Formal analysis
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A formal analysis is an established method for analyzing works of art. First introduced by Roger de Piles (1635–1709), in his book the Principles of Painting, the technique of formal analysis is more fully developed by Roger Fry in Vision and Design (1909).
For a particular work of art, a formal anaylsis consists of a purely visual description of the work irrespective of cultural context, history, or artistic motivation. As such, it is a basic tool for art historians and artists to understand the purely visual aspects of a work of art. This is not to say that such cultural or motivational interpretations can be separated from the artwork, but that the visual elements provide an essential starting point for understanding a work of art.
Elements of a formal analysis include descriptions of color, space, line, volume, mass and composition.
