essays for art

ARTS - Herzberg: Writing Essays About Art

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What is a Compare and Contrast Essay?

What is a compare / contrast essay.

In Art History and Appreciation, contrast / compare essays allow us to examine the features of two or more artworks.

• Comparison -- points out similarities in the two artworks
• Contrast -- points out the differences in the two artworks

Why would you want to write this type of essay?

• To inform your reader about characteristics of each art piece.
• To show a relationship between different works of art.
• To give your reader an insight into the process of artistic invention.
• Use your assignment sheet from your class to find specific characteristics that your professor wants you to compare.

How is Writing a Compare / Contrast Essay in Art History Different from Other Subjects?

You should use art vocabulary to describe your subjects..

• Find art terms in your textbook or an art glossary or dictionary

You should have an image of the works you are writing about in front of you while you are writing your essay.

• The images should be of  high enough quality that you can see the small details of the works. 
• You will use them when describing visual details of each art work.

Works of art are highly influenced by the culture, historical time period and movement in which they were created.

• You should gather information about these BEFORE you start writing your essay.

If you describe a characteristic of one piece of art, you must describe how the OTHER piece of art treats that characteristic.

Example:  You are comparing a Greek amphora with a sculpture from the Tang Dynasty in China.

If you point out that the color palette of the amphora is limited to black, white and red, you must also write about the colors used in the horse sculpture.

Organizing Your Essay

Thesis statement.

The thesis for a comparison/contrast essay will present the subjects under consideration and indicate whether the focus will be on their similarities, on their differences, or both.

Thesis example using the amphora and horse sculpture -- Differences:

While they are both made from clay, the Greek amphora and the Tang Dynasty horse served completely different functions in their respective cultures.

Thesis example -- Similarities:

Ancient Greek and Tang Dynasty ceramics have more in common than most people realize.

Thesis example -- Both:

The Greek amphora and the Tang Dynasty horse were used in different ways in different parts of the world, but they have similarities that may  not be apparent to the casual viewer.

Visualizing a Compare & Contrast Essay: 

Introduction (1-2 paragraphs) .

• Creates interest in your essay
• Introduces the two art works that you will be comparing.
• States your thesis, which mentions the art works you are considering and may indicate whether the focus will be on similarities, differences, or both. 

Body paragraphs 

• Make and explain a point about the first subject and then about the second subject 
• Example: While both superheroes fight crime, their motivation is vastly different. Superman is an idealist, who fights for justice …… while Batman is out for vengeance. 

Conclusion (1-2 paragraphs) 

• Provides a satisfying finish 
• Leaves your reader with a strong final impression. 

Downloadable Essay Guide

• How to Write a Compare and Contrast Essay in Art History Downloadable version of the description on this LibGuide.

Questions to Ask Yourself After You Have Finished Your Essay

• Are all the important points of comparison or contrast included and explained in enough detail?
• Have you addressed all points that your professor specified in your assignment?
• Do you use transitions to connect your arguments so that your essay flows into a coherent whole, rather than just a random collection of statements?
• Do your arguments support your thesis statement?

Art Terminology

• British National Gallery: Art Glossary Includes entries on artists, art movements, techniques, etc.

Lee College Writing Center

Writing Center tutors can help you with any writing assignment for any class from the time you receive the assignment instructions until you turn it in, including:

• Brainstorming ideas
• MLA / APA formats
• Grammar and paragraph unity
• Thesis statements
• Second set of eyes before turning in

Contact a tutor:

• Phone: 281-425-6534
• Email:  w [email protected]
• Schedule a web appointment: https://lee.mywconline.com/

Other Compare / Contrast Writing Resources

• Southwestern University Guide for Writing About Art This easy to follow guide explains the basic of writing an art history paper.
• Purdue Online Writing Center: writing essays in art history Describes how to write an art history Compare and Contrast paper.
• Stanford University: a brief guide to writing in art history See page 24 of this document for an explanation of how to write a compare and contrast essay in art history.
• Duke University: writing about paintings Downloadable handout provides an overview of areas you should cover when you write about paintings, including a list of questions your essay should answer.
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• Last Updated: May 14, 2024 8:50 AM
• URL: https://lee.libguides.com/Arts_Herzberg

By Will Fenstermaker

June 14, 2017

There has never been a time when art critics held more power than during the second half of the twentieth century. Following the Second World War, with the relocation of the world’s artistic epicenter from Paris to New York, a different kind of war was waged in the pages of magazines across the country. As part of the larger “culture wars” of the mid-century, art critics began to take on greater influence than they’d ever held before. For a time, two critics in particular—who began as friends, and remained in the same social circles for much of their lives—set the stakes of the debates surrounding the maturation of American art that would continue for decades. The ideas about art outlined by Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg are still debated today, and the extent to which they were debated in the past has shaped entire movements of the arts. Below are ten works of criticism through which one can trace the mainstreaming of Clement Greenberg’s formalist theory, and how its dismantling led us into institutional critique and conceptual art today.

The American Action Painters

Harold Rosenberg

Harold Rosenberg, a poet who came to art through his involvement with the Artist’s Union and the WPA, was introduced to Jean-Paul Sartre as the “first American existentialist.” Soon, Rosenberg became a contributor to Sartre’s publication in France, for which he first drafted his influential essay. However, when Sartre supported Soviet aggression against Korea, Rosenberg brought his essay to Elaine de Kooning , then the editor of ARTnews , who ran “The American Action Painters” in December, 1952.

RELATED: What Did Harold Rosenberg Do? An Introduction to the Champion of “Action Painting”

Rosenberg’s essay on the emerging school of American Painters omitted particular names—because they’d have been unfamiliar to its original French audience—but it was nonetheless extraordinarily influential for the burgeoning scene of post-WWII American artists. Jackson Pollock claimed to be the influence of “action painting,” despite Rosenberg’s rumored lack of respect for the artist because Pollock wasn’t particularly well-read. Influenced by Marxist theory and French existentialism, Rosenberg conceives of a painting as an “arena,” in which the artist acts upon, wrestles, or otherwise engages with the canvas, in what ultimately amounts to an expressive record of a struggle. “What was to go on the canvas,” Rosenberg wrote, “was not a picture but an event.”

Notable Quote

Weak mysticism, the “Christian Science” side of the new movement, tends … toward easy painting—never so many unearned masterpieces! Works of this sort lack the dialectical tension of a genuine act, associated with risk and will. When a tube of paint is squeezed by the Absolute, the result can only be a Success. The painter need keep himself on hand solely to collect the benefits of an endless series of strokes of luck. His gesture completes itself without arousing either an opposing movement within itself nor the desire in the artist to make the act more fully his own. Satisfied with wonders that remain safely inside the canvas, the artist accepts the permanence of the commonplace and decorates it with his own daily annihilation. The result is an apocalyptic wallpaper.

‘American-Type’ Painting

Clement Greenberg

Throughout the preceding decade, Clement Greenberg, also a former poet, had established a reputation as a leftist critic through his writings with The Partisan Review —a publication run by the John Reed Club, a New York City-centered organization affiliated with the American Communist Party—and his time as an art critic with The Nation . In 1955, The Partisan Review published Greenberg’s “‘American-Type’ Painting,” in which the critic defined the now-ubiquitous term “abstract expressionism.”

RELATED: What Did Clement Greenberg Do? A Primer on the Powerful AbEx Theorist’s Key Ideas

In contrast to Rosenberg’s conception of painting as a performative act, Greenberg’s theory, influenced by Clive Bell and T. S. Eliot, was essentially a formal one—in fact, it eventually evolved into what would be called “formalism.” Greenberg argued that the evolution of painting was one of historical determinacy—that ever since the Renaissance, pictures moved toward flatness, and the painted line moved away from representation. Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso were two of the landmarks of this view. Pollock, who exhibited his drip paintings in 1951, freeing the line from figuration, was for Greenberg the pinnacle of American Modernism, the most important artist since Picasso. (Pollock’s paintings exhibited in 1954, with which he returned to semi-representational form, were regarded by Greenberg as a regression. This lead him to adopt Barnett Newman as his new poster-boy, despite the artist’s possessing vastly different ideas on the nature of painting. For one, Greenberg mostly ignored the Biblical titles of Newman’s paintings.)

Greenberg’s formalist theories were immensely influential over the subsequent decades. Artforum in particular grew into a locus for formalist discourse, which had the early effect of providing an aesthetic toolkit divorced from politic. Certain curators of the Museum of Modern Art, particularly William Rubin, Kirk Varnedoe, and to an extent Alfred Barr are credited for steering the museum in an essentially formalist direction. Some painters, such as Frank Stella , Helen Frankenthaler , and Kenneth Noland, had even been accused of illustrating Greenberg’s theories (and those of Michael Fried, a prominent Greenbergian disciple) in attempt to embody the theory, which was restrictive in its failure to account for narrative content, figuration, identity, politics, and more. In addition, Greenberg’s theories proved well-suited for a burgeoning art market, which found connoisseurship an easy sell. (As the writer Mary McCarthy said, “You can’t hang an event on your wall.”) In fact, the dominance of the term “abstract expressionism” over “action painting,” which seemed more applicable to Pollock and Willem de Kooning than any other members of the New York School, is emblematic of the influence of formalist discourse.

The justification for the term, “abstract expressionist,” lies in the fact that most of the painters covered by it took their lead from German, Russian, or Jewish expressionism in breaking away from late Cubist abstract art. But they all started from French painting, for their fundamental sense of style from it, and still maintain some sort of continuity with it. Not least of all, they got from it their most vivid notion of an ambitious, major art, and of the general direction in which it had to go in their time.

Barbara Rose

Like many critics in the 1950s and 60s, Barbara Rose had clearly staked her allegiance to one camp or the other. She was, firmly, a formalist, and along with Fried and Rosalind Krauss is largely credited with expanding the theory beyond abstract expressionist painting. By 1965, however, Rose recognized a limitation of the theory as outlined by Greenberg—that it was reductionist and only capable of account for a certain style of painting, and not much at all in other mediums.

RELATED: The Intellectual Origins Of Minimalism

In “ABC Art,” published in Art in America where Rose was a contributing editor, Rose opens up formalism to encompass sculpture, which Greenberg was largely unable to account for. The simple idea that art moves toward flatness and abstraction leads, for Rose, into Minimalism, and “ABC Art” is often considered the first landmark essay on Minimalist art. By linking the Minimalist sculptures of artists like Donald Judd to the Russian supremacist paintings of Kasimir Malevich and readymades of Duchamp, she extends the determinist history that formalism relies on into sculpture and movements beyond abstract expressionism.

I do not agree with critic Michael Fried’s view that Duchamp, at any rate, was a failed Cubist. Rather, the inevitability of a logical evolution toward a reductive art was obvious to them already. For Malevich, the poetic Slav, this realization forced a turning inward toward an inspirational mysticism, whereas for Duchamp, the rational Frenchman, it meant a fatigue so enervating that finally the wish to paint at all was killed. Both the yearnings of Malevich’s Slavic soul and the deductions of Duchamp’s rationalist mind led both men ultimately to reject and exclude from their work many of the most cherished premises of Western art in favor of an art stripped to its bare, irreducible minimum.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Philip Leider

Despite the rhetorical tendency to suggest the social upheaval of the '60s ended with the actual decade, 1970 remained a year of unrest. And Artforum was still the locus of formalist criticism, which was proving increasingly unable to account for art that contributed to larger cultural movements, like Civil Rights, women’s liberation, anti-war protests, and more. (Tellingly, The Partisan Review , which birthed formalism, had by then distanced itself from its communist associations and, as an editorial body, was supportive of American Interventionism in Vietnam. Greenberg was a vocal hawk.) Subtitled “Art and Politics in Nevada, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Utah,” the editor’s note to the September 1970 issue of Artforum , written by Philip Leider, ostensibly recounts a road trip undertaken with Richard Serra and Abbie Hoffman to see Michael Heizer’s Double Negative in the Nevada desert.

RELATED: A City of Art in the Desert: Behind Michael Heizer’s Monumental Visions for Nevada

However, the essay is also an account of an onsetting disillusion with formalism, which Leider found left him woefully unequipped to process the protests that had erupted surrounding an exhibition of prints by Paul Wunderlich at the Phoenix Gallery in Berkeley. Wunderlich’s depictions of nude women were shown concurrently to an exhibition of drawings sold to raise money for Vietnamese orphans. The juxtaposition of a canonical, patriarchal form of representation and liberal posturing, to which the protestors objected, showcased the limitations of a methodology that placed the aesthetic elements of a picture plane far above the actual world in which it existed. Less than a year later, Leider stepped down as editor-in-chief and Artforum began to lose its emphasis on late Modernism.

I thought the women were probably with me—if they were, I was with them. I thought the women were picketing the show because it was reactionary art. To the women, [Piet] Mondrian must be a great revolutionary artist. Abstract art broke all of those chains thirty years ago! What is a Movement gallery showing dumb stuff like this for? But if it were just a matter of reactionary art , why would the women picket it? Why not? Women care as much about art as men do—maybe more. The question is, why weren’t the men right there with them?

Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?

Linda Nochlin

While Artforum , in its early history, had established a reputation as a generator for formalist theory, ARTnews had followed a decidedly more Rosenberg-ian course, emphasizing art as a practice for investigating the world. The January 1971 issue of the magazine was dedicated to “Women’s Liberation, Woman Artists, and Art History” and included an iconoclastic essay by Linda Nochlin titled “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?”

RELATED: An Introduction to Feminist Art

Nochlin notes that it’s tempting to answer the question “why have there been no great women artists?” by listing examples of those overlooked by critical and institutional organizations (a labor that Nochlin admits has great merit). However, she notes, “by attempting to answer it, they tacitly reinforce its negative implications,” namely that women are intrinsically less capable of achieving artistic merit than men. Instead, Nochlin’s essay functions as a critique of art institutions, beginning with European salons, which were structured in such a way as to deter women from rising to the highest echelons. Nochlin’s essay is considered the beginning of modern feminist art history and a textbook example of institutional critique.

There are no women equivalents for Michelangelo or Rembrandt, Delacroix or Cézanne, Picasso or Matisse, or even in very recent times, for de Kooning or Warhol, any more than there are black American equivalents for the same. If there actually were large numbers of “hidden” great women artists, or if there really should be different standards for women’s art as opposed to men’s—and one can’t have it both ways—then what are feminists fighting for? If women have in fact achieved the same status as men in the arts, then the status quo is fine as it is. But in actuality, as we all know, things as they are and as they have been, in the arts as in a hundred other areas, are stultifying, oppressive, and discouraging to all those, women among them, who did not have the good fortune to be born white, preferably middle class and above all, male. The fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education.

Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief

Thomas McEvilley

One of the many extrapolations of Nochlin’s essay is that contemporary museum institutions continue to reflect the gendered and racist biases of preceding centuries by reinforcing the supremacy of specific master artists. In a 1984 Artforum review, Thomas McEvilley, a classicist new to the world of contemporary art, made the case that the Museum of Modern Art in New York served as an exclusionary temple to certain high-minded Modernists—namely, Picasso, Matisse, and Pollock—who, in fact, took many of their innovations from native cultures.

RELATED: MoMA Curator Laura Hoptman on How to Tell a Good Painting From a “Bogus” Painting

In 1984, MoMA organized a blockbuster exhibition. Curated by William Rubin and Kirk Varnedoe, both of whom were avowed formalists, “‘Primitivism’ in 20th Century Art: Affinity of the Tribal and the Modern” collected works by European painters like Paul Gaugin and Picasso with cultural artifacts from Zaire, arctic communities, and elsewhere. McEvilley takes aim at the “the absolutist view of formalist Modernism” in which MoMA is rooted. He argues that the removal tribal artifacts from their contexts (for example, many were ritual items intended for ceremonies, not display) and placement of them, unattributed, near works by European artists, censors the cultural contributions of non-Western civilizations in deference to an idealized European genius.

The fact that the primitive “looks like” the Modern is interpreted as validating the Modern by showing that its values are universal, while at the same time projecting it—and with it MoMA—into the future as a permanent canon. A counter view is possible: that primitivism on the contrary invalidates Modernism by showing it to be derivative and subject to external causation. At one level this show undertakes precisely to coopt that question by answering it before it has really been asked, and by burying it under a mass of information.

Please Wait By the Coatroom

Not content to let MoMA and the last vestiges of formalism off the hook yet, John Yau wrote in 1988 an essay on Wifredo Lam, a Cuban painter who lived and worked in Paris among Picasso, Matisse, Georges Braque, and others. Noting Lam’s many influences—his Afro-Cuban mother, Chinese father, and Yoruba godmother—Yau laments the placement of Lam’s The Jungle near the coatroom in the Museum of Modern Art, as opposed to within the Modernist galleries several floors above. The painting was accompanied by a brief entry written by former curator William Rubin, who, Yau argues, adopted Greenberg’s theories because they endowed him with “a connoisseur’s lens with which one can scan all art.”

RELATED: From Cuba With Love: Artist Bill Claps on the Island’s DIY Art Scene

Here, as with with McEvilley’s essay, Yau illustrates how formalism, as adapted by museum institutions, became a (perhaps unintentional) method for reinforcing the exclusionary framework that Nochlin argued excluded women and black artists for centuries.

Rubin sees in Lam only what is in his own eyes: colorless or white artists. For Lam to have achieved the status of unique individual, he would have had to successfully adapt to the conditions of imprisonment (the aesthetic standards of a fixed tradition) Rubin and others both construct and watch over. To enter this prison, which takes the alluring form of museums, art history textbooks, galleries, and magazines, an individual must suppress his cultural differences and become a colorless ghost. The bind every hybrid American artist finds themselves in is this: should they try and deal with the constantly changing polymorphous conditions effecting identity, tradition, and reality? Or should they assimilate into the mainstream art world by focusing on approved-of aesthetic issues? Lam’s response to this bind sets an important precedent. Instead of assimilating, Lam infiltrates the syntactical rules of “the exploiters” with his own specific language. He becomes, as he says, “a Trojan horse.”

Black Culture and Postmodernism

Cornel West

The opening up of cultural discourse did not mean that it immediately made room for voices of all dimensions. Cornel West notes as much in his 1989 essay “Black Culture and Postmodernism,” in which he argues that postmodernism, much like Modernism before it, remains primarily ahistorical, which makes it difficult for “oppressed peoples to exercise their opposition to hierarchies of power.” West’s position is that the proliferation of theory and criticism that accompanied the rise of postmodernism provided mechanisms by which black culture could “be conversant with and, to a degree, participants in the debate.” Without their voices, postmodernism would remain yet another exclusionary movements.

RELATED: Kerry James Marshall on Painting Blackness as a Noun Vs. Verb

As the consumption cycle of advanced multinational corporate capitalism was sped up in order to sustain the production of luxury goods, cultural production became more and more mass-commodity production. The stress here is not simply on the new and fashionable but also on the exotic and primitive. Black cultural products have historically served as a major source for European and Euro-American exotic interests—interests that issue from a healthy critique of the mechanistic, puritanical, utilitarian, and productivity aspects of modern life.

Minimalism and the Rhetoric of Power

Anna C. Chave

In recent years, formalist analysis has been deployed as a single tool within a more varied approach to art. Its methodology—that of analyzing a picture as an isolated phenomena—remains prevalent, and has its uses. Yet, many of the works and movements that rose to prominence under formalist critics and curators, in no small part because of their institutional acceptance, have since become part of the rearguard rather than the vanguard.

In a 1990 essay for Arts Magazine , Anna Chave analyzes how Minimalist sculpture possesses a “domineering, sometimes brutal rhetoric” that was aligned with “both the American military in Vietnam, and the police at home in the streets and on university campuses across the country.” In particular, Chave is concerned with the way Minimalist sculptures define themselves through a process of negation. Of particular relevance to Chave’s argument are the massive steel sculptures by Minimalist artist Richard Serra.

Tilted Arc was installed in Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan in 1981. Chave describes the work as a “mammoth, perilously tilted steel arc [that] formed a divisive barrier too tall to see over, and a protracted trip to walk around.” She writes, “it is more often the case with Serra that his work doesn’t simply exemplify aggression or domination, but acts it out.” Tilted Arc was so controversial upon its erecting that the General Services Administration, which commissioned the work, held hearings in response to petitions demanding the work be removed. Worth quoting at length, Chave writes:

A predictable defense of Serra’s work was mounted by critics, curators, dealers, collectors, and some fellow artists…. The principle arguments mustered on Serra’s behalf were old ones concerning the nature and function of the avant-garde…. What Rubin and Serra’s other supporters declined to ask is whether the sculptor really is, in the most meaningful sense of the term, an avant-garde artist. Being avant-garde implies being ahead of, outside, or against the dominant culture; proffering a vision that implicitly stands (at least when it is conceived) as a critique of entrenched forms and structures…. But Serra’s work is securely embedded within the system: when the brouhaha over Arc was at its height, he was enjoying a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art…. [The defense’s] arguments locate Serra not with the vanguard but with the standing army or “status quo.” … More thoughtful, sensible, and eloquent testimony at the hearing came instead from some of the uncouth:

My name is Danny Katz and I work in this building as a clerk. My friend Vito told me this morning that I am a philistine. Despite that I am getting up to speak…. I don’t think this issue should be elevated into a dispute between the forces of ignorance and art, or art versus government. I really blame government less because it has long ago outgrown its human dimension. But from the artists I expected a lot more. I didn’t expect to hear them rely on the tired and dangerous reasoning that the government has made a deal, so let the rabble live with the steel because it’s a deal. That kind of mentality leads to wars. We had a deal with Vietnam. I didn’t expect to hear the arrogant position that art justifies interference with the simple joys of human activity in a plaza. It’s not a great plaza by international standards, but it is a small refuge and place of revival for people who ride to work in steel containers, work in sealed rooms, and breathe recirculated air all day. Is the purpose of art in public places to seal off a route of escape, to stress the absence of joy and hope? I can’t believe this was the artistic intention, yet to my sadness this for me has become the dominant effect of the work, and it’s all the fault of its position and location. I can accept anything in art, but I can’t accept physical assault and complete destruction of pathetic human activity. No work of art created with a contempt for ordinary humanity and without respect for the common element of human experience can be great. It will always lack dimension.

The terms Katz associated with Serra’s project include arrogance and contempt, assault, and destruction; he saw the Minimalist idiom, in other words, as continuous with the master discourse of our imperious and violent technocracy.

The End of Art

Arthur Danto

Like Greenberg, Arthur Danto was an art critic for The Nation . However, Danto was overtly critical of Greenberg’s ideology and the influence he wielded over Modern and contemporary art. Nor was he a follower of Harold Rosenberg, though they shared influences, among them the phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Danto’s chief contribution to contemporary art was his advancing of Pop Artists, particularly Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein .

In “The End of Art” Danto argues that society at large determines and accepts art, which no longer progresses linearly, categorized by movements. Instead, viewers each possess a theory or two, which they use to interpret works, and art institutions are largely tasked with developing, testing, and modifying various interpretive methods. In this way, art differs little from philosophy. After decades of infighting regarding the proper way to interpret works of art, Danto essentially sanctioned each approach and the institutions that gave rise to them. He came to call this “pluralism.”

RELATED: What Was the Pictures Generation?

Similarly, in “Painting, Politics, and Post-Historical Art,” Danto makes the case for an armistice between formalism and the various theories that arose in opposition, noting that postmodern critics like Douglas Crimp in the 1980s, who positioned themselves against formalism, nonetheless adopted the same constrictive air, minus the revolutionary beginnings.

Modernist critical practice was out of phase with what was happening in the art world itself in the late 60s and through the 1970s. It remained the basis for most critical practice, especially on the part of the curatoriat, and the art-history professoriat as well, to the degree that it descended to criticism. It became the language of the museum panel, the catalog essay, the article in the art periodical. It was a daunting paradigm, and it was the counterpart in discourse to the “broadening of taste” which reduced art of all cultures and times to its formalist skeleton, and thus, as I phrased it, transformed every museum into a Museum of Modern Art, whatever that museum’s contents. It was the stable of the docent’s gallery talk and the art appreciation course—and it was replaced, not totally but massively, by the postmodernist discourse that was imported from Paris in the late 70s, in the texts of Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-François Lyotard, and Jacques Lacan, and of the French feminists Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray. That is the discourse [Douglas] Crimp internalizes, and it came to be lingua artspeak everywhere. Like modernist discourse, it applied to everything, so that there was room for deconstructive and “archeological” discussion of art of every period.

Editor’s Note: This list was drawn in part from a 2014 seminar taught by Debra Bricker Balken in the MFA program in Art Writing at the School of Visual Arts titled Critical Strategies: Late Modernism/Postmodernism. Additional sources can be found here , here , here (paywall), and here . Also relevant are reviews of the 2008 exhibition at the Jewish Museum, “Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976,” notably those by Roberta Smith , Peter Schjeldahl , and Martha Schwendener .

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179 Contemporary Art Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best contemporary art topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics on contemporary art, 📌 most interesting contemporary art topics to write about, 🎓 simple & easy contemporary art essay titles, 📃 good research topics about contemporary art, ❓ essay questions about contemporary art.

• Contemporary Art Practices Essay Speaking about contemporary art, people usually mean the objects of art and artistic techniques that began to be used in the middle of the twentieth century.
• Differences of Realism, Naturalism, and Modernism Periods in Art The realism movement in art is a product of the ideological and philosophical spirit of its time. Modernism is the movement in search of new forms of art, and it emphasizes the interior world.
• Modernism in Art and Painting Paintings done in the past about the state of people and past society presently help to give direction to in the world of art.
• Impact of Digital Technologies on Contemporary Art On the contrary, digital art has been applauded in that it is fast and flexible in the sense that artists get to finish their jobs fast.
• Modernism and Arts and Crafts: Comparison Today, critics view modernism as a breakdown of the traditional styles inherent to the Western culture that used to connect the appearance of works of art to the appearance of the natural world. In particular, […]
• Yue Minjun’s Self-Portraits As Modern Art This paper will try to present the aesthetic as well as commercial interpretation of artist Yue Min Jun as an artist, in the eyes of a westerner but with the consideration of personal history and […]
• Modern Art: Condensation Cube by Hans Haacke Thus, obviously being the bright example of the modern art, Condensation Cube helps to author to introduce several questions which are interesting to him and raise the question of the relations between art and science […]
• Theory of Modern Art: Theory of Realism The proper use of art, according to this declaration, was to document “a true picture of the events” and shape the mind towards the revolutionary ideal[7].
• Contemporary Art as an Example of Social Commentary In summary, art is a vehicle for the expression of the political, religious, and social views of both the artist and the audience.
• Art and Printmaking. Contemporary Art These types of printmaking have differences relative to the nature of the surface, which creates or forms the print that is to be transferred onto a fabric or paper.
• Effects of Globalization in the Contemporary Japanese Art They have in turn influenced the art of painting in Japan to develop it and push it to a global level.
• Greek Mosaics in Later Greek Art and Modern Art For instance, all the decorated floors were usually confined to a unique principle whereby the dining room and the anteroom were considered.
• The Artistic Life of Xu Beihong and His Influence to Modern Art in China Xu Beihong was a major player in the revolutionalization of Chinese art. The dissenting voice was however that of Xu Beihong who was convinced that the answer to Chinese art was in the 19th century […]
• Postmodern and Modern Art: Essays by Claes Oldenburg and by Ad Rheinhardt Harrison and Wood observe that “The history of art is that of a long series of attacks upon social and aesthetic values held to be moribund, although the avant-garde position is frequently nostalgic and absolute”.[1] […]
• Theory of Modern Art: Rationalization Buchloh observes the cyclical appearance of action and reaction in art since the advent of Cubism, and infers from this that art reflects somehow the state of society.
• The Influence of Conceptual Image on Modern Art and Design If a practical application is concerned, an image is a way of communication, and a designer often plays the role of the mediator between the public and the seller of a product the image is […]
• American Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern Designs Therefore, this style continues to be present in the decoration and design of buildings, interiors, transportation, and accessories. The Mid-century Modern design remains popular due to its sole combination of organic materials, clear lines, and […]
• Analysis of Modern Interior Design Style The factors mentioned above and the interior design style are associated because the industry of interior design is a broad discipline that combines knowledge and technologies of many fields. The first major factor that has […]
• Modernist Typography in Graphic Design In the example above, it can be seen that these serifs take on a strong triangular shape, joined to the main stroke with a series of brackets that serves both to fill in the negative […]
• Pregnant Female Body in Renaissance and Modern Art Thus, he considered Mona Lisa to be a symbol of the origin of life, and the female image as a symbolic source of natural powers of creation and destruction.
• Modern Ceramic Art: Beatrice Wood and Bernard Leach She was widely exposed to art and yearned to run away to France which charted the direction of her life as she thwarted her mother plans for “coming out” into the society and leading a […]
• Effects of World War I on the Development of Modern Art For the artists and most of the people in Europe, the time that preceded the World War I, the actual war period and the aftermath of the was presented a period of profound disillusionment 13.
• Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock: The Revolutionary Modern Artists The essay addresses the contribution of these famous artists to their particular art movements and in general, the world of art.
• Modern Asian Art Exhibition in Museum Overall, modern Asian art reflects the diverse cultural and artistic traditions of the region and shows the ways in which this legacy was influenced by Western art trends.”Mandala” by Kamal Boullata is an example of […]
• Contemporary Religious Education and Liberal Arts The provision of contemporary religious education becomes a necessity and guide and ensures that more people are in a position to transform their lives.
• Traditional and Contemporary Art: Paintings Rouen Cathedral The glamorous overall appearance of pop art is pleasant and engaging. I find abstract art overhyped and thought-provoking due to the lack of subject.
• Mark Bradford on Reimagine Modernist Art Instead of painting in a realistic style, abstract painters seek to capture the ethereal, unveil the unseen, and express the mysterious.
• Painting as Contemporary 21st Century Art Topic Considering different perspectives and applications in the exploration of the topic of geometric art, I intend to study the impact of geometric art in different industries.
• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea Thankfully, modern technologies allow us to share museums’ exhibits and opportunities online and our National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art located in Korea is not an exception.
• Michael Jackson’s Glove for Museum of Contemporary Art Australia It describes the cultural importance of the piece of work and how it resonates with the institution’s wider objectives and mission statement.
• Museum of Modern Art: Reflection The Cypress tree is also a significant element in the painting as van Gogh projects it as a rising flame from the ground to the night sky.
• The Difference Between Art Deco and Depression Modern Design By and whole, Art Deco and Depression differ in their characteristics and their meanings as they bring unlike messages to the viewers.
• Ai Weiwei as a Contemporary Art Artist The meaning of human rights and the destiny of the Chinese people are of primary significance for the artist, so many of his works reflect the issues that Weiwei recognizes and wants to eliminate.
• The Concept of Modern Art Development Walter Benjamin stated in the book, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. In the statement, Benjamin was responding to the effect of reproduction on the aura of an object.
• Contemporary Islamic Art Overview The influence of European art in the East grows in the 19th century and reaches its climax by the 20th century.
• The Coming of Modern Era and the Birth of “New Art” The most notable movements included Impressionism, then Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Suprematism, Abstract art, proponents of which contributed immensely to the establishment of a new perspective on the role of art in society.
• The Formation of the Contemporary Art The painting created by Wilfredo Lam, one of the famous representatives of Modern Primitivism, represents the image of primitive way of life and depiction of early beliefs of Afro-Cubans.
• “Salt Shaker” by Stuart Davis and Modern Art The Salt Shaker is a prominent example of how most ordinary and banal items may be turned into major art pieces.
• Contemporary Moorish Interior Design As a result, the Moroccan Style interior design provides a number of possibilities to demonstrate and highlight these nuances and peculiarities that exist in different cultures.
• Modernist Art: A Feminist Perspective Clarke limited the definition of modernism even further by his restriction of it to the facets of the Paris of Manet and the Impressionists, a place of leisure, pleasure, and excesses, and it seems that […]
• Hensbergen’s “Guernica” Is a Paradigm of the Modern Art Guernica is a depiction of the airborne devastation of a Basque city by the fascists in the period of the Spanish Civil war.
• Classical and Contemporary Art as Influenced by Kate Beynon In Li Ji’s drawing, Beynon creates the image of a strong, stout and bold warrior completely in control of the mountain next to her.
• Contemporary Culture and Pop Art To understand the essence of pop Art better, the connection between the This is not a Pipe by Foucault and Plato and the Simulacrum by Deleuze and the works of pop art can be of […]
• A Work of Modern Art Analysis: “Global Death and Destruction” by Robert Arneson This, in its turn, brings about ideas of how precarious the position of man himself is in this world in contrast to the stable and imminent existence of the things created by him: war, and […]
• Animations and Modern Film Designs In the film industry, the audience has to be captivated by the proposition in the pictures. In order to catch the attention of the viewers the film has to be striking and enjoyable.
• The History of Modernism Era: The Modern Philosophy of Art Modernism is used for the description of the style and ideas of a work of art that was produced during this period or era of modernism.
• Studies in Contemporary Art and Artists The paper is claimed to review some of the most known contemporary artists, and define the particularities, that may be regarded as mnemonic traces of their arts.
• Modern Views on Aesthetics and Art Robert Solomon in his article dedicated to Kitsch, which is often viewed as a degeneration of the present-day culture, states that it also has a right to be called art.
• Modern Vision of Art: “Embankment” and “TH.2058” On the other hand, I believe that in order to create a piece of art, the author should not necessarily make all components on their own: for instance, when a talented florist creates a composition […]
• Modern Art: Nature, Life Man and Abstract Exhibition The theme for the exhibition is ‘Nature, Life Man and Abstract’ on how various artists have attempted to depict nature, life, man in the abstract form. Featured in this exhibit is one of the works […]
• Humanities: Modern Culture and the Arts In light of the foregoing, the essence of the paper is to zero in on the explorations of the cultural transformations in a particular society substantiating notions that culture is dynamic and is always subject […]
• Modern Art Directions Analysis The new art of the 20th century is a variety of sections and directions. The creativity of separate representatives of the avant-garde does not fit at all in the frameworks of any art currents.
• The Pregnant Form as Modern Art Form However, with the advent of Christianity and the vilification of the female form, it became necessary to hide the woman’s body, especially the ‘grotesque’ form of the pregnant woman.
• Foundations of Modern Art: Getty Museum Jacques-Louis David’s excellent masterpiece of the young lovers Telemachus and Eucharis was created at the dawn of the artist’s life when the defeat of Napoleon and the return of the monarchy in France forced him […]
• Classic & Modern Art Classifying and Appreciating The classical style of art have been those of portraits, still, life, landscape, and the genre itself were used as subjects for the different forms of artworks.
• Eco-Friendly Design in Contemporary Fashion In this case, fibers are plants that need to be treated during processing; designing and they too require the usage of herbicides, fertilizers, and other chemicals that are hazardous to the environment at large.
• Jenny Holzer as a Contemporary Artist Although she lives and works in New York, her work is known throughout the country for its biting reflections on political issues of the day, coupled with her blatant attempt to involve the average consumer […]
• Contemporary Literature. Poems and Paintings The poem and painting chosen for the analysis in this paper belong to the works of the second group, that is the picture came to existence much earlier than the poem which, in its turn, […]
• Mid-Century Modern Design However, the key focus of the style is the combination of function and a unique design that is appealing to the eye.
• Interior Architecture in Context: Subjective Well-Being in Modernist Design According to Petermans and Pohlmeyer, subjective well-being is an emerging topic of research in the field of design, although, no consensus has been reached in the scientific area as to what represents the essence of […]
• Russian Avant-Garde in History of Modern Art The Russian avant-garde is a massive wave of non-traditional, experimental, and innovative art that covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century in Russia.
• Cubism in History of Modern Art Cubism has become one of the iconic art movements of the twentieth century that had a profound effect on the development of art.
• Cultural Encounter: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art As I learned from the description of the exhibition by the SFMOMA and the video called “Julie Mehretu: Politicized Landscapes,” Mehretu painted with ink on the background of the blurred 19th-century paintings of the American […]
• Modern Art in Actions, Events, Performances The relationship between the audience and a work of art was drastically transformed from observation to involvement as for the first time the viewer was placed in the art context.
• Art Exhibition in Contemporary Society One of the key roles and benefits of the art exhibition is that it helps to advance and promote the value of different aspects of art, thus enabling artists to achieve their goals in those […]
• Art-Society Nexus in the Museum of Modern Art Whether it is in the genesis of individual works, the act of reception, or the course of the history of style, the dialectical development of art does not proceed from the antagonism between social and […]
• Paintings: Emotional Intensity of Modern Art Name: Hong Seung-Hye Title: “More Interesting than War” Year: 2008 Gallery: Kukje Hallery Exhibition: Debris Materials: Polyurethane on acrylic Method of construction and dimensions: 14 x 18 x 27 cm, 14 x 20 x […]
• Modernist Revolution in Art History Simultaneously, the works of Karl Marx challenged the assumption of the relative nature of the shortcomings of capitalist society and suggested its fundamental flaws and inherent contradictions as reasons for the current social issues.
• Australia’s Aboriginal and Modernist Visual Arts Indigenous Australian art is characterized by a lot of imagery that depicted the origin of the artist and the themes in the paintings.
• Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography Duchamp and his work have a connection through the refusal to accept the views of the majority of artists and art lovers.
• Modernity in Traditional Islamic Building Design The bifurcation of scholarly opinions on the place of modernity in traditional Islamic building design is a testament to the complexity of the issue.
• Zhuang Huan’s “Poppy Fields” in Modern Chinese Art Zhang Huan disclosed the meaning of his art, and particularly, of this series in several interviews declaring that these “paintings represent the hallucination of happiness and the hallucination of fear and loneliness in this life […]
• Ideas in Neo-Expressionism and Contemporary Art The insights of identity can be seen in the artworks of many contemporary artists. The majority of them try to reveal their philosophical views and attract the public’s attention to those issues they consider to […]
• Visual Analysis of Nature in Modern Art In the age of modern arts, when both the creators and the audience is less concerned with the physical form and more with the underlying messages and feelings that art invokes, the multi-faceted topic of […]
• Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art’s Exhibitions In terms of mission, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal is dedicated to revealing to the world the crucial position that the present-day art holds in the community.
• Contemporary Installation Art Changes From the 20th Century Quite the opposite, art serves as the means of rendering the alteration and the challenges that people face in the identified realms, therefore, portraying the process of the evolution of the humankind.
• The Body in Contemporary Art Finally, the art of performance includes the human body in its motion; in this role, the body is viewed from a variety of angles and perspectives and in the combination with what is happening to […]
• Contemporary Female Artists in Turkey The secrecy associated with Islam and gender roles in some parts of Asia has further compounded this mystery because few people know what to make of the place of women in traditional Islamic societies and […]
• Classicism, Realism and Contemporary Art Paintings In my opinion, this difference is concerned with the fact that, whereas, many artistic works of the past can be enjoyed by just about anyone, this is far from being the case with the examples […]
• Modernity Development in Art of 18-20th Centuries In turn, romanticism and realism are aimed at showing that modernity can be viewed as the search for new topics or questions that have not been examined by the representatives of the previous cultural movements.
• Contemporary Art at Saatchi Gallery of London The work states the idea that the “location of the soul was not necessarily in the body”, and the focus is not on the man trying to breathe above the water, but on the vivid […]
• Modern Art Works: Painting, Sculpture and Vintage Illustration The aim of this essay is to describe the painting Joy of Life by Henri Matisse, the sculpture The Kiss by Constantin Brancussi, and to present the vintage print illustration of 1930s.
• Artistic Modernism and Art Nouveau The opposition of mass production to the handmade artistic work can also be regarded as the opposition of the inhuman and soulless to the infinite and spiritual that is comprised of beauty.
• Modern Art: A Cultural-Aesthetic Movement The problem of defining of the term Modernism created much difficulty for artists, philosophers and writers of the 20th century. In the course of time, the aspect of realism came into consideration to change a […]
• Modern Arts Development in the USA The research explores how the social status, the cultivation of esthetics, and attendance of artistic events affect the inherent attitudes of the cultural policies in the USA.
• Zhao Zhao and the Chinese Contemporary Art It is considered to portray the repression of the artist and Ai Weiwei by the authorities in China. The marks of the brush in Sky No.
• Exploration of Artwork From Modern Art History: Fauvism This painting by Henri Matisse was his first work that portrayed impressionism and also the advent of colored painting by the Fauvists.
• Contemporary Art in China However, the fruits of the struggles are worth the effort, if the current fame and reputation of China as a beacon of contemporary art is anything to go by.
• Modern Approaches to Creating of the Artwork The technological peculiarities of the installation are characterized by the fact that the author uses a projection screen and a room with four specific zones for producing of the effect of interacting with the characters […]
• Design Activism to Contemporary Designers As a result, scholars have coined the term “design activism” to enhance the role of designers to the society. The rise of many designers as a profession has been in a crossroads to decide on […]
• Authenticity in Contemporary Design One example of contemporary design that incorporates the aspect of actual handcraft is films production.”Films incorporate the aspect of nostalgic impulses, and as such it increases the film’s authenticity and production”.
• Visual and Contemporary Arts: My Bed by Emin Tracey and Nan and Brian in Bed by Nan Goldin The bed is a work of art used to identify the life situation of the artist in the wider context of the society.
• Recent Modern Art Exhibition: Projects 89 Art exhibitions are the places, which will be interesting to people of any age and any gender any time.”A natural effect of the Museum exhibition will be to lead the public to enquire why it […]
• Post-Colonial and Contemporary British Muslim Artists The art presented by these Muslims bears the attitude portrayed by the British society towards them and the Islamic religion as a whole and the artists’ own views on Islam.
• Role of Modern Art Museum From the above we can say that the modern art museum acts as memory banks for all events and objects in the society which is of great utility to the members of a given social […]
• Contemporary Graffiti as Political Art Banksy’s graffiti art work is still considered as one of the best way of protesting against the government in order to remove the CCTV cameras from the cities or to use those cameras in proper […]
• Modern Art: From Impressionism to Contemporary This color unifies the parasol and the grass on the hill, creating a flow of the eyes from one point to the bottom.
• Music as a Contemporary Art Creativity involves manipulating words to appeal to the audience and for the audience to be able to relate to the music easily.
• Jeff Koons’ Contemporary Artwork The common artwork of the artist include the inflatable balloons toys and the pink panther, beside the life-size ceramic model of the late pop star Michael Jackson holding his favourite pet, chimpanzee babbles as shown […]
• Modern Philosophers: Martin Luther, Erasmus, Leonardo Davinci and Thomas Biley A fiery critic of the Papacy doctrines, Martin Luther believed that any good choice made by man has to be founded on God’s principles and not from institutions like Roman Catholic Church, which was based […]
• The Contemporary Artists and Their Contributions Since childhood, she admired the work of Mexican and Southwest artists and this drove her to apply their employment of warm colors in her individual paintings.
• Modern and Postmodern Art: The Book Theories of Modern Art Naum Gabo in his essay on neoplasticism and constructivism published in the book Theories of modern art tries to analyze the changes that have taken in the art world in modern years.
• “Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985” Summary The article has laid out that the persona’s decision to stick to his race would take a two fold interpretation in which some of the whites who are closely tied to him and his work […]
• Contemporary Design Issues in Film Industry It is used in the film with an objective of closely aligning the audience with a serial killer. They both do this by providing the resolution expected by the audience at the end of a […]
• Exhibitions of Contemporary Arts in Three Different Museums This discussion looks at the exhibitions of contemporary arts in three different museums namely Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Culture, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
• Theory of Modern Art Institutions His proposals fit into a continuum of detachment from the real and the concrete that has been evident in the art and the writing on art in the 20th century.
• The Museum of Contemporary Art Each exhibition at MOCA is a unique opportunity for people to enjoy the beauty of the world they live in and to see how the professionals recognize the main aspects of the modern world.
• Contemporary Art: New Ways of Seeing
• The Relationships Between Feminism and the Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Art: Work Comparison of Beth Lipman and Josiah McElheny
• Link Between Global Markets and Contemporary Art
• How Contemporary Art Owes the Renaissance
• Malaysia Contemporary Art Issues: Art as Idea-A View From Jalaini Abu Hassan
• How Contemporary Art Redefined the Meaning of Art Media
• Parallels Between Photography and New Media Concerning Contemporary Art Forms
• How the Dada Artists Challenged the Contemporary Art
• Consumer Desires and Value Perceptions Regarding Contemporary Art Collection and Exhibit Visits
• How Mobile Phones and Internet Changed Contemporary Art
• The Relationships Between Postmodernism and Contemporary Art
• Pricing Color Intensity and Lightness in Contemporary Art Auctions
• Correlation Between Radio and Contemporary Art
• Overview of Russian Modern and Contemporary Art
• Perspectives of Healing Children Through Contemporary Art
• Selling Out: The Financialization of Contemporary Art
• Site-Specific Installation Artworks Promote Appreciation of Contemporary Art
• Transcending Time and Place: Baroque and Contemporary Art
• Why People Don’t Understand Contemporary Art
• Andy Warhol and His Work on the Contemporary Art
• Building Consumer-Arts Institution Relationships: Exploratory Study in Contemporary Art Museums
• Linking Chinese Contemporary Art and Social Change
• Commercial Contemporary Art Market Overview and Analysis
• Contemporary Art and Art Theory of Africa and Asia
• Gabriel Orozco’s Impact on Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Art and Its Influence on Contemporary Culture
• The Relations Between Contemporary Art and Political Views
• Contemporary Art and the Plight of Its Public
• Overview of Contemporary Art From the Middle East
• Contemporary Art and the Search for History
• Creative Drawing and Contemporary Art and Design
• Contemporary Art Issues: Digital Art in Malaysia
• Cultural and Contemporary Art: The Nocturne Festival
• Contemporary Art Issues: Malay’s Identity in Lat’s Cartoon
• Don Thompson: The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: Curious Economics of Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Art: Role of Marina Abramovic
• Empathic Vision: Affect, Trauma, and Contemporary Art
• Contemporary Art Music Within the Music World
• Exploring Contemporary Art: Franz West Chameleon 2004
• What Inspires You in Contemporary Art?
• Which Contemporary Art Museums Do You Visit?
• What Is Andy Warhol’s Contribution to Contemporary Art?
• What Is the Commercial Side of Contemporary Art?
• What Artistic Practices Are Used in Contemporary Art?
• What Is the Influence of Contemporary Art on Modern Culture?
• Does Contemporary Art Reflect Political Views?
• What Is the Role of Contemporary Art in Society?
• What Is the History of Contemporary Art?
• Can Digital Art in Malaysia Be Called Contemporary?
• What Are the Currents of Contemporary Art?
• Contemporary Art: What Are the New Ways of Seeing?
• Why People Don’t Understand Contemporary Art?
• What Does Modern Art Owe to the Renaissance?
• What Is the Main Purpose of Contemporary Art?
• How Has Contemporary Art Rethought the Meaning of Art Media?
• How Did the Dada Artists Challenge the Contemporary Art?
• How Have Mobile Phones and Internet Changed Contemporary Art?
• Why the Feminist Movement Is Important for Contemporary Art?
• Is Modern Architecture a Contemporary Art?
• How Affordable Is It for Consumers to Visit Contemporary Art Exhibitions?
• What Is the Main Difference Between Contemporary Art and Postmodernism?
• How Is Pricing at Contemporary Art Auctions Formed?
• How Does Globalization Affect Contemporary Art?
• How Is Contemporary Art Used to Heal Children?
• Who Is the Creator of Contemporary Art?
• How Popular Are Installations in Contemporary Art?
• Which Representatives of Contemporary Art Do You Know?
• Can Body Art Be Called Contemporary Art?
• How Did the Attitude Towards Contemporary Art Change According to the Era?
• Impressionism Research Ideas
• Hollywood Questions
• Music Topics
• Popular Music Paper Topics
• Virtualization Essay Titles
• Pop Art Titles
• Feminism Questions
• Postmodernism Essay Topics
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Beyond the Mainstream: Essays on Modern and Contemporary Art

Abstract:  This selection of essays by a prominent art historian, critic and curator of modern art examines the art and artists of the twentieth century who have operated outside the established art world. In a lucid and accessible style, Peter Selz explores modern art as it is reflected, and has had an impact on, the tremendous transformations of politics and culture, both in the United States and in Europe. An authoritative overview of a neglected phenomenon, his essays explore the complex relationship between art at the periphery and art at the putative center, and how marginal art has affected that of the mainstream. Author:  Peter Selz Publication date:  January 28, 1998 Publication type:  Book

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Writing for the Art World: Style and Substance

Writing about art is based on a sustained practice of rigorous analysis when first encountering an art object and the subsequent composition of prose that articulates that specific artwork’s aesthetic, social, and historical value. In Writing for the Art World: Style and Substance , students engage in close study of art objects and exhibitions. By reading exemplary texts, students will master the fundamental requirements for writing about art.

The course explores writing structure, tone, and point-of-view, as well as the professional vocabulary used to intelligently describe and analyze contemporary art exhibitions. Students will work under the guidance of the instructor as well as in an exchange with fellow students via a mid-course peer workshop. This course also allows students to practice art writing by generating and revising weekly writing material such as exhibition reviews, museum wall text, artist biographies, and catalog entries. Students’ work in the course will culminate in the composition of a 1000-word essay that describes, analyzes, and critiques an exhibition which presents a strong or unique position within the context of art history or contemporary culture.

This Premier Online Course features weekly recorded lectures and faculty-guided discussion boards to maximize flexibility and deliver an engaging and interactive digital experience.

Students will learn:

• To identify and describe the types of contemporary art writings that contribute to exhibitions, auctions, and public conversations about art.
• To assess the vocabulary and writing techniques applicable in a variety of spheres that require a written analysis of art.
• To create a written review which showcases your writing skills and could be used to further your career in the arts.

Course Dates & Fees

Getting started & how it works, sample topics.

• Who Writes About Art, Why and How
• The Building Blocks of Visual Writing
• An Overview of Writings Generated by Galleries and Museums
• Analysis of Museum Wall Texts
• Review of What Press Releases Say and Why
• Master Art Writers from Past and Present
• Analyzing and Connecting with Your Subject Matter
• How to Professionally Convey Valuable, Biographical Information on Artists
• Analyzing an Artist’s Individual Experiences and Their Social Context
• Focus on De Kooning: From a Formal Analysis of a Singular Work to an Exploration of the Artist
• How De Kooning’s Work Is Reevaluated Over Time
• Scholarly Writing for Exhibition Catalogues, Historical Books, etc
• Formal Analysis, Artists’ Biographies, Critical Evaluation, Historic Research

Course Completion

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Introduction to Art 30,000 years of human creativity

The history of art is a vast story of human creativity, a record of our passions and struggles from before written history through today. Obelisk is a free, online art history textbook, sharing the wild, tragic and inspiring stories of artists and their work from 30,000 BCE through Modern Art. Obelisk is designed for discovery, a cross-linked web of artworks, biographies and writings, a choose-your-own-adventure where every path leads you to something new and interesting.

Meet the artists , discover artwork , or explore the timeline . But if you'd like to learn more about how to look at and understand art, the next few pages describe the visual language of art, the ways we can understand it, and why art is important. So dig in!

The Elements of Art

Eight tools, infinite expression

The Principles of Design

Categorizing Art

Can we make sense of it all?

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100+ Art Essay Topics for Your Excellent Paper

Art is a gold mine for essay ideas. The multiplicity of art styles, genres, and movements gives a great opportunity to choose a topic of your interest. If you are bored with standard assignments, you will like our post because writers of our essay service we have collected unusual and catchy essay topics about art of different epochs and countries. Writing essays about artists, artworks, or art history is not only exciting – it may also broaden your erudite horizons. Don’t hesitate to steep yourself in the world of beauty and aesthetics!

Best art essay topics in December 2023

• How modern technology has altered the landscape of art.
• The value of public artworks in contemporary cityscapes.
• The colossal cultural influence of Christmas art.
• How social justice movements relate to artistic expression.
• How works of art and literature depict mental illness.
• What digital art has become and where it stands in the modern art scene.
• Edited AI-generated images as a form of art.
• How art can help People from different cultures understand and empathize with one another.
• The morality of cinematic and photographic depictions of art.
• Images of the LGBTQ+ community in media and entertainment.
• The impact of the development of AI tools on modern artists.
• What museums can do to keep history alive.

Our great collection of art essay ideas

When we want to avoid the mistakes of the past, we turn back to our history. The same happens when we are looking for art essay ideas. Art history is a treasury filled with various and exciting topics for your papers. You can choose any epoch, any art movement, any school and present their peculiarities, representatives, and origins. Check out the list of art essay ideas from our art essay writing service .

• Printmaking: history and techniques.
• The return of cultural property to the African countries after WWII.
• The formal elements of the Egyptian portraits of royalties and aristocrats: the use of space; colors and color blocks; lines and texture; gestures and emotions.
• How can you explain the “philosophy of art”?
• When and how did photography become art?
• Jewelry of Ancient Egypt: the role of jewelry in the afterlife; the most used materials and metals; protective amulets; types of ancient Egyptian jewelry.
• Edo in Japan: Kabuki theater and woodblock prints.
• Why did Egyptians never change their art canon for 3,000 years?
• The first Impressionists: Édouard Manet and Claude Monet.
• Primeval musical instruments.
• The references to Renaissance art history in “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown.
• How do the painters of different epochs depict the Apocalypse?
• The history of the Venetian carnival masks.
• Sacrifice in Mayan art.
• Stained glass in Medieval France.

Artist biography essay ideas

Artists’ biographies always have something to surprise with: skeletons in the closet, unusual career stories, difficult childhood, etc. Studying the details of their lives doesn’t only serve for fun. When we analyze a certain piece of art, it is necessary to look into the author’s ideas, motives, and feelings. The understanding of all these aspects simplifies the analysis of the art piece and allows us to produce a more detailed and exhaustive paper. Below, we provide you with a list of talented artists of three centuries. Writing about their colorful lives will be a great art essay idea and paper writing help .

18th century:

Etienne Falconet Francesco Rastrelli Hubert Robert Jacques-Louis David Jean-Antoine Houdon Johann Sebastian Bach Louis François Roubiliac Ludwig van Beethoven Thomas Gainsborough Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

19th century:

Auguste Rodin Claude Monet Edgar Degas Eduard Manet Eugene Delacroix Franz Schubert Giuseppe Verdi Gustav Klimt Paul Cézanne Paul Gauguin Vincent Willem van Gogh

20th century

Alberto Giacometti Andy Warhol Constantin Brâncuși Edvard Munch Frida Kahlo Georges Braque Georgia Totto O’Keeffe Henry Spencer Moore Jackson Pollock Judy Chicago Pablo Picasso Salvador Dali

Art around the world essay topics

Our planet is an amazing place. We share our home with thousands of different nations, ethnic groups, and tribes. Their cultures are unique and fascinating. You only have to look closer to find some great art essay ideas.

• Japanese calligraphy: styles and materials.
• K-pop: music style and subculture.
• Chinese circus art as a synthesis of ancient traditions and innovations.
• Bollywood and Hindi-language film industry.
• Fashion and textiles of the African tribes.
• The war dance haka in the Maori culture: history and types.
• Wayang: traditional shadow puppet theater in Indonesia and Malaysia.
• The peculiarities of mehndi in India, Africa, and the Middle East.
• Water puppetry: a unique Vietnamese tradition.
• The totem masks in the art of Papua New Guinea.

Art piece analysis topic ideas

Art appreciation essay topics require some specific knowledge. If you choose one of these topics, make sure that you provide all kinds of research about the artist, his or her personal style and technique, the art school, the background, etc. A detailed and well-considered art piece analysis is always highly appreciated.

• “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci: style, composition, symbols.
• What makes “Darkness Falls” by Patrick Hughes a unique artwork?
• Analyze the purpose of the painting “Marriage Contract” by Giovanni Arnolfini.
• Describe the structure of “Heart of Gold” by Christopher David White.
• The biblical symbols in “The Garden of Delights” by Hieronymus Bosch.
• The “demons” of Mikhail Vrubel: “The Demon Seated,” “The Demon Flying,” “The Demon Downcast.”
• Symbolism and interpretations of the engraving “Melencolia I” by Albrecht Dürer.
• The depiction of the female body in the painting “The Three Graces” by Peter Paul Rubens.
• The role of decorating elements for the perception of the painting “The Kiss” by Gustav Klimt.
• Magic realism in the painting “La note bleu” by Eric Roux-Fontaine.

Modern art topic ideas

New is always better. Of course, this aphorism doesn’t cover all aspects of life. Anyway, modern art has something to surprise you with. The multiplicity of styles, movements, and forms is breathtaking, and you can choose any to write an excellent essay about it!

• The artistic styles of modern art: British Pop art Conceptual art Constructivism Art Deco
• Globalization in contemporary art.
• Activism as a platform for modern art.
• Use of technologies and social media in modern art.
• Rise of art fairs in the 2000s.
• Multiplicity of forms in modern art.
• Political cartoons as a modern art form.
• The modern mural as an instrument of political protest.
• The technologies that define art of the 21th century
• Large-scale artworks within contemporary art.

Art essay topics by type of essay

Below, we have placed the art essay ideas for argumentative, cause and effect, and compare and contrast essays. These three types are frequently assigned for homework because they allow the evaluation of critical thinking, argumentative skills, and logical reasoning of students.

Argumentative essay topics about art

If you like good discussions as well as art, you are welcome to train your argumentation skills. Prove your viewpoint using logical reasoning and enhanced arguments. Write a well-structured essay, and the high grades will come soon!

• How can we define “good art”?
• Why art disciplines are necessary for school programs.
• The most important painting of the 20th century.
• What makes Baroque sculptures recognizable?
• Why does “Birth of Venus” by Botticelli best exemplify the ideals of the Renaissance?
• Why does modern society put the arts in the role of social service?
• Computer games as a kind of art.
• Why has “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso had a global impact?
• In what ways does art influence our everyday life?
• Why is the “Mozart effect” not real?
• Is the theater an art form significant enough to change culture?
• Why the feminist movement is important for contemporary art.
• Is graffiti a kind of art?
• Banksy: vandal or artist?
• Is art a good option for investments?
• Should photojournalism be censored?
• Can we consider advertisement to be a kind of modern art?
• What made Paris a center of art in the 20th century?
• Why is art education undervalued around the world?
• How does art education help to think different?
• The appearance of Gala and her influence on Dali’s art .

Cause and effect essay topics about art

These art essay topics are based on two key pillars: reasons and consequences. A cause-and-effect link connects everything in this world. There is no exception for art.

• Choose one American painting created under strong influence of Japanese art and explain what exact effect it has had.
• How did the Second Great Migration influence the art of the Harlem Renaissance?
• What was the impact of Hudson River School of Art on the American painting?
• How did iconoclasm affect Muslim art?
• Has the Cultural Revolution influenced Chinese art?
• How did Japanese art influence Van Gogh’s paintings?
• The impact of Raphael on the art of the Renaissance (check the list of Renaissance topics for your papers).
• How did mythology influence the sculptures of Ancient Greece?
• How did the Japanese mentality and lifestyle affect the art of the rock garden?
• What caused the decline of art in Medieval Europe?

Compare and contrast essay topics about art

These art essay topics are not that easy. You have to work twice as hard to compare two things because you have to be well-informed about each of them. However, the game is worth the candle.

• Compare the main ideas of Middle Age art and Renaissance art.
• Compare Greek and Egyptian canons of proportions.
• The peculiarities of modern art in comparison with the previous art periods.
• Similarities and differences in Mannerism and Baroque styles.
• Compare the novelties in the paintings of Gustave Courbet to those of Edouard Manet.
• Compare Picasso’s Blue and Rose periods.
• Compare traditional and modern Caribbean music.
• Compare and contrast French and English gardens.
• Compare the surrealism in the paintings of Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali.
• Compare Baroque and Rococo design styles.

We are absolutely sure that you’ve found an interesting and unusual topic for your art essay in our lists. No doubt, art provides us with inspiration for creating high-quality papers. If you don’t feel confident about your writing skills but have an excellent idea for a paper, you are welcome to use the college paper writing service EssayShark. Here, you will find a comfortable ordering system, a team of experienced writers, and 24/7 available support. Good luck on the path to academic success, and may the Force be with you!

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Art - Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Art is a diverse range of human activities that express creative or technical skill, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. An essay on art could explore its historical evolution, its impact on society, or the role of modern technology in reshaping art. Discussion on different art movements and their societal reflections could also be intriguing. We have collected a large number of free essay examples about Art you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

How did Renaissance Advances in Studio Art and Architecture Effect Stage Design

During the Italian Renaissance there were major advances in art, architecture and theatre. Most of this was due to the discovery of perspective but some new discoveries in architecture also had a huge impact on how scenery as well as the theatres themselves were designed. Artists and architects alike decided to take their skills and apply them to the theatre both physically and through sketches and books. Scene designers and architects were able to create realistic depth on the stage […]

About the Renaissance Art

Following the Middle and Higher Middle Ages came the Renaisance Era. The word renaissance means rebirth. It refers to the renewing interest in the Greek and Roman culture. The Renaissance began in Italy. Many wonder why it started there and not somewhere else. One of the main reasons it began in Italy is because it was the first counrty to rise and overcome economically from all of the chaos that happened during the Middle Ages. During this era, many new […]

Female Beauty in the Renaissance

Throughout millennia, the idea of female beauty has been changed and sculpted more times than one can count. To put things into perspective, blue eyeshadow, bee-hive hairstyles, and being overweight have all been part of the female beauty standards we followed in the past. To go back a few hundred years and examine the Renaissance era, we find rules and regulations of feminine beauty very different from our modern models. The ideal woman of the Renaissance, as described by Petrarch, […]

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Race and Public Art

Introduction Public Art entails any media that made with the intention of setting it in an open strategic physical point. Public art is usually placed at publicly accessible sites, for instance, a building accessed by the general public. After conducting thorough research through reading from the university notes, and internet research on public art, it was clear that the minorities are not represented. The minorities instead get excluded from participation in the sector of public art. Public art industry faces […]

Dancing and Art Dancing and Art

I am applying for an opportunity to pursue dancing and art at high-tech school. This is because dancing enables people to understand themselves better as well as the world they live in. Dancing as well enhances skills of observation and perception in addition to the concentration that certainly helps students in the rest of subjects in school. This is because dancing refers to the movement of the body rhythmically in a given space to music with the aim of expressing […]

The Renaissance – Michelangelo

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection"- Michelangelo (BrainyQuote). The Renaissance, which took place during the early 1300s to 1600s, was a period of big changes in European society where advances in art and literature were made (Esko). It was a time when people began to think of themselves as individuals, with God-given power to shape and control their destiny and environment. In Italy, it was thought as a rebirth of the ideas and […]

Two Greatest Artists’ Artworks Comparison

The High Renaissance time period and the Italian father driven families created two of the world’s greatest artist, just twenty-three years separates them, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The two would be rivals for their time as they produced some of the world’s greatest paintings, drawings, and sculptures that to this day still awe the next person that gets to visualize the magnificence of their artwork. Both, Leonardo and Michelangelo, became interested in the anatomical workings of the human body […]

Mozart and his Life

The latter half of the 1700s was a great time for music, with the younger Bachs and Haydn creating remarkable innovations that would introduce the advent of a new style of music which would be come to be known as the classical period. Mozart was born during this time period in Salzburg, and was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart in 1756. He called himself Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.2,3,6 He was the youngest of 7 children born to Leopold and […]

Renaissance and Reformation

The reason why i'm writing this research paper is to show what The Reformation and The Renaissance is about and why it's important. My essential question is what's the Renaissance and Reformation about. Where i found my answer to that question is my notes that i took in my socials studies class. I know they are accurate because i also did research online and i got my notes from my teacher. While going through all my Renaissance and Reformation notes […]

Michelangelo as the most Influential Artist

The world of art changed during the 1500s when Michelangelo was alive. The intricate designs of human beauty and accomplishment replaced the popular medieval, gothic styles. He showed the true potential of art and the full creativity of the human brain when let free. He left a massive legacy and created a ton of art work that will keep his name known for all time. Michelangelo was the only one said to equal Leonardo Da Vinci, he brought his own […]

The Evolution of Art in Mexican Culture

When the world thinks about art we think about paintings and sculptures. But what comes from it? When art is tied with culture you create this everlasting piece of work that has an impact on those who come across it. The significance of each work of art differs from the next. In this research paper we will indulge into the background of art in Mexican culture. Art in Mexico has shifted and continues to modernize because of the customs that […]

Renaissance Humanism

Abstract The Renaissance was a milestone for Europe to escape the old ideologies from the Medieval with remarkable achievements that have had a great impact on humanity. In this research paper, I will focus on some of the greatest achievements in the Renaissance time thanks to humanism. 1.Concepts 1.1.Renaissance The Renaissance is a period in European history between the 14th and 17th centuries and marking the transition from the middle ages to modernity. The Renaissance began in Florence, Italy, in […]

Paleolithic Vs. Neolithic Art: how and why are they Different?

Painted on the walls of a hidden cave in southern France are line drawings of animals that are native to the land and depictions of stories explaining everyday life of hunter-gatherers that the artist created dating 30,000 years old. The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave is one of the most well-preserved accounts of history from its period. It challenges the ideals that “primitive” people only focused on day to day living with food being the main concern. The cave demonstrates that Paleolithic people […]

Artistic Contributions of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was caused by the migration of African Americans, their search for identity, and talent. After the abolition of slavery many blacks moved toward industrialized cities. There, they hoped to find success and be identified as common people. After World War I, people began to recognize the African American identity and saw their work as more than an object but rather a piece of art. The art works blacks created were due to their progression in literature and […]

Is Graffiti Art or Crime of Vandalism?

Graffiti has sparked controversy among our society for it is misunderstood and seen only for its affiliations with gang activities. Many people argue that it is not art but rather a crime, for it is illegal to damage and paint in someone’s property without their consent. However, others disagree, and believe graffiti is a form of self-expression through different mediums such as but not limited to: calligraphy, painting, spray-painting, and printmaking. Graffiti is known for making the urban areas stand […]

How Art has been Used to Influence on Issues?

Jacques Louis David, a famous French painter once said. “The artist must be a philosopher. Socrates the skilled sculptor, Jean-Jacques [Rousseau] the good musician, and the immortal Poussin, tracing on the canvas the sublime lessons of philosophy, are so many proofs that an artistic genius should have no other guide except the torch of reason” (David). Art isn't only a creation however an image that can make a development or a certain stance affecting people way of thinking on political […]

The Renaissance Movement

The Renaissance is a very well known movement throughout the globe, for artists and non artists. It was a time period right after the Medieval period, and it has contributed so much to the art world. In this essay, we will be talking in detail, about what the Renaissance truly was. To begin, the Renaissance was from the 14th century through the 17th century and began in Italy. There are no well-defined causes for the beginning or end of the […]

Keith Haring is an American Pop Artist

Keith Haring is an American pop artist whose work became well known around the 1980s. He turned the average, bleak surroundings of his life into a platform that he could express his artwork and the many controversial ideas within through. Most of his work focuses on deep personal and human values, e.g. love, sex, war, death, and societal expectations, but he's most well known for dismantling the stigma of aids, advocating for the LGBT+ & African-American communities, and detesting drugs […]

The Soft Hearted Sioux Summary

Evident throughout written history, there are relatively high number of examples of the unfair treatment of Native Americans by the American settlers of the 13 colonies. Many of those examples include numerous broken treaties and agreements between the Americans and the Natives. In the film Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee, the portrayal is fairly accurate in showing the effects of the treatment by the Americans towards the people of the Sioux tribe. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee begins […]

Heart of Darkness Symbolism

Written stories all use literary techniques to structure writings, as well as engage readers. One literary device that that most of writings have in common is the use of symbols to show hidden messages such as moods and tones. Symbols can be divided into two categories a thematic concept which is what readers thinks the work is about, and a thematic statement, being what the work says about the subject. Interesting enough stories tend to use very similar tones to […]

Heart of Darkness why does Marlow Hate Lying

The novel Heart of Darkness is about a man named Marlow’s and he tells his story to his friends. His story was about his experiences from when he was a novice seaman. His journey took place in Africa and his mission was to retrieve a man named Kurtz from Africa and bring him home. During the end of the journey Kurtz dies and his last words were “The horror! The Horror!”, later when Marlow meets Kurtz intended he lies to […]

The Romantic Era and the Renaissance Period

The Italian Renaissance, lasting from the 14th to the 17th centuries, and the Romantic era of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were influential both in the aspects of art and of literature. The Italian Renaissance saw a notable revival of interest in the classical values of ancient Greece and Rome. Having the ability to rely on the political stability and growing prosperity in Italy, the people allowed for the development of new technologies- including the printing press, a […]

Accepting Loss in One Art and Looking for the Gulf Motel

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1300 Italian Art

During the 1300s, Italian Art made a tremendous impact on a variety of people and still does today. Not only was this a turning point for Italian art because of the Renaissance but also because of the realism and new techniques that were brought about during this time. The art reflected the modernization that this time period was entering. These numerous characteristics, styles, and influential artists all displayed the feelings and emotions of the 1300s. The innovations made in the […]

The Art of War

Sun Tzu created a lyrical masterpiece when he wrote the book The Art of War. This is a short text describing the military tactics and strategies used in war to defeat the enemy. Written before the official record of Chinese history, it remains a classic literary work studied and studied by generations. It displays the culture, intelligence and progress of China during a period of limited technology and resources. Sun Tzu provides war tactics using philosophical concepts. By applying deep […]

Keith Haring was an American Artist

Keith Haring was an American artist who was born in the small town of Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 1958. He grew up with three younger sisters, Kay, Karen, and Kristen. At a very young age, Keith became interested in art and created drawings with his dad, an engineer and amateur cartoonist. Later in his life during the late 70s he studied commercial art, but eventually lost interest and decided to leave after he read Robert Henri's The Art Spirit, which inspired […]

The Influence of the Byzantine Empire on the Renaissance

The Byzantine Empire was very important to the Christian Orthodoxy and greatly impacted the Italian painters. When the empire collapsed in 1453, Byzantium was a huge trading domain with the West. The Ottomans took control of Constantinople and began the expanding European war power around the Americas, Africa, India, and many more places. This struck the beginning of the Renaissance and pushed the movement in motion. In this paper, I will be addressing the Byzantine influence on the Renaissance. I […]

Art an Important Part of Various Cultures and Countries

Art is and has always been an important part of various cultures and countries, time has never weathered this fact. We are able to feel and understand different emotions, as well as point of views through art- while learning along the way. I have learned to appreciate the many aspects contained in art, such as those carried in the principles of design. In respect to the elements of design we can hold these as color, line, shape, mass, light, color, […]

Is Graffiti an Art?

Mention the word ‘graffiti’ and what typically comes to mind is something unpleasant and distasteful like indecent language scribbled on a wall of a store or crude pictures. Most graffiti is characterized as vandalism on property that does not belong to the culprit. Graffiti also displays negative graphics that promote some type of vulgar message such as violence, sex, drugs, gangs, and racism. On the other hand, when the terms “street” and “art” come together, a blast of colorful creations […]

Art and Science: Cooperating Together to Push Society Forward

Art has the ability to inspire the world to work toward something once thought impossible or unknown before. Scientific innovation can inspire art that questions what we are truly seeing in our lives. When both are utilized together, works of art can complement science just as science can complement art. Without art, science would remain stagnant and limit societies ability to question what is possible. Without science, the ability to create works of art that seem modern and put society […]

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How To Write An Essay On Art

Introduction to art analysis.

Writing an essay on art is a unique challenge that combines aspects of history, culture, and personal interpretation. Start your essay by defining what aspect of art you will be discussing. This could be an analysis of a specific artwork, an exploration of a particular artist’s style and contributions, or a broader examination of a movement or period in art history. Your introduction should set the stage for your analysis, providing context about the artwork or art movement, and outlining the main points that your essay will cover. Be sure to convey your enthusiasm and interest in the subject, as this will engage your reader from the outset.

Analyzing the Artwork

In the main body of your essay, delve into a detailed analysis of the artwork or art movement. If focusing on a single piece, discuss its visual elements such as color, line, shape, and texture. Explain how these elements contribute to the overall impact and meaning of the work. If you’re discussing an artist or art movement, explore the defining characteristics and how they reflect the cultural and historical context of the time. Include your interpretation of the artwork, but make sure to back up your points with research from credible sources, such as art critics, historians, or the artists themselves.

Connecting Art to Broader Themes

Art often reflects broader themes and issues within society, and your essay should explore these connections. Discuss how the artwork or movement relates to social, political, or cultural themes. For example, how did Renaissance art reflect the philosophical ideas of the time? Or how does contemporary art address modern issues such as globalization or environmentalism? This part of the essay is where you can delve into the deeper meanings and implications of the art, demonstrating its relevance and significance beyond just aesthetics.

Concluding with Personal Reflections and Impact

In your conclusion, bring together the main points of your analysis, summarizing the key aspects of the artwork or art movement you have discussed. Reflect on the personal impact of the art, what you have learned from it, and why it is significant to you or to society in general. Offer a final thought or question for the reader to consider, which might relate to the future of the art form or its ongoing relevance. A thoughtful conclusion will leave your reader with a deeper appreciation of the art and its place in the broader tapestry of human culture and history.

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The Most Important Art Essays of the Year

What were the ideas that had everyone talking?

Atmosphere from the Zombie Formalism panel.

It was an eventful year for art writing, with plenty of shifts in the landscape, as new publications opened (including this one), or popped up , or reinvented themselves . But beneath all the institutional shuffles, what were the ideas that got people excited? To try to answer that question, I polled colleagues, but the final selection below is obviously a personal one. It reflects the world around me, and is weighted towards pieces that reflect my own location and  my own sense of this year’s troubled qualities .  In any case, here are a few of the pieces of writing that I think are touchstones of 2014:

Holland Cotter, “ Lost in the Gallery-Industrial Complex, ” New York Times , January 17, 2014 It’s a little crazy to me that Cotter’s fretful, sweeping state-of-the-scene piece is already a year old. But it stands in here for all the angst of money in a year of record auction prices and continued angst about inequality .

Jason Farago, “ Learning to Live With MoMA ,” Frieze blog, January 17, 2014 Amid all the outcry around MoMA’s annexation of the Folk Art Museum building, Farago did the best, to my taste, of getting to the heart of what was really at stake by placing it within the longer arc of change in the museum’s identity going back to its failed encounter with Rem Koolhaas.

Christian L. Frock, “ Priced Out: New Tech Wealth and San Francisco’s Receding Art Scene ,” KQED, February 7, 2014 Frock’s multipart series (here’s the second: “ Priced Out: San Francisco’s Changing Values and Artist Exodus “) captured the voices of a Bay Area arts community trying to stay afloat in a sea of “disruptive” tech money, but testifies to a conversation artists were having seemingly everywhere artists were found (see also Jen Graves’s “ How Artists Can Fight Back Against Cities That Are Taking Advantage of Them ”).

Trevor Paglen, “ Overhead: New Photos of the NSA and Other Top Intelligence Agencies Revealed ,” Creative Time Reports, February 10, 2014 If you haven’t been paying attention to what Marisa Mazria Katz has been up to for the last two years at Creative Time Reports —essentially, supporting artists in finding new ways to cover the news—you should be. In February, the publication teamed up with The Intercept to launch this Paglen photo essay, serving up images that immediately became a kind of visual shorthand for the sinister powers of government surveillance in the age of Snowden.

Walter Robinson, “ Flippers and the Rise of Zombie Formalism ,” Artspace Magazine, April 3, 2014 If there is an essay that touched off more discussion this year, then I can’t think of what it was. The tongue-in-cheek “Zombie Formalism” label, applied either to that funky-junky art-school look or used as a diagnosis of an art world obsessed with “artificial milestones” and the “simulacrum of originality” in general, is now lodged deep in the conversation .

Eunsong Kim and Maya Isabella Mackrandilal, “ The Whitney Biennial for Angry Women ,” The New Inquiry, April 4, 2014 This unsparing, percussive manifesto denouncing the Biennial and the art establishment in general set the stage for many of the debates of the year. It was, as the authors summed it up in their conclusion, “[a] demand for the impossible: decolonization, decentering, radical thinking, radical action, radical making.”

Helen Molesworth, review of the Whitney Biennial , Artforum , May 2014 The Whitney Biennial always draws fire. But this is really less of a review than a curator’s series of frustrated questions for her peers about the profession and its fundamental aims.

Jamilla King, “ The Overwhelming Whiteness of Black Art ,” Colorlines, May 21, 2014 This is one from well outside the regular circle of art coverage—but King’s thoughtful piece about Kara Walker’s A Subtlety  and the demographics of the art audience opened up a conversation that reverberated throughout the piece’s run, culminating with “We Are Here,”  an event for people of color to view Walker’s work together, to experience it as the majority.

Rahel Aima, “ Christian Marclay Goes to Bollywood ,” The New Inquiry, May 21, 2014 Christian Marclay’s epoch-making The Clock toured the world telling the story of a day through film clips culled mainly from Western film. He follows it up with  a supercut of Bollywood dream sequences set in Switzerland , destined to be shown in a chairlift in Gstaad, and Aima considers the cultural asymmetries and structures of power that this makes visible.

Christopher Glazek, “ Shopkeepers of the World Unite ,” Artforum , June 2014 A sympathetic and convincingly intricate account of the rise of the artists around DIS magazine, making a case for the new Post-Internet cool school while still remaining just critical enough to convince yourself that you were seeing it plain.

Molly Crabapple, illustration for Slaves of Happiness Island. Courtesy of the artist and Vice

Molly Crabapple, “ Slaves of Happiness Island ,” Vice, August 4, 2014 A neat feat of first-person journalism, this piece recounts one artist’s voyage onto the site of the soon-to-be built Guggenheim Abu Dhabi to see for herself what labor conditions looked like there. With the main and most demanding construction still to come, Crabapple talked to a worker laying the infrastructure for the new institution: “I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this. My body is on the verge of giving up, but I cannot leave my job because I am responsible for my sisters.”

John Yau, “ Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons and the Culture of Hyperbole ,” Hyperallergic, August 17, 2014 Taking a long look at the deep values of today’s Koons craze, Yau finds that they amount to this: “to be out of the mainstream is in fact a mark of imperfection.”

Whitney Kimball, “ How Do People Feel About the Gramsci Monument, One Year Later? ,” Art F City, August 20, 2014 A year after artist Thomas Hirschhorn’s pop-up community center won plaudits and raised hackles at a Bronx housing project, Kimball returns to ask people in the neighborhood what good it left behind—the kind of follow-up that almost never happens. The answers she finds are probably neither positive nor negative enough to satisfy pro-or-anti-Monument camps, which is part of what makes the exercise important.

Carolina Miranda, “ Art and race at the Whitney: Rethinking the Donelle Woolford debate ,” Los Angeles Times , June 17, 2014 It’s hard to sum up what makes this article important, given everything that’s involved: the Whitney Biennial, a black artist collective’s decision to publicly leave the show in protest of perceived racism , and the artist Joe Scanlan’s work made in the persona of a fictional African-American artist, Donelle Woolford. By interviewing Jenn Kidwell, the actress involved in Scanlan’s work, Miranda added important nuance to a very difficult conversation about race, racism, and art.

Jeff Chang, “ Color Theory: Race Trouble and the Avant Garde ,” n+1 , Fall 2014 Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop author Jeff Chang’s deeply researched, penetrating beat-by-beat account of a 1979 scandal at Artists Space around the artist known as Donald and his so-called “ Nigger Drawings ” (it’s an excerpt from his new book, Who We Be ) unearths all sides of a painful chapter in recent art history. Given the year that we’ve had (see above), its lessons couldn’t feel more relevant.

Assorted essays on contemporary art and feminism , edited by Kara L. Rooney, The Brooklyn Rail , September 2014 There are individual essays here that have stuck with me as offering particularly useful ways to grasp the question of feminism in art today (Chloe Wyma’s “ Lean Back: Resisting Branded Feminism ” is one that I find myself quoting a lot). But the collection of writings in the Rail ‘s special section on the subject is also eclectic, which maybe makes it more useful as a snapshot of the unsettled nature of the present conversation.

Mira Schor, “ The Feminist Wheel ,” A Year of Positive Thinking, September 20, 2014 An exasperated rant from inside Mira Schor’s head (and Twitter feed) at The Hole’s “Future Feminism” show takes on larger significance as a reflection on the difficulty of staying true to hard-earned—and needed—feminist principles while not missing out on the “utopian ebullience” of more recent arrivals.

Roberta Smith, “ In a Mattress, a Lever of Art and Protest ,” New York Times , September 21, 2014 In protest over institutional ineptitude around sexual assault , Columbia art student Emma Sulkowicz launched Carry That Weight , vowing to carry a mattress around campus until the man she says raped her leaves. The artistic protest touched off a deafening roar of media coverage of the “hot takes” type—so there was something significant about one of the country’s most authoritative art critics stepping up to explain why this work of protest-as-performance was worth your actual considered attention.

Mostafa Heddaya, “ Delusions of Grandeur: GCC at MoMA PS1 and the New Museum ,” Hyperallergic, September 26, 2014 This is an adept polemic about the buzzy “ Gulf Futurism ” of the art group GCC —and through it, a reflection on what strategies of political art might be viable today.

Art Post-Internet , edited by Karen Archey and Robin Peckham, October 2014 If you are one of those people who this year realized that you suddenly had to have something to say about “Post-Internet” art, this sprawling pamphlet with contributions from artists, academics, curators, and writers (including me) is as fine a place to start as any. In a neat Post-Internet touch, each PDF is a “unique” edition, stamped with a number and record of your location and the weather where you were at the moment you hit download.

Andrew Berardini, “ How to Write About Contemporary Art ,” Momus, October 15, 2014 This year, Toronto-based writer Sky Goodden launched  Momus.ca , an online art platform that bills itself as a “return to art criticism.” Berardini’s essay on the petty indignities and strange detours of a life of writing about art is probably my favorite piece on this list. I can’t do it justice, so just go read it.

Brian Droitcour, “ The Perils of Post-Internet Art ,” Art in America , November 2014 You know something has become a thing when it starts to draw the kind of sustained intellectual attack that Droitcour levels at the avatars of Post-Internet art, framing the whole trend as an attempt to recapture the web’s anarchic energies for the professional gallery world rather than a step into some new realm beyond it.

Philip Kennicott, “ An art loan from Bill Cosby draws the Smithsonian into a national debate ,” The Washington Post , November 20, 2014; Jillian Steinhauer, “ What Should the Smithsonian Do About Its Show of Bill Cosby’s Art Collection? ,” Hyperallergic, November 20, 2014; Kriston Capps, “ Why Is the Smithsonian Standing Behind Bill Cosby? ,” The Atlantic , November 21, 2014 The fallout from the allegations against Bill Cosby is far from over, but at year’s end, it provoked a series of excellent articles that went beyond the immediate scandal to look at the responsibilities of art institutions and the ethical traps of showcasing private collections.

Victor Merida, “ Excited Delirium: Graffiti and Miami ,” The Miami Rail , Winter 2014 Some sober, sobering reflections on graffiti art’s place in the branding of Miami, made more resonant by the tragic death of the young artist Israel “REEFA” Hernandez last year at the hands of the police.

Pac Pobric, “ Sturtevant’s Provincialism ,” Los Angeles Review of Books , December 18, 2014 There’s just something about a righteously pissed-off review, right? And while this year will be remembered as one where everyone once again proved their seriousness by lining up to take shots at Jeff Koons , here’s one that goes after a target that’s more difficult to pin down.

Mel Chin, “ Miley, Eric and Me: Basel’s Dazzle and the Dark Death Around Us ,” Creative Time Reports, December 18, 2014 I’m not sure I could believe that anything that great came of Miley Cyrus’s coronation as an art star at Art Basel in Miami Beach. But this soul-searching essay did come of it, which is definitely worth something.

Special mentions:

W.A.G.E. Wo/Manifesto This is a bullet-pointed call for change, from the group that calls for a new social contract between art institutions and artists.

Not That This! Nathaniel Donnett’s blog focusing on adding coverage of the African-American art scene in Houston not only adds a needed perspective, but does so in experimental ways; for instance, using poetry . It just won an Idea Fund grant to expand and make its coverage more regular, so keep it bookmarked.

Christian Viveros-Fauné and Blake Gopnik, “ Strictly Critical ” video series, artnet News, and Casey Jane Ellison, “ Touching the Art ,” Ovation TV Having seen many, many attempts to make art-themed videos work over the years, I know how hard it is—but this year brought two strong contenders. Viveros-Fauné and Gopnik perfected a Siskel and Ebert routine that made it seem suddenly fun and interesting to debate art, not a chore. Meanwhile, Ellison, whose Twitter bio describes herself as “artist + comic with a mole on her face,” brought her own alluringly wacky touch to bear on Ovation’s art-themed chat show.

Raphael Rubinstein, The Miraculous (Paper Monument) Here’s another outlier because it is a book and not an essay, strictly speaking, which opens up a whole other can of worms . But, in terms of things I read this year that really made me rethink how I looked at contemporary art, this one particularly affected me . So it stays on! If you still need a gift for an art lover, this is it.

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How to write an art essay best ideas for students.

April 10, 2020

Do you need to write an art essay? Perhaps this is the first time you have been tasked by your professor with such an assignment. Don’t worry though; writing an art essay is not as difficult as you may think. Even though many students don’t know much about art, they still manage to write excellent papers. How do they do it? Simple: they read guides and learn the best tips and tricks from industry experts. Alternatively, they get some help from qualified assignment writers . If you want to write the paper all by yourself, we have all the tips and tricks you need right here. Read on!

The Importance of Art Education Essay Samples

So, what is art essay writing? Why is it important? Truth be told, writing about art can be fun and captivating. However, we realize art is not something everyone is fond of writing about. The main reason why art essay writing is important is because your professor wants to get an interesting, original essay from you. Your final grade depends on your ability to write an excellent paper. What is more important is the art history essay example. Here is why:

By reading some art essay examples, you get an idea of how the final version of your paper should look like. Reading works written by seasoned writers can teach you a thing or two about writing in academic format. You can “steal” some ideas from the samples. However, make sure you don’t copy and paste any content from samples you find online.

An excellent way to get an art analysis essay example that is 100% original (i.e. you can’t find it anywhere on the Internet) is to have an academic writer compose it from scratch for you.

Finding Some Great Art Essay Topics

Do you need to write an essay about art? Or perhaps your professor asked you to write an art analysis essay. In any case, the topic you choose for your paper is very important. As long as you manage to find an intriguing topic, you stand a very good chance of getting bonus points. Let’s face it: professors want original, interesting papers. They are most certainly bored of reading the same art history essay written on the same old topics time and time again. You can even write a “compare and contrast two works of art essay” and stand out from the rest of your class. Here are the three best ways to get some topics for a college essay about art:

Search online but don’t pick the obvious topics. Dig deeper and try to find something none of your classmates thought of. Don’t be afraid to ask for ideas on art blogs and forums. There are plenty of experts who will gladly give you some topic ideas for free. Simply contact an academic writing company and ask them to send you a list of original topics. It won’t take them long to send you a comprehensive list of exceptional ideas.

Quick Guide on How to Write an Art Essay

Do you need to write an “is graffiti art essay” (or an “is graffiti art or vandalism essay”)? Regardless of the topic you choose, there are just a couple of steps you need to follow to write a great essay on art. Let’s show you how to write an art analysis essay in just 5 easy steps:

• Find a couple of interesting art essay topics and pick the most interesting one. Then, come up with the best thesis statement possible. What does your short essay about art aim to demonstrate?
• Write the introduction. You need to learn how to write a good intro if you want to learn how to write an art essay. In the intro, you need to present the thesis statement and a bit of background information about the topic.
• Write three body paragraphs, each one dealing with just one important idea. This works for anything from an art comparison essay to an art appreciation essay. Make sure you use each body paragraph to present just one idea that supports your thesis statement.
• Craft a catchy conclusion. You need to summarize everything you’re discussed and – optionally – write a call to action. This is the way to end every essay from a compare and contrast art essay to an art critique example essay.
• Edit everything and proofread it twice. Make sure your paper is well organized and your writing flows well. Also, there should be no typos in the text.

That’s it! Follow the guide above and create college essay art that will earn you a top grade every time. As a tip, you should consider writing an importance of art education essay. Your professor will be flattered for sure. But of course, you can write anything including an art critique essay and still get a top grade. You just need to be careful about which topic you choose and how you support your thesis statement. Very few professors expect works of art from students. However, they want to see that you’ve really invested some time and effort into writing the best paper possible. Finally, we advise you to steer clear of the renaissance art essay. Writing one is usually more difficult than you think.

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Common App Essays | 7 Strong Examples with Commentary

Published on November 19, 2021 by Kirsten Courault . Revised on May 31, 2023.

If you’re applying for college via the Common App , you’ll have to write an essay in response to one of seven prompts.

Table of contents

What is the common application essay, prompt 1: background, identity, interest, or talent, prompt 2: overcoming challenges, prompt 3: questioning a belief or idea, prompt 4: appreciating an influential person, prompt 5: transformative event, prompt 6: interest or hobby that inspires learning, prompt 7: free topic, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about college application essays.

The Common Application, or Common App , is a college application portal that is accepted by more than 900 schools.

Within the Common App is your main essay, a primary writing sample that all your prospective schools will read to evaluate your critical thinking skills and value as a student. Since this essay is read by many colleges, avoid mentioning any college names or programs. Instead, save tailored answers for the supplementary school-specific essays within the Common App.

Regardless of your prompt choice, admissions officers will look for an ability to clearly and creatively communicate your ideas based on the selected prompt.

We’ve provided seven essay examples, one for each of the Common App prompts. After each essay, we’ve provided a table with commentary on the essay’s narrative, writing style and tone, demonstrated traits, and self-reflection.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

This essay explores the student’s emotional journey toward overcoming her father’s neglect through gymnastics discipline.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

When “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” began to play, it was my signal to lay out a winning floor routine. Round off. Back handspring. Double back layout. Stick!

Instead, I jolted off the floor, landing out of bounds. Over the past week, I hadn’t landed that pass once, and regionals were only seven days away. I heaved a heavy sigh and stomped over to the bench.

Coach Farkas saw my consternation. “Mona, get out of your head. You’re way too preoccupied with your tumbling passes. You could do them in your sleep!”

That was the problem. I was dreaming of tumbling and missing my landings, waking up in a cold sweat. The stress felt overwhelming.

“Stretch out. You’re done for tonight.”

I walked home from the gym that had been my second home since fourth grade. Yet my anxiety was increasing every time I practiced.

I startled my mom. “You’re home early! Wait! You walked? Mona, what’s going on?!”

I slumped down at the kitchen table. “Don’t know.”

She sat down across from me. “Does it have anything to do with your father texting you a couple of weeks ago about coming to see you at regionals?”

“So what?! Why does it matter anymore?” He walked out when I was 10 and never looked back. Still, dear ol’ Dad always had a way of resurfacing when I least expected him.

“It still matters because when you hear from him, you tend to crumble. Or have you not noticed?” She offered a knowing wink and a compassionate smile.

I started gymnastics right after Dad left. The coaches said I was a natural: short, muscular, and flexible. All I knew was that the more I improved, the more confident I felt. Gymnastics made me feel powerful, so I gave it my full energy and dedication.

The floor routine became my specialty, and my performances were soon elevating our team score. The mat, solid and stable, became a place to explore and express my internal struggles. Over the years, no matter how angry I felt, the floor mat was there to absorb my frustration.

The bars, beam, and vault were less forgiving because I knew I could fall. My performances in those events were respectable. But, the floor? Sometimes, I had wildly creative and beautiful routines, while other times were disastrous. Sadly, my floor routine had never been consistent.

That Saturday afternoon, I slipped into the empty gym and walked over to the mat. I sat down and touched its carpeted surface. After a few minutes, my cheeks were wet with the bitter disappointment of a dad who only showed up when it was convenient for him. I ruminated on the years of practices and meets where I had channeled my resentment into acrobatics and dance moves, resolved to rise higher than his indifference.

I saw then that my deepest wounds were inextricably entangled with my greatest passion. They needed to be permanently separated. While my anger had first served to launch me into gymnastics, before long, I had started serving my anger.

Anger is a cruel master. It corrupts everything it touches, even something as beautiful as a well-choreographed floor routine.

I changed my music days before regionals. “The Devil” no longer had a place in my routine. Instead, I chose an energetic cyberpunk soundtrack that inspired me to perform with passion and laser focus. Dad made an obligatory appearance at regionals, but he left before I could talk to him.

It didn’t matter this time. I stuck every landing in my routine. Anger no longer controlled me. I was finally free.

Word count: 601

This essay shows how the challenges the student faced in caring for her sister with autism resulted in an unexpected path forward in her education.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

I never had a choice.

My baby sister was born severely autistic, which meant that every detail of our home life was repeatedly adjusted to manage her condition. I couldn’t go to bed without fearing that Mindy would wake up screaming with that hoarse little voice of hers. I couldn’t have friends over on weekends because we never knew if our entire family would need to shift into crisis mode to help Mindy regain control.

We couldn’t take a family vacation because Mindy would start hitting us during a long car ride when she didn’t want to sit there anymore. We couldn’t even celebrate Christmas like a normal family because Mindy would shriek and run away when we tried to give her presents.

I was five years old when Mindy was born. For the first ten years, I did everything I could to help my mom with Mindy. But Mom was depressed and would often stare out the window, as if transfixed by the view. Dad was no help either. He used his job as an excuse to be away from home. So, I tried to make up for both of them and rescue Mindy however I could whenever she needed it.

However, one day, when I was slowly driving Mindy around with the windows down, trying to lull her into a calmer state, we passed two of my former classmates from middle school. They heard Mindy growling her disapproval as the ride was getting long for her. One of them turned to the other and announced, “Oh my God! Marabeth brought her pet monster out for a drive!” They laughed hysterically and ran down the street.

After that day, I defied my parents at every turn. I also ignored Mindy. I even stopped doing homework. I purposely “got in with the wrong crowd” and did whatever they did.

My high school counselor Ms. Martinez saw through it all. She knew my family’s situation well. It didn’t take her long to guess what had probably happened.

“Marabeth, I get it. My brother has Down syndrome. It was really hard growing up with him as a brother. The other kids were pretty mean about it, especially in high school.”

I doubted she understood. “Yeah. So?”

“I’m guessing something happened that hurt or embarrassed you.”

“I’m so sorry. I can only imagine how you must have felt.”

It must have been the way she said it because I suddenly found myself sobbing into my trembling, cupped hands.

Ms. Martinez and I met every Friday after that for the rest of the year. Her stories of how she struggled to embrace living with and loving her brother created a bridge to my pain and then my healing. She explained that her challenges led her to pursue a degree in counseling so that she could offer other people what no one had given her.

I thought that Mindy was the end of my life, but, because of Ms. Martinez’s example and kindness, I can now see that Mindy is a gift, pointing me toward my future.

Now, I’m applying to study psychology so that I can go on to earn my master’s degree in counseling. I’m learning to forgive my parents for their mistakes, and I’m back in Mindy’s life again, but this time as a sister, not a savior. My choice.

Word Count: 553

This essay illustrates a student’s courage in challenging his culture’s constructs of manhood and changing his course while positively affecting his father in the process.

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

“No son of mine is gonna march around a football field wearing tail feathers while all the real men are playing football!”

I took a step backward and tried not to appear as off-balance as I felt. In my excitement, I had blurted out more information than my father could handle:

“Dad! I made the marching band as a freshman! Nobody does that—I mean nobody!”

As soon as I had said it, I wished I could recall those words. How could I forget that 26 years earlier, he had been the starting wide receiver for the state-champion Tigers on the same field?!

Still, when I opened the email on that scorching hot August afternoon, I was thrilled that five months of practicing every possible major and harmonic minor scale—two octaves up and two octaves down—had made the difference. I had busted reed after reed, trying not to puff my cheeks while moving my fingers in a precise cadence.

I knew he had heard me continually practicing in my room, yet he seemed to ignore all the parts of me that were incongruous with his vision of manhood:

Ford F-150 4x4s. Pheasant hunting. The Nebraska Cornhuskers.

I never had to wonder what he valued. For years, I genuinely shared his interests. But, in the fall of eighth grade, I heard Kyle Wheeling play a saxophone solo during the homecoming marching band halftime show. My dad took me to every football game to teach me the plays, but that night, all I could think about was Kyle’s bluesy improv at halftime.

During Thanksgiving break, I got my mom to drive me into Omaha to rent my instrument at Dietze Music, and, soon after, I started private lessons with Mr. Ken. Before long, I was spending hours in my room, exploring each nuance of my shiny Yamaha alto sax, anticipating my audition for the Marching Tigers at the end of the spring semester.

During those months of practice, I realized that I couldn’t hide my newfound interest forever, especially not from the football players who were going to endlessly taunt me. But not all the guys played football. Some were in choir and theater. Quite a few guys were in the marching band. In fact, the Marching Tigers had won the grand prize in their division at last year’s state showdown in Lincoln.

I was excited! They were the champions, and I was about to become a part of their legacy.

Yet, that afternoon, a sense of anxiety brewed in my belly. I knew I had to talk to him.

He was sweeping the grass clippings off of the sidewalk. He nodded.

“I need to tell you something.”

He looked up.

“I know that you know about my sax because you hear me practicing. I like it a lot, and I’m becoming pretty good at it. I still care about what you like, but I’m starting to like some other things more. I hope you’ll be proud of me whatever I choose.”

He studied the cracks in the driveway. “I am proud of you. I just figured you’d play football.”

We never talked about it again, but that fall, he was in the stands when our marching band won the state championship in Lincoln for the second time. In fact, for the next four years, he never left the stands during halftime until the marching band had performed. He was even in the audience for every performance of “Our Town” at the end of my junior year. I played the Stage Manager who reveals the show’s theme: everything changes gradually.

I know it’s true. Things do change over time, even out here in central Nebraska. I know because I’ve changed, and my dad has changed, too. I just needed the courage to go first.

Word count: 626

The student demonstrates how his teacher giving him an unexpected bad grade was the catalyst for his becoming a better writer.

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

I stared in disbelief at the big red letter at the top of my paper: D. 

Never in my entire high school career had I seen that letter at the top of any paper, unless it was at the beginning of my first name. 

I had a 4.796 GPA. I had taken every pre-AP and AP course offered. My teachers had praised my writing skills! However, Mr. Trimble didn’t think so, and he let me know it:

“Darwin, in the future, I believe you can do better if you fully apply yourself.” 

I furiously scanned the paper for corrections. Not even one! Grammar and syntax? Perfect. Spelling? Impeccable. Sentence and paragraph structure? Precise and indisputable, as always. 

Was he trying to ruin my GPA? Cooper was clearly his favorite, and we were neck and neck for valedictorian, which was only one year away. Maybe they were conspiring to take me down. 

Thankfully, AP Composition was my last class. I fled the room and ran to my car. Defiant tears stained my cheeks as I screeched my tires and roared out of the parking lot. When I got home, I shoved in my AirPods, flopped on my bed, and buried my head under the pillow. 

I awoke to my sister, Daria, gently shaking my arm. “I know what happened, D. Trimble stopped me in the hall after school.”

“I’m sure he did. He’s trying to ruin my life.”

“That’s not what he told me. You should talk to him, D.”

The next day, although I tried to avoid Mr. Trimble at all costs, I almost tripped over him as I was coming out of the bathroom.

“Darwin, can we talk?” 

He walked me down the hall to his room. “Do you know that you’re one of the best writers I’ve ever had in AP Comp?” 

“Then why’d you do it?” 

“Because you’re better than you know, Darwin. You impress with your perfect presentations, and your teachers reward you with A’s and praise. I do frequent the teacher’s lounge, you know.” 

“So I know you’re not trying.”

I locked eyes with him and glared. 

“You’ve never had to try because you have a gift. And, in the midst of the acclaim, you’ve never pushed yourself to discover your true capabilities.”

“So you give me a D?!”

“It got your attention.”

“You’re not going to leave it, are you?”

“Oh, the D stands. You didn’t apply yourself. You’ll have to earn your way out with your other papers.” 

I gained a new understanding of the meaning of ambivalence. Part of me was furious at the injustice of the situation, but I also felt strangely challenged and intrigued. I joined a local writer’s co-op and studied K. M. Weiland’s artistic writing techniques. 

Multiple drafts, track changes, and constructive criticism became my new world. I stopped taking Mr. Trimble’s criticism personally and began to see it as a precious tool to bolster me, not break me down. 

Last week, the New York Public Library notified me that I was named one of five finalists for the Young Lions Fiction Award. They described my collection of short stories as “fresh, imaginative, and captivating.” 

I never thought I could be grateful for a D, but Mr. Trimble’s insightful courage was the catalyst that transformed my writing and my character. Just because other people applaud you for being the best doesn’t mean you’re doing your best . 

AP Composition is now recorded as an A on my high school transcript, and Cooper and I are still locked in a tight race for the finish line. But, thanks to Mr. Trimble, I have developed a different paradigm for evaluation: my best. And the more I apply myself, the better my best becomes. 

Word Count: 627

This student narrates how she initially went to church for a boy but instead ended up confronting her selfishness by helping others.

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Originally, I went to church not because I was searching for Jesus but because I liked a boy.

Isaac Ono wasn’t the most athletic boy in our class, nor was he the cutest. But I was amazed by his unusual kindness toward everyone. If someone was alone or left out, he’d walk up to them and say hello or invite them to hang out with him and his friends.

I started waking up at 7:30 a.m. every Sunday morning to attend Grace Hills Presbyterian, where Isaac’s father was the pastor. I would strategically sit in a pew not too close but close enough to Isaac that when the entire congregation was instructed to say “Peace be with you,” I could “happen” to shake Isaac’s hand and make small talk.

One service, as I was staring at the back of Isaac’s head, pondering what to say to him, my hearing suddenly tuned in to his father’s sermon.

“There’s no such thing as a good or bad person.”

My eyes snapped onto Pastor Marcus.

“I used to think I was a good person who came from a respectable family and did nice things. But people aren’t inherently good or bad. They just make good or bad choices.”

My mind raced through a mental checklist of whether my past actions fell mostly into the former or latter category.

“As it says in Deuteronomy 30:15, ‘I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.’ Follow in the footsteps of Jesus and do good.”

I glanced to my left and saw Margaret, underlining passages in her study Bible and taking copious notes.

Months earlier, I had befriended Margaret. We had fourth-period Spanish together but hadn’t interacted much. She was friends with Isaac, so I started hanging out with her to get closer to him. But eventually, the two of us were spending hours in the Starbucks parking lot having intense discussions about religion, boys, and our futures until we had to return home before curfew.

After hearing the pastor’s sermon, I realized that what I had admired about Isaac was also present in Margaret and other people at church: a welcoming spirit. I’m pretty sure Margaret knew of my ulterior motives for befriending her, but she never called me out on it.

After that day, I started paying more attention to Pastor Marcus’s sermons and less attention to Isaac. One year, our youth group served Christmas Eve dinner to the homeless and ate with them. I sat across from a woman named Lila who told me how child services had taken away her four-year-old daughter because of her financial and living situation.

A few days later, as I sat curled up reading the book of James, my heart suddenly felt heavy.

“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”

I thought back to Pastor Marcus’s sermon on good and bad actions, Lila and her daughter, and the times I had passed people in need without even saying hello.

I decided to put my faith into action. The next week, I started volunteering at the front desk of a women’s shelter, helping women fill out forms or watching their kids while they talked with social workers.

From working for the past year at the women’s shelter, I now know I want to major in social work, caring for others instead of focusing on myself. I may not be a good person (or a bad one), but I can make good choices, helping others with every opportunity God gives me.

Word count: 622

This essay shows how a student’s natural affinity for solving a Rubik’s cube developed her self-understanding, academic achievement, and inspiration for her future career.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

The worst part about writing is putting down my Rubik’s cube so that I can use my hands to type. That’s usually the worst part of tackling my to-do list: setting aside my Rubik’s cube. My parents call it an obsession. But, for me, solving a Rubik’s cube challenges my brain as nothing else can.

It started on my ninth birthday. I invited three friends for a sleepover party, and I waited to open my presents right before bed. Wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows flew through the air as I oohed and aahed over each delightful gift! However, it was the last gift—a 3 x 3 x 3 cube of little squares covered in red, green, blue, yellow, white, and orange—that intrigued me.

I was horrified when Bekka ripped it out of my hands and messed it all up! I had no idea how to make all the sides match again. I waited until my friends were fast asleep. Then, I grabbed that cube and studied it under my blanket with a flashlight, determined to figure out how to restore it to its former pristine state.

Within a few weeks, I had discovered the secret. To practice, I’d take my cube with me to recess and let the other kids time me while I solved it in front of them. The better I became, the more they gathered around. But I soon realized that their attention didn’t matter all that much. I loved solving cubes for hours wherever I was: at lunch, riding in the car, or alone in my room.

Cross. White corners. Middle-layer edges. Yellow cross. Sune and anitsune. 

The sequential algorithms became second nature, and with the assistance of a little black digital timer, I strove to solve the cube faster , each time attempting to beat my previous record. I watched speed solvers on YouTube, like Australia’s Feliks Zemdegs and Max Park from Massachusetts, but I wasn’t motivated to compete as they did. I watched their videos to learn how to improve my time. I liked finding new, more efficient ways of mastering the essential 78 separate cube-solving algorithms.

Now, I understand why my passion for my Rubik’s cube has never waned. Learning and applying the various algorithms soothes my brain and centers my emotions, especially when I feel overwhelmed from being around other people. Don’t get me wrong: I like other people—just in doses.

While some people get recharged by spending time with others, I can finally breathe when I’m alone with my cube. Our psychology teacher says the difference between an extrovert and an introvert is the situations that trigger their brains to produce dopamine. For me, it’s time away, alone, flipping through cube patterns to set a new personal best.

Sometimes, the world doesn’t cooperate with introverts, requiring them to interact with many people throughout the day. That’s why you’ll often find me in the stairwell or a library corner attempting to master another one of the 42 quintillion ways to solve a cube. My parents tease me that when I’ve “had enough” of anything, my fingers get a Rubik’s itch, and I suddenly disappear. I’m usually occupied for a while, but when I finally emerge, I feel centered, prepared to tackle my next task.

Secretly, I credit my cube with helping me earn top marks in AP Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics. It’s also responsible for my interest in computer engineering. It seems I just can’t get enough of those algorithms, which is why I want to study the design and implementation of cybersecurity software—all thanks to my Rubik’s cube.

Just don’t tell my parents! It would ruin all the fun!

Word count: 607

In this free topic essay, the student uses a montage structure inspired by the TV show Iron Chef America to demonstrate his best leadership moments.

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

Iron Chef America: College Essay Edition

The time has come to answer college’s most difficult question: Whose story shows glory?

This is … Iron Chef America: College Essay Edition!

Welcome to Kitchen Stadium! Today we have Chef Brett Lowell. Chef Brett will be put to the test to prove he has what it takes to attend university next fall.

And the secret ingredient is … leadership! He must include leadership in each of his dishes, which will later be evaluated by a panel of admissions judges.

So now, America, with a creative mind and empty paper, I say unto you in the words of my teacher: “Let’s write!”

Appetizer: My first leadership experience

A mountain of mismatched socks, wrinkled jeans, and my dad’s unironed dress shirts sat in front of me. Laundry was just one of many chores that welcomed me home once I returned from my after-school job at Baskin Robbins, a gig I had taken last year to help Dad pay the rent. A few years earlier, I wasn’t prepared to cook dinners, pay utility bills, or pick up and drop off my brothers. I thought those jobs were reserved for parents. However, when my father was working double shifts at the power plant and my mom was living in Tucson with her new husband, Bill, I stepped up and took care of the house and my two younger brothers.

Main course: My best leadership experience

Between waiting for the pasta water to boil and for the next laundry cycle to be finished, I squeezed in solving a few practice precalculus problems to prepare for the following week’s mathletics competition. I liked how the equations always had clear, clean answers, which calmed me among the mounting responsibilities of home life. After leading my team to the Minnesota State Finals for two years in a row, I was voted team captain. Although my home responsibilities often competed with my mathlete duties, I tried to be as productive as possible in my free time. On the bus ride home, I would often tackle 10 to 20 functions or budget the following week’s meals and corresponding grocery list. My junior year was rough, but both my home and my mathlete team needed me.

Dessert: My future leadership hopes 

The first thing I ever baked was a chocolate cake in middle school. This was around the time that Mom had just moved out and I was struggling with algebra. Troubles aside, one day my younger brother Simon needed a contribution for his school’s annual bake sale, and the PTA moms wouldn’t accept anything store-bought. So I carefully measured out the teaspoons and cups of various flours, powders, and oils, which resulted in a drooping, too-salty disaster.

Four years later, after a bakery’s worth of confections and many hours of study, I’ve perfected my German chocolate cake and am on my way to mastering Calculus AB. I’ve also thrown out the bitter-tasting parts of my past such as my resentment and anger toward my mom. I still miss having her at home, but whenever I have a baking question or want to update her on my mathlete team’s success, I call her or chat with her over text.

Whether in school or life, I see problems as opportunities, not obstacles, to find a better way to solve them more efficiently. I hope to continue improving my problem-solving skills next fall by majoring in mathematics and statistics.

Time’s up! 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tasting of Chef Lowell’s leadership experiences. Next fall, tune in to see him craft new leadership adventures in college. He’s open to refining his technique and discovering new recipes.

Word count: 612

If you want to know more about academic writing , effective communication , or parts of speech , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Academic writing

• Writing process
• Transition words
• Passive voice
• Paraphrasing

 Communication

• How to end an email
• Ms, mrs, miss
• How to start an email
• I hope this email finds you well
• Hope you are doing well

 Parts of speech

• Personal pronouns
• Conjunctions

The Common App essay is your primary writing sample within the Common Application, a college application portal accepted by more than 900 schools. All your prospective schools that accept the Common App will read this essay to understand your character, background, and value as a potential student.

Since this essay is read by many colleges, avoid mentioning any college names or programs; instead, save tailored answers for the supplementary school-specific essays within the Common App.

When writing your Common App essay , choose a prompt that sparks your interest and that you can connect to a unique personal story.

No matter which prompt you choose, admissions officers are more interested in your ability to demonstrate personal development , insight, or motivation for a certain area of study.

To decide on a good college essay topic , spend time thoughtfully answering brainstorming questions. If you still have trouble identifying topics, try the following two strategies:

• Identify your qualities → Brainstorm stories that demonstrate these qualities
• Identify memorable stories → Connect your qualities to these stories

You can also ask family, friends, or mentors to help you brainstorm topics, give feedback on your potential essay topics, or recall key stories that showcase your qualities.

A standout college essay has several key ingredients:

• A unique, personally meaningful topic
• A memorable introduction with vivid imagery or an intriguing hook
• Specific stories and language that show instead of telling
• Vulnerability that’s authentic but not aimed at soliciting sympathy
• Clear writing in an appropriate style and tone
• A conclusion that offers deep insight or a creative ending

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA General Format 

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

MLA Style specifies guidelines for formatting manuscripts and citing research in writing. MLA Style also provides writers with a system for referencing their sources through parenthetical citation in their essays and Works Cited pages. 

Writers who properly use MLA also build their credibility by demonstrating accountability to their source material. Most importantly, the use of MLA style can protect writers from accusations of plagiarism, which is the purposeful or accidental uncredited use of source material produced by other writers. 

If you are asked to use MLA format, be sure to consult the  MLA Handbook  (9th edition). Publishing scholars and graduate students should also consult the  MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing  (3rd edition). The  MLA Handbook  is available in most writing centers and reference libraries. It is also widely available in bookstores, libraries, and at the MLA web site. See the Additional Resources section of this page for a list of helpful books and sites about using MLA Style.

Paper Format

The preparation of papers and manuscripts in MLA Style is covered in part four of the  MLA Style Manual . Below are some basic guidelines for formatting a paper in  MLA Style :

General Guidelines

• Type your paper on a computer and print it out on standard, white 8.5 x 11-inch paper.
• Double-space the text of your paper and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are each distinct from one another. The font size should be 12 pt.
• Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise prompted by your instructor).
• Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
• Indent the first line of each paragraph one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the “Tab” key as opposed to pushing the space bar five times.
• Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor's guidelines.)
• Use italics throughout your essay to indicate the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, provide emphasis.
• If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted).

Formatting the First Page of Your Paper

• Do not make a title page for your paper unless specifically requested or the paper is assigned as a group project. In the case of a group project, list all names of the contributors, giving each name its own line in the header, followed by the remaining MLA header requirements as described below. Format the remainder of the page as requested by the instructor.
• In the upper left-hand corner of the first page, list your name, your instructor's name, the course, and the date. Again, be sure to use double-spaced text.
• Double space again and center the title. Do not underline, italicize, or place your title in quotation marks. Write the title in Title Case (standard capitalization), not in all capital letters.
• Use quotation marks and/or italics when referring to other works in your title, just as you would in your text. For example:  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas  as Morality Play; Human Weariness in "After Apple Picking"
• Double space between the title and the first line of the text.
• Create a header in the upper right-hand corner that includes your last name, followed by a space with a page number. Number all pages consecutively with Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor or other readers may ask that you omit the last name/page number header on your first page. Always follow instructor guidelines.)

Here is a sample of the first page of a paper in MLA style:

The First Page of an MLA Paper

Section Headings

Writers sometimes use section headings to improve a document’s readability. These sections may include individual chapters or other named parts of a book or essay.

MLA recommends that when dividing an essay into sections you number those sections with an Arabic number and a period followed by a space and the section name.

MLA does not have a prescribed system of headings for books (for more information on headings, please see page 146 in the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing , 3rd edition). If you are only using one level of headings, meaning that all of the sections are distinct and parallel and have no additional sections that fit within them, MLA recommends that these sections resemble one another grammatically. For instance, if your headings are typically short phrases, make all of the headings short phrases (and not, for example, full sentences). Otherwise, the formatting is up to you. It should, however, be consistent throughout the document.

If you employ multiple levels of headings (some of your sections have sections within sections), you may want to provide a key of your chosen level headings and their formatting to your instructor or editor.

Sample Section Headings

The following sample headings are meant to be used only as a reference. You may employ whatever system of formatting that works best for you so long as it remains consistent throughout the document.

Formatted, unnumbered:

Level 1 Heading: bold, flush left

Level 2 Heading: italics, flush left

Level 3 Heading: centered, bold

Level 4 Heading: centered, italics

Level 5 Heading: underlined, flush left

2023-24 Guidance for Artificial Intelligence Tools and Other Services

Ap african american studies policy.

Generative AI tools must be used ethically, responsibly, and intentionally to support student learning, not to bypass it. Accordingly, the AP African American Studies Individual Student Project must be the student’s own work. While students are permitted to use generative AI tools consistent with this policy, their use is optional and not mandatory.  

Students can use generative AI tools as optional aids for exploration of potential topics of inquiry, initial searches for sources of information, confirming their understanding of a complex text, or checking their writing for grammar and tone. However, students must read primary and secondary sources directly, perform their own analysis and synthesis of evidence, and make their own choices on how to communicate effectively in their presentations. It remains the student’s responsibility to engage deeply with credible, valid sources and integrate diverse perspectives when working on the project.  

AP Art and Design Policy

The use of artificial intelligence tools by AP Art and Design students is categorically prohibited at any stage of the creative process. 

AP Capstone Policy

Generative AI tools must be used ethically, responsibly, and intentionally to support student learning, not to bypass it. Accordingly, all performance tasks submitted in AP Seminar and AP Research must be the student’s own work. While students are permitted to use generative AI tools consistent with this policy, their use is optional and not mandatory. 

Students can use generative AI tools as optional aids for exploration of potential topics of inquiry, initial searches for sources of information, confirming their understanding of a complex text, or checking their writing for grammar and tone. However, students must read primary and secondary sources directly, perform their own analysis and synthesis of evidence, and make their own choices on how to communicate effectively both in their writing and presentations. It remains the student’s responsibility to engage deeply with credible, valid sources and integrate diverse perspectives when working on the performance tasks. Students must complete interim “checkpoints” with their teacher to demonstrate genuine engagement with the tasks.   

Required Checkpoints and Attestations   for AP Capstone

To ensure students are not using generative AI to bypass work, students must complete interim checkpoints with their teacher to demonstrate genuine engagement with the tasks. AP Seminar and AP Research students will need to complete the relevant checkpoints successfully to receive a score for their performance tasks. Teachers must attest, to the best of their knowledge, that students completed the checkpoints authentically. Failure to complete the checkpoints will result in a score of 0 on the associated task.  

In AP Seminar, teachers assess the authenticity of student work based on checkpoints that take the form of short conversations with students during which students make their thinking and decision-making visible (similar to an oral defense). These checkpoints should occur during the sources and research phase (IRR and IWA), and argument outline phase (IWA only). A final validation checkpoint (IRR and IWA) requires teachers to confirm the student’s final submission is, to the best of their knowledge, authentic student work. 

In AP Research, students must complete checkpoints in the form of in-progress meetings and work in the Process and Reflection Portfolio (PREP). No further checkpoints will be required. 

College Board reserves the right to investigate submissions where there is evidence of the inappropriate use of generative AI as an academic integrity violation and request from students copies of their interim work for review.  

Please see the AP Seminar and AP Research course and exam descriptions (CEDs) for the current policy on AI and other tools along with guidance on administering mandatory checkpoints.

AP Computer Science Principles Policy

AP Computer Science Principles students are permitted to utilize generative AI tools as supplementary resources for understanding coding principles, assisting in code development, and debugging. This responsible use aligns with current guidelines for peer collaboration on developing code.    

Students should be aware that generative AI tools can produce incomplete code, code that creates or introduces biases, code with errors, inefficiencies in how the code executes, or code complexities that make it difficult to understand and therefore explain the code. It is the student’s responsibility to review and understand any code co-written with AI tools, ensuring its functionality. Additionally, students must be prepared to explain their code in detail, as required on the end-of-course exam. 

ArtII.1 Overview of Article II, Executive Branch

Article II of the U.S. Constitution establishes the Executive Branch of the federal government. The Executive Vesting Clause, in Section 1, Clause 1, provides that the federal executive power is vested in the President. Section 3 of Article II further requires the President to take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. 1 Footnote U.S. Const. art. II, § 3 . The executive power thus consists of the authority to enforce laws and to appoint the agents charged with the duty of such enforcement. 2 Footnote Springer v. Government of Philippine Islands , 277 U.S. 189, 202 (1928) . The President also has distinct authority over foreign affairs, and alone has the power to speak or listen as a representative of the nation. 3 Footnote United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. , 299 U.S. 304, 319 (1936) . As a general matter, the Supreme Court has recognized that the Constitution vests the President not only with the authorities expressly delineated therein, but also with certain implied authorities, 4 Footnote See generally ArtII.S1.C1.1 Overview of Executive Vesting Clause . such as the ability to supervise (and generally to remove) executive officials 5 Footnote Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau , No. 19-7, slip op. at 22 (U.S. June 29, 2020) . and the power to recognize foreign governments. 6 Footnote Zivotofsky v. Kerry , 576 US. 1, 17 (2015) . Cf., e.g. , United States ex rel. Knauff v. Snaughnessy , 338 U.S. 537, 543 (1950) (stating that the right to exclude aliens is inherent in the executive power to control the foreign affairs of the nation, and when Congress legislates in this area, it is implementing an inherent executive power ). At the same time, the Court has said that by granting the President the power of faithfully executing the laws, the Constitution refutes the idea that the President was intended to be a lawmaker. 7 Footnote Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer , 343 U.S. 579, 587 (1952) . Nonetheless, the Court has recognized that officials appointed by the President—even those located within the Executive Branch—may exercise regulatory or adjudicative powers that are quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial. 8 Footnote See Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1, 132–33 (1976) . Broadly, the Court has recognized that Executive Officers exercise authority to enforce and administer the laws, including rulemaking, administrative determinations, and the filing of lawsuits. 9 Footnote See id. at 138–41 .

The remaining provisions of Article II’s Section 1 primarily outline the election of the President, including the establishment of the electoral college. Relatedly, Section 1 sets out the qualifications of the President, the oath of office, and compensation. Section 1 also creates succession provisions in the event of a President’s removal or other inability to act, although the relatively sparse language in Clause 6 was later supplemented by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and the Presidential Succession Act. 10 Footnote U.S. Const. amend. XXV ; 3 U.S.C. § 19 .

Sections 2 and 3 define specific presidential powers and duties. Section 2, Clause 1 describes exclusive presidential powers: namely, the Commander in Chief authority, the power to require written opinions from the heads of executive departments, and the pardon power. Clause 2 defines the powers that the President shares with Congress, outlining the treaty-making power and the appointment power. Clause 3 expands on appointments by granting the President the power to unilaterally make temporary appointments during Senate recess. Section 3 requires the President to give Congress information on the state of the union. It also authorizes the President to recommend legislative measures and in extraordinary circumstances convene or adjourn Congress. Section 3 further grants the President the power to receive ambassadors and other public ministers. And as previously mentioned, Section 3 contains the Take Care Clause, requiring the President to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed.

Section 4 provides that the President—and all other civil Officers of the United States —may be removed from office if impeached and convicted on charges of Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. 11 Footnote U.S. Const. art. II, § 4 . Article I contains further provisions bearing on impeachment procedures and judgments. 12 Footnote Id. art. I, § 2, cl. 5 ; id. art. I, § 3, cls. 6–7 .

As discussed elsewhere, Article I also contains some provisions bearing on presidential authority, perhaps most notably the President’s authority to approve or veto legislation. 13 Footnote See ArtI.S7.C2.1 Overview of Presidential Approval or Veto of Bills ; ArtI.S7.C3.1 Presentation of Senate or House Resolutions .

•   Jump to essay-1 U.S. Const. art. II, § 3 .
•   Jump to essay-2 Springer v. Government of Philippine Islands , 277 U.S. 189, 202 (1928) .
•   Jump to essay-3 United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp. , 299 U.S. 304, 319 (1936) .
•   Jump to essay-4 See generally ArtII.S1.C1.1 Overview of Executive Vesting Clause .
•   Jump to essay-5 Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau , No. 19-7, slip op. at 22 (U.S. June 29, 2020) .
•   Jump to essay-6 Zivotofsky v. Kerry , 576 US. 1, 17 (2015) . Cf., e.g. , United States ex rel. Knauff v. Snaughnessy , 338 U.S. 537, 543 (1950) (stating that the right to exclude aliens is inherent in the executive power to control the foreign affairs of the nation, and when Congress legislates in this area, it is implementing an inherent executive power ).
•   Jump to essay-7 Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer , 343 U.S. 579, 587 (1952) .
•   Jump to essay-8 See Buckley v. Valeo , 424 U.S. 1, 132–33 (1976) .
•   Jump to essay-9 See id. at 138–41 .
•   Jump to essay-10 U.S. Const. amend. XXV ; 3 U.S.C. § 19 .
•   Jump to essay-11 U.S. Const. art. II, § 4 .
•   Jump to essay-12 Id. art. I, § 2, cl. 5 ; id. art. I, § 3, cls. 6–7 .
•   Jump to essay-13 See ArtI.S7.C2.1 Overview of Presidential Approval or Veto of Bills ; ArtI.S7.C3.1 Presentation of Senate or House Resolutions .

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Guest Essay

Melinda French Gates: The Enemies of Progress Play Offense. I Want to Help Even the Match.

By Melinda French Gates

Ms. French Gates is a philanthropist and the founder of the charitable organization Pivotal.

Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: “Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.” I’ve carried those words with me ever since.

That’s why, next week, I will leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , of which I was a co-founder almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy. To begin, I am announcing $1 billion in new spending over the next two years for people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.

In nearly 20 years as an advocate for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality. Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off.

It’s frustrating and shortsighted. Decades of research on economics , well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone. We know that economies with women’s full participation have more room to grow. That women’s political participation is associated with decreased corruption. That peace agreements are more durable when women are involved in writing them. That reducing the time women spend in poor health could add as much as $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.

And yet, around the world, women are seeing a tremendous upsurge in political violence and other threats to their safety, in conflict zones where rape is used as a tool of war, in Afghanistan where the Taliban takeover has erased 20 years of progress for women and girls, in many low-income countries where the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and breastfeeding women is soaring.

In the United States, maternal mortality rates continue to be unconscionable , with Black and Native American mothers at highest risk. Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high.

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