than trying to find historical parallels in movement. My next idea is about Debussy, especially his Preludes where he uses music to paint; and the characteristics of his works also represent the impressionists’ style in music and reflect to art.