Wikipedia

Wikipedia:Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kunstwissenschaften + Wikipedia/Living handbook (English)

< Wikipedia:Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kunstwissenschaften + Wikipedia


under construction
[Hier entsteht die englische Version des Living Handbooks für kunstwissenschaftliche Artikel in der englischsprachigen Wikipedia]

Living Handbook for Art Scientific Wikipedia Articles

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(or: Living Handbook for Art Historical Wikipedia Articles
or: Living Handbook for Wikipedia articles on art (& architecture))

Introduction

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(coming soon)

Wikipedia: basic principles

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Neutral point of view

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(coming soon)

No original research

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(coming soon)

Scientific references

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(coming soon)
"reliable and verifiable sources": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing_with_Wiki_Markup/4
Reliable sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources
Verifiability: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability

Readability

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coming soon

Collaborative editing

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coming soon

Getting started

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Check

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coming soon

Information, research and reading

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coming soon

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Editing and creating new Wikipedia articles

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Editing Wikipedia Articles

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Wikipedia already has many articles on works of art. It is important to keep updating these articles, improving and correcting them. If you come across an error, want to quickly add a reference, or stumble across outdated classification categories: simply go to the edit tab at the top and get started - of course taking into account the Wikipedia rules.
If you want to target articles in need of revision, e.g. to practice before creating a new article, you will find a daily updated list of articles in need of revision in the categories fine arts, art museum, art exhibition, art trade, art publisher and photo artist on the "work list" of the WikiProject Bildende Kunst (in German). New articles are of course also welcome. You can find hints here (-> Link).

Before you make major changes to an article

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Before making a major revision to an article, it's a good idea to get an overview of how it came to be.

  • Have a look at the Changelog (page history)
    When was the article created? When and by whom was the last substantial addition made (compare versions)? It is often worth looking at some past versions of the article to get a feeling for it. In the revision history, at each saved version is noted the amount of bytes added or deleted (green, if added, red, when deleted, large edits are marked in bold), plus the user name and a brief explanation by the user of what they have changed.
  • View the page analysis:
    scroll to the end of the article. Next to the "Statistics" you will find the link "Authors", with the xtools helper you can find article statistics here. (comparable in the English Wikipedia? -> prüfen) Was there a main author lately and what did this person change? If yes, it would make sense to write to the main author either on the article discussion (with ping) or on the user talk page, in order to work together on the improvement of the article.
  • Read the Talk page, etc:
    Finally, you should read through the article's article's talk page. What has been criticized about the article so far? Has there perhaps been any discussion about the planned change? If the article has an evaluation module, also called a maintenance module, you should also read through the discussion linked there (e.g. for the modules redundancy, review or quality assurance) (-> prüfen, Fachbegriffe und Regeln abgleichen).

Restructure articles

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If an article does not conform to Wikipedia:The perfect article / Wikipedia:Writing better articles, appropriate adjustments can be made. If several formal solutions are common and allowed, a permitted (but personally disliked) variant should not be changed to another permitted, personally favored variant, e.g.: it is allowed to arrange the section "References" both before and after „Further reading" and "External links", this should not be changed arbitrarily afterwards. The variants once chosen by an author should be respected. An exception to this is when one makes such a major revision of an article that one will be the main author afterwards.

If it is a question of structure, which is not defined in any formal guideline of Wikipedia and is left to the decision of the author, it is advisable - especially if it is a major restructuring - to propose it first in the article talk page. Wikipedians who have this article on their "watch list" will then speak up if necessary. To see how many Wikipedians are watching an article, you can click on "Page information" in the right column under "Tools" (example: Artemisia Gentileschi has 298 watchers). If there are less than 30 page watchers, no exact number is given ("Fewer than 30 watchers").

If you want to exchange information about the envisaged restructuring of an article, you can also turn to a thematically suitable portal or WikiProject. If active, the Wikipedians there can usually be reached via the talk page. Talk pages of interest to art scholars (selection):

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Creating new Wikipedia articles

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(coming soon)

Wikipedia articles on art and architecture

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Article structure

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  • Long, unstructured texts are difficult to read. They complicate the reader's urge to find information quickly. Therefore, it is advisable to structure the information through the thoughtful use of subheadings.
  • The paragraphs should not fall below a certain minimum number of sentences or lines (for further information, see "article length").
  • Articles should be "accessible" for other authors, i.e. they should allow corrections and extensions through a clear structure rather than being hindered by a lack of structure.
  • Info: In the Wikipedia Manual of Style, you find information on section organization.
  Technichal support: table of contents
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Article length

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  • A very short article can seem unfinished. Sprawling articles, on the other hand, can be too detailed, losing sight of the essentials.
  • Nevertheless, there is no rule of thumb for a minimum or maximum number of characters.

artwiki recommendations

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  • The article should be at least 4 to 5 lines long. It can now grow by extensions.
  • Sections that have grown significantly through later additions and/or revisions can - if the topic of the section justifies an article with its own lemma - be outsourced into own Wikipedia articles. However, all basic information should still be available in the source article. The articles created by outsourcing must themselves also meet Wikipedia requirements (e.g., links, proofs).
  • Also, for particularly extensive explanations of the context and/or the presentation of intensively conducted art scientific/public debates, etc., the outsourcing into a separate article (with appropriate linking) may be appropriate.

References

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  • In Wikipedia, there is an obligation to provide evidence for all information taken from literature. The rules can be found here. Therefore, the literature used for writing the article (and relevant to the lemma) should be indicated.
  • Proven and therefore verifiable information increases the quality of an article.
  • The literature should be checked for relevance. The main criteria include evidence (usually in the form of a scientific apparatus with footnotes or endnotes and a list of the literature used) and working with sources.

artwiki recommendations

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  • If possible, search for current (essay) literature and international literature. This can be found on the Répertoire international de la littérature de l'art (RILA) (1975-1989) and the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) (1990-2007) database, kubikat database, among others. The Living Handbook maintains a list with other links for art historical research, see Links for art historical research.
  • Instead of using richly illustrated survey works, a look at standard scientific literature is recommended. Art-historical literature can be researched via the RILA (1975–1989) or BHA (1990–2007) databases, or kubikat database.
  • Combine research paths. An example: combine literature on Marina Abramović with standard literature on the genre of body art. Also search for relevant literature using some of the links to art scholarly research in parallel.
  • Include open access literature and link to it: open access sources are consulted more often and trigger further research.
  • List estate locations and archives, as well as catalogs of works or digital databases: this information can be used to conduct further research as needed. Tip: If you come across a source by chance, check whether it can be found in Wikipedia.
  • If a catalog raisonné of the artists exists, please indicate the catalog raisonné number.

  Technical support: References

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Read more
Monographs of works are a relatively young genre of art historical literature and writing. If the articles are Wikipedia articles, it can be assumed that they are a fairly new kind of text and a new kind of writing anyway. For monographic articles, however, this is true even within the framework of traditional art historical literature. Established only in the course of the 19th century, the genre of the monograph on an artwork, however, did not find its way into conventional encyclopedias of general knowledge, unlike, for example, the genre of the artist´s biography. The inclusion of monographic articles on individual artworks is a very special innovation of Wikipedia.

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  • The link, short for hyperlink, is an essential element in the World Wide Web for linking content.
  • Links are useful not only between words and Wikipedia articles, e.g. between terms and explanations of terms, but also between images, between data, and between words and images.
  • Links serve the purpose of unambiguous assignment. Wikipedia-internal links, so-called wikilinks, tie the article into the digital encyclopedia. The amount of wikilinks to an article contributes significantly to its findability and counteracts "orphaning". All links to an article are listed in the link list, which can also be found on the left side of the screen ("Links to this page").
  • The motto "sparing and meaningful" was formulated for wikipedia-internal links, the wikilinks.
  • For the first sentence of a Wikipedia article (see "overview text"), the motto can be formulated: In the first sentence of a Wikipedia article that lexicographically captures the lemma, basic terms (e.g., "stained glass," "installation," "environment") should have wikilinks.
  • If a term occurs more than once in the body text, it should generally be linked only the first time it appears in a section. In longer texts that are not necessarily read through completely from top to bottom, it is often useful to link it again in a later passage of another section, especially if it seems useful for understanding specific paragraphs or facts.
  • Technical terms should be linked primarily with wikilinks for explanation, only if necessary with external links, in the sense of the encyclopedic-comprehensive approach. This may require the creation of new lemmas. But an immediate creation of the new lemmas is not a must. Because there is also the possibility to link to not yet existing articles. The term in the text will then (temporarily) appear in red until such an article has been created. All links to existing articles, on the other hand, will appear in blue in the text.

artwiki recommendations

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  • Linking terms within Wikipedia via wikilinks (instead of choosing an external link to texts outside Wikipedia) makes sense in the sense of further expanding (and improving) Wikipedia, even for technical terms. In a specific case, this may mean linking to a comparatively less informative and up-to-date Wikipedia article (e.g., an explanation of terms) (while an external link might convey the more pertinent information at that time). Corrections and further revisions to the Wikipedia article, which is still deficient at this point, would be an ideal next step (see the "Editing and Writing New Wikipedia Articles" section for tips).
  • Linking to articles that do not yet exist signals the need for information. The terms appear in red. Quite well known in this context is the German initiative Women in Red.
  • Not all, but only those terms that are fundamental or particularly relevant for the understanding of the article are to be linked.
  • Linking to Wikidata, or creating or adding to the Wikidata entry and then linking, contributes to the networking of the Wiki sister projects (through so-called interwiki links) (here (recherchieren) you can find more information about linking pages). The Wikipedia article now has a so-called „Wikidata item“ (Wikidata item with entity ID, a number beginning with Q). You can find the Wikidata item of the Wikipedia article in the right menu area under "Tools", "General": "Wikidata item".
  • On the subject of images: linking to Wikidata is recommended for images exactly when you need to refer to more comprehensive documentation at Wikidata, while the monographic article contains comparatively fewer images (images with color bars, for example, are usually removed in the viewing process (Sichtungsprozess? richtiges Wort?)). A whole series of further variants and modifications of illustrations can usually be found in the version history at Wikimedia ("File versions"). This variety and selection may be of interest for individual purposes.
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Read more
Red links: Links to nowhere
Articles on women artists, female (art) scientists and on works by women in Wikipedia

The anecdote has often been told that Donna Strickland got her own Wikipedia article only on the day when the Nobel Prize was awarded to the renowned scientist. This story refers to the irritating fact that there are only few Wikipedia articles about women and their achievements or (optimistically put:) they simply have not been written yet.
Here we collect links and references - in the sense of a living document, to inform each other and to give advice.

Link list
Project type Title Date Link
wiki page Women Artists 2013–today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_artists
initiative Women in the Art History Field 2014–today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_art_history_field
project Who writes his_tory? 2016–today https://whowriteshistory.me
lecture series (in German) 60 Minutes – Gender and Diversity in Wikipedia 2020–today https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:60_Minuten
lecture (in German) Representing Women: Feministic Strategies in Science, Art, and Net Activism 2020–2021 http://www.kunstgeschichte.hu-berlin.de/2021/11/representing-woman-feministische-strategien-in-wissenschaft-kunst-und-netzaktivismus/
project Female Art Historians in Blue 2021 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit-a-thon/Female_Art_Historians_In_Blue
feministic networking initiative (in German) FemNet ongoing Wikipedia:WikiProjekt_FemNetz
add add add
add add add
add add add
– Please continue the list –

Images

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The image is for illustrative purposes.
Image search
Picsome (Wikimedia Germany, portal for researching public domain images)
_ (database & link)
_ (database & link)
Captions

  • Start with capitals, end without a period. However, the caption ends with a period if it contains more than one sentence. Links within the caption are possible.

  • Captions for images contain the information: artist, title. Extended information includes: date, material, dimensions, location, special circumstances (e.g., "shown here at Frieze London in 2004").
    In the case of architecture, architectural photographs: in addition, the coordinates (e.g.: "shot from northeast"; this data is often missing).
  • A numbering of illustrations according to their mention in the text (e.g. "Fig. 1") and the corresponding mention in the body text ("see Fig. 1") comparable to scientific publications is not common for Wikipedia articles. Images are not numbered either when they are mentioned in the text or as part of the image legend.
  • The caption should not be confused with the information in the infobox.

Copy rights
(coming soon)

artwiki recommendations

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Image quality

  • Image size: at least 600 pixels (long side).
  • To be considered for photographic reproductions: Lighting; without: distortions, plunging lines, light reflections.
  • For paintings: ideally with painting edge, not cropped. All other versions, with color bars, different framings etc. as links to Wikidata.
  • Plus: if necessary, several views, details, traces of work, damages.

Goal: an as complete as possible documentation of the (current state of preservation of the) artwork, but also original states of preservation

  • For paintings: For the comprehensive representation of paintings a) with color bars, b) with frames, and c) "plain", the documentation at Wikidata is suitable. For the article, choose one version (note: images with color bars are usually removed in the review process) and link to the more comprehensive documentation at Wikidata.
  • In case of multiple versions of an artwork (especially for paintings) there is the possibility of a presentation with the Template: Painting ("Other versions").
  • For the documentation of installations, ephemeral works etc. photographs can be useful. Please note the rights of use.
  • For several/further views of a work of art, states of preservation, etc., the "gallery" is suitable as a representation. In addition, links can be used.

Relationship between text and image

  • The illustration of the artwork does not exempt from a description of the artwork. For example, color properties should be part of the description despite an illustration.
  • Note: The ease with which color reproductions can be digitally embedded today has repeatedly led to the omission of a comparison with the original. For example, the colorfulness of the original artifact should also be described or authenticated via a color bar.

  Technical support: Images

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Lemma/name/title

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(coming soon)
General info: article titles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles
Wikipedia Manual of Style, titles of works: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Titles_of_works
Info on titles of works (key points): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Titles_of_works
Info on article titles of works of art: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Visual_arts#Article_titles

Lead section

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short introductory text
Wikipedia Manual of Style: Lead section
(more coming soon)

Infobox

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(more coming soon)

  Technical support: Infobox

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(coming soon) Infoboxes: Wiki page with general information in the Wikipedia Manual of Style
Template: Infobox artwork
Template: Infobox artwork/sandbox
Template: Infobox artwork/testcases

Description

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artwiki recommendations

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  • The starting point is the object in its entirety. Statements about genre, function, material and technique as well as the condition always come first. The object of representation, motifs, etc. are subordinate aspects in a description.
  • The description is to be separated from the interpretation. Also the stylistic classification is rather to be assigned to a deeper analysis and the interpretation.
  • If the categories cannot be determined without more detailed analysis or are controversial in research, either omit them or phrase openly.

General categories

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General categories for the description of arts and crafts (please fold out the menu (via Ausklappen) on the right)

General categories for the description of arts and crafts

  • medium and genre
  • object/image/building type
  • materials and techniques
  • functions
  • orientation, format
  • dimensions
  • (if suitable) subject/motif/topic or main component(s) of the representation
  • design context, e.g. part of a series
  • framing, local/spatial situation
  • inscriptions, numbers and signs, signatures, dating
  • current place of storage, spatial context, possibly destination
  • condition (e.g., visible deterioration due to damage, recognizable alterations, repairs, restorations)
  • The description does not need to cover all aspects of an object, but should strive for completeness of essential information.
  • The categories of the description depend on the object type or medium. Some categories are not always clearly to identify. For some categories, there are common denominations.
  • An infobox is recommended for the presentation of dimensions, inventory and catalog raisonné numbers.
  • Individual aspects (such as iconography, reception, patronage etc.) can be presented more in detail in the article - in the general overview or in more detailed paragraphs. Also, there is place for explanations, interpretations and evaluations.
  • In the following sections, descriptive categories for different art forms are given. These are arranged as follows:
    painting, sculpture, graphic arts (drawings, reproduction graphics), architecture, performative, installation and technical arts, "applied arts", photography, picture story and comic, and graffiti and street art.

Painting

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Description categories

Description categories for paintings

  • medium and genre
  • image type
  • function
  • current place of storage/spatial context, possibly destination
  • material (e.g., chalk/gesso, glue), paint (pigments, binder), varnish
  • technique: priming, underdrawing, underpainting, paint application (e.g., opaque, glazing, impasto), brushstroke (e.g., flat, dabbing), alterations/pentimenti
  • condition (e.g., visible deterioration due to damage, noticeable alterations, repairs, restorations)
  • alignment, format
  • subject/motif/theme or main component(s) of the depiction
  • dimensions
  • design context/part of a series
  • framing, local/spatial situation
  • inscriptions (e.g. signatures, dates, dedications, prayers)
  • categories of in-depth description of representation
    • main and secondary motifs
    • foreground/middle ground/background/image center
    • orders, groupings, symmetries/asymmetries
    • relationships (compositional, linear, looks, gestures, objects, etc.)
    • movements
    • image composition/composition
    • relationship to viewers, gaze guidance of viewers
    • use of light/shadow
    • use of color (also color harmonies, contrasts)
    • role of the picture border
    • proportions of things and people
    • space, spatiality, plasticity, creation of a spatial illusion, perspective/atmospheric means
    • presentation mode: simplified, with abstraction or (nuanced) naturalistic?
    • iconography
  • categories of an in-depth description of the use of colours
    • brightness value of the colours (light-dark contrast)
    • colour temperature (cold-warm contrast)
    • colour contrasts (complementary contrast)
    • colour distribution (quantity contrast)
    • colour clarity (quality contrast/bright - dull)
    • colour definition (transparent - opaque)
    • colour coleur (colourful - tonal)
    • colour valeur (tonal values and gradations)
    • spatial effect of colour (front - back)
    • Principle of colour use: Does the representational value (light colour) or the intrinsic value of the colour (object colour without lighting conditions) dominate? Is colour used as a symbolic colour or as an autonomous colour (completely detached from representational reference)?
    • Colour meaning/colour symbolism
  • categories of an in-depth description of the relationship between the image and the viewer
    • top view, bottom view, eye level?
    • Do you recognise things from a close-up or distant view?
    • Is there an "identification bridge", e.g. a back figure or a pointing figure?
    • Do the figures in the painting make eye contact with the viewer (proximity - distance)?
    • What effect does the painting have on the viewer and why?
    • Can the depicted space be entered? Does a path lead into the depth of the painting or is access blocked?
Examples for the description of paintings

Examples for the description of paintings

  • (coming soon)
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Sculpture

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Categories for the description of sculpture

Description categories for sculpture

  • sculpture type: full sculptural work, relief (e.g. high relief, bas-relief, rilievo schiacciato)
  • function (if readable, e.g. fountain figure, tomb, devotional picture, portrait bust)
  • spatial context (especially for objects in situ, i.e. at their original location) or current presentation (especially in museums)
  • dimensions
  • material
  • technique of production, possibly traces of work/tools
  • surface design (e.g. polish)
  • setting/colouring
  • condition (e.g. visible deterioration due to damage, visible alterations, repairs, restorations)
  • viewability (all-viewability, view side)
  • relationship between figure and space (for this: shadow, closed/open form, space-occupying etc.)
  • representation of the body (e.g. contrapposto, ponderation, heaviness, tension)
  • proportions
  • relationship between "core" and "shell" (especially relationship between body and garment)
  • framing, plinth
  • inscriptions (e.g. signatures, dating, dedications, prayers)
Examples for the description of sculpture

Examples for the description of sculpture

  • (coming soon)
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Graphic arts

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Graphic arts I: drawing, categories for the description of drawings

Description categories for graphic arts: drawings

  • image type/function (e.g. sketch, model, autonomous drawing)
  • current storage location
  • dimensions
  • material of the support (e.g. parchment, rag paper, coloured paper), possibly characteristics of the support (e.g. thickness, fibres, colourfulness)
  • material/technique of drawing (e.g. silverpoint, charcoal, red chalk, pen+iron gall ink, brush+soot ink), possibly characteristics of drawing material/technique
  • alterations/pentimenti
  • condition (e.g. visible deterioration due to damage, noticeable alterations, repairs, restorations)
  • alignment, format
  • framing
  • subject/motif/topic or main component(s) of the representation
  • connection with other drawings/art objects (e.g. as a series, design)
  • inscription(s): content, location, characteristics (e.g. artist's signature, dates, collector's name(s), collection number, attributions, comments)
Graphic arts II: reproduction graphics, categories for the description of reproduction graphics

Description categories for graphic arts: reproduction graphics

  • description of the characteristics of a series, not of the individual sheet
  • graphic process (e.g. copperplate engraving, etching, mezzotint, chiaroscuro).
  • dimensions: height times width in cm or mm, without margin (alternatively: specifications with and without margin)
  • material of the support (e.g. rag paper, dyed paper), possibly characteristics of the support (e.g. thickness, fibres, colourfulness)
  • orientation, format
  • framing
  • subject/motif/topic or main component(s) of the depiction.
  • inscriptions: content, location, characteristics (e.g. legends, artist:inside signatures, details of printer, publisher and 'inventor', dating)
  • inscriptions: content, location, characteristics (e.g. edition details/sheet number, collector:s names, collection numbers, attributions, comments)
  • places of storage
  • differences between prints
Examples for the description of graphic arts

Examples for the description of graphic arts

  • (coming soon)
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Architecture

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Description categories

Description categories for architecture

  • type of building, type of construction, genre
  • date, time period of the construction
  • masters, architects, constructeurs or customers involved
  • function
  • location with geographical data, relationship to the surrounding area/building context
  • orientation, form
  • material
  • technical procedures
  • condition (e.g. visible deterioration due to damage, recognisable alterations, repairs, restoration)
  • dimensions
  • floor plan(s)
  • number of storeys
  • roof shape
  • facade
  • axes (window openings)
  • development/access
  • interior
  • spatial perception (e.g. acoustics)
Examples for the description of architecture

Examples for the description of architecture

  • (coming soon)
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Links: description of architecture

Links: description of architecture

  • glossar (coming soon)
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Performative, installation and technical arts

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Description categories

Description categories for performative, installation and technical arts – some comments

The visual arts of modernity and the present are not always accessible through the established classification systems (e.g. genres, image type, function) and methodologies (e.g. iconography). The development of new tools and terms was/is necessary to describe modern and contemporary art.

  • The performative, installative and technical arts often understand the viewers as active participants. This can be taken into account in the description.
  • Most modern and contemporary artists work across genres - many works or groups of works are intermedial. Rosalind Krauss has therefore spoken of a "post-medium condition" of modernism and the present (see Rosalind Krauss, A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition, London: Thames & Hudson 2000 [1]).
  • Material is also a carrier of meaning in modernity and the present. The description and analysis of used materials, ephemeral processes and immaterial substances can provide information about social and gender-specific attributions.
  • The performative, installative and technical arts often suggest a reflection of their spatial or institutional context.
  • A particular challenge in describing performative, installative and technical arts is their transmission in textual documents, photographs, films, video, etc. One-off happenings have only been preserved indirectly. This circumstance and the related selective tradition should be taken into account in the description.
  • In addition, it is important to consider what the basis (bases) of the description is (are). Is it a personal memory, a photographic and/or a film documentation that is being described? Especially in the case of the latter, the question of authorship, patronage, etc. becomes even more complicated, simply because the boundaries between documentary and artistic work become blurred.
Examples for the description of performative, installation und technical arts

Beispiele für die Beschreibung performativer, installativer und technischer Künste

  • (coming soon)
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Applied arts

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Description categories

Description categories for the so-called applied arts – some remarks

Applied art, arts and crafts, or design have been established collective terms since the 19th century for objects that were produced in the cultural sphere as "utilitarian objects" not primarily because of their aesthetic-visual effect or their aesthetic-ideal significance, but which nevertheless reveal a design/artistic claim. They can originate from handicraft, machine or industrial production.
(more coming soon)

  • function (e.g. drinking vessel, wall hanging)
  • spatial context (especially for objects in situ, i.e. at the original place) or current presentation (especially in a museum)
  • dimensions in cm, height x width (if applicable: x depth, if applicable: circumference)
  • material
  • technique
  • condition (e.g. visible impairment due to damage, recognizable alterations, repairs, restorations)
  • visibility (e.g., all-view, main view side)
  • framing, plinth
  • inscriptions (e.g. signatures, dating, dedications)
Examples for the description of the applied arts

Examples for the description of the applied arts

  • _ (coming soon)
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Photography

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Description categories

Description categories for photography

Single photography
(coming soon)

Content: What is shown/represented?

  • Detailed description of the subject, using the general aspects of the description of, for example, paintings as a guide.
  • Difference: The reference to the present. The subject of a photograph - if it is not a photogram - has been present in front of the camera. Fictional representations such as mythologies are only conceivable as stagings.

Formal: How is it shown/represented?
Here, too, there are many overlaps for photography with descriptive processes, for example, in painting. In addition to the points mentioned above, however, a media-specific concretization is advisable through the following points:

  • Format: _ (coming soon) With a portrait format, which is also called portrait format in English, vertical motif lines are particularly emphasized, whereas with a landscape format (landscape format) horizontal ones are emphasized.
  • Perspective: From which perspective was the photograph taken (top view, bottom view, normal view, oblique view)?
  • Sharpness: Which areas of the image are sharp rspt. out of focus and why? Can statements about aperture or shutter speed be made based on sharpness?
  • Light: What is the light setting in photography? Are there exclusively natural light sources, or are artificial light sources also used (such as studio light or flash). What are the consequences of the light setting for the image?
  • Focal length of the lens: What angle of view does photography use (wide-angle, normal, telephoto) and what effect does the choice have on the image plane? The telephoto lens, for example, reduces the detail. The images appear clear, calm and static, but also two-dimensional. The shallow depth of field focuses on the center. A wide-angle lens enlarges the section. It causes confusion and restlessness, dynamics and spatial depth. The foreground is emphasized. Wide-angle lenses often have a large depth of field. Aperture and ISO are also camera settings to consider here.
  • Exposure time: As the amount of time the camera shutter is open and light is projected onto the camera sensor or negative or similar, exposure time has a great deal of creative influence on photography. If the photographer:in chooses a long exposure time, an effect called motion blur is created. Moving subjects appear blurred along the direction of movement. A short exposure time stops motion.
  • Crop: _ (coming soon)

Photo series

(coming soon)
Examples for the description of photography

Examples for the description of photography

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Links: photography

Links: photography

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Picture story and comic

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Description categories

Description categories for comics

The picture story, also sequential art or modern comic, has as an art form some peculiarities that can be described in particular. From the comic research come methods of analysis of picture stories, through the application of which sources can be found for a work.

  • content (the story or event told), recurring characters
  • origin of the content (adaptation or original content)
  • stylization of characters, facial expressions and gestures, use of symbols familiar to the reader beyond the individual work, as well as visual codes and metaphors
  • representation of the pictorial space in relation to the acting figures (e.g. gradient in the degree of stylization and richness of detail)
  • dramaturgy (e.g., linear, parallel, narrative perspective, diegesis
  • sequence of images and narrative rhythm (e.g., close or wide sequence of images, transitions or pacing of induction between images), mediation of time
  • perspective and framing in the single frame and its change in the transition between frames
  • layout, panel (comic) / panel design, reading direction
  • medium (e.g., book form, collection of prints) and, accordingly, the audience that was or could be reached
  • unity of image and text (image- or text-heavy, means of connection such as speech bubble)
  • onomatopoeia / phonetic painting, typography, lettering
Examples for the description of comics

Examples for the description of comics

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Graffiti and street art

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Description categories

Description categories for graffiti and street art – some remarks

Graffiti and street art are forms of non-commercial signs or public art.

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Examples for the description of graffiti and street art

Examples for the description of graffiti and street arts

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Links: graffiti und street art

Links zur Beschreibung von Graffiti und Street Art

Object history

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(„Objektgeschichte“: anderes Wort?)
(more coming soon)

Creation

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What information is known about the creation of the work?
What is known about the conception and ideas of the work's creation?
Do preliminary drawings, sketches, studies exist?
Are there several versions?
What information is there about the material used? For example, where did the material come from? What is known about the technical processes used?

Creation background

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Job order: Is anything known about the order situation? Was there a commissioner?
What other conditions for the creation of the artwork are known?

Function

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What function did the work originally serve and what function did it serve throughout its history?

Spatial situation

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For what spatial setting/context was the artwork created?

Historical context

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Information on contemporary historical circumstances
Social-historical aspects

(Trans-)locations/provenance/exhibition history

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Where is the artwork located today? Where and in whose possession was the work over time? Are there any gaps in the provenance history? If applicable, add information on the exhibition history.

Alterations/restorations

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Is there anything known about restorations and revisions? Does the artwork still exist, was it destroyed? E.g., is it or is it assumed to be war losses?

Historical sources

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Have any documents been preserved, e.g., contracts, payment records, inventories, contemporary or later mentions, or literary descriptions? What information has survived? Here there may be overlaps with the history of reception.

Proofs and verification

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Information on the history of the object should also be supported by literature references.

artwiki recommendations

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  • The different aspects of the object history of a work of art can be weighted differently in the article, depending on the data situation and the state of information, and possibly structured by carefully chosen section headings (-> Structure/Outline). For example, the "Reichstag wrapping", due to its almost 25-year planning phase, receives its own section "Realization History" with further bullet points "Planning and Preparation," „Implementation", etc. and its own section for the material used for the wrapping: "Working Material: Material", but also, due to diverse controversies, the sections "Reception and Interpretation" and "Image Rights".
  • For several versions of a work, a list, gallery or an infobox ("Other versions") is suitable as presentation.
  • In the information on provenance, the ownership should be stated chronologically if possible, and the Wikidata entry should be added at the same time. Open questions and gaps in the provenance are to be indicated as such. The form of the list or table is suitable as representation.

Examples

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(coming soon)

Reception history/research/interpretation

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Even if object history and reception history, i.e. the history of the changing perceptions and interpretations of a work of art, cannot always be precisely separated (a particularly striking example would be the exhibition history of a work of art: object history and reception history flow into one another here), a separate presentation of these aspects is worthwhile for most objects - not least because art historical research is also a form of reception. In addition to the presentation of the different perspectives on a work of art in the course of its existence, it is always necessary to ask about the respective recipients. Thus, in the context of research discussions, it is not irrelevant whether an art historian writes from a colonial point of view, assumes a - now outdated - notion of "national" art, or has conducted research in a time when certain objects were not considered works of art.

Art historical research on the object

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A brief overview of research shows which aspects of an object have been studied and discussed in research to date. Concise information on the scholars (name) or their contribution to the research (year and context of publication) can help the reader to classify the different positions. Research literature should be supported by individual references and bibliographical references.

Classifications

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Many art scholarly categories of order for art objects, such as order by stylistic features, temporal categories, geographic spaces, "schools of artists," the "nationality" of the artist:s, etc., are partly problematic, partly outdated constructions, and their use in survey text and description is discouraged. They belong to the history of reception; the historicity as well as the context of origin and use of the categories of classification must be taken into account here. Ideas about how to order art (or better: knowledge about art) have often changed over time. The epoch, school, and style designations we know today did not become established for the most part until the middle of the 19th century, when the still young discipline of art history began to develop its own categories of order along the lines of the seemingly objective natural sciences. The terms are themselves part of the history of art historiography.
The epochal terms, stylistic designations, and developmental narratives that can still be found in some cases in specialized literature and museum catalogs are not evidence of their correctness or validity in principle. In work-monographic articles, classifications, e.g. epoch classifications, should only be made with reference to the author:s or publications.

Handling of non-scientific statements

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"The exhibition was a hoot“ (anderes Beispiel), "The work hit like a bomb“ (anderes Beispiel), "The enfant terrible of the art scene lived up to his name" - only if subjectively colored (and colloquial) statements on the objective level (concretely: visitor:inside numbers, sales revenues, events, etc.) find a factual correspondence (obligation to provide evidence), these evaluations can be included in the reception part of a Wikipedia article as objectively formulated information (under consideration of the choice of language, see comprehensibility/scientific language).

Artists' statements on their own work

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Artists' statements on their own work provide an interesting perspective, but must be treated with some caution because of their subjectivity, which is not entirely free of interest. As historical documents they are valuable sources, but require critical consideration. Artists just do not own the interpretive sovereignty over their works. Statements should therefore be contextualized and questioned and not stand on their own. Quotations from artists can in no way replace the description of a work or a group of works. Such statements should be marked accordingly ("According to statement by x..." / "According to own statement...").

Interpretation

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This section is devoted to the interpretations and interpretive approaches that have been applied to the artwork. What intentions does the artist:in associate with it and what experiences do the viewers have? The individual results of the analysis are summarized on a higher level of meaning. It should be noted that different analyses are attributed to the respective scientists and their methodology. Scientific viewpoints should also be presented in a way that reflects the relative importance attached to them by the experts. Often, different perspectives are neither made transparent nor attributed to individual researchers in articles. There seems to be a kind of omniscient narrator, which is characteristic of the rhetoric of survey works. This is something to be avoided.

Artistic reception

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Certain qualities or aspects - especially of well-known - works of art, such as motifs, compositional solutions, techniques, or iconographies, have been taken up and further developed by other artist:s. This form of artistic reception is part of the object and reception history of a work and can be briefly outlined. More detailed descriptions, however, belong rather to an article dedicated to the result of artistic reception.

Examples

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(coming soon)

Read more

The Fiction of the Factual
State of research and "secured" knowledge in art history
In many articles on art objects in Wikipedia, the state of research is missing - supposedly "such a thing" does not belong in a popular science article that is supposed to convey the most important facts about a work in a short, clear and understandable way. But is the state of research really something that only professional science is interested in? And what exactly is meant by "fact" in art history? What is a well-founded research opinion, what is a steep thesis, what is reliable knowledge based on? How are self-statements by artists and (auto)biographical information to be dealt with? Without taking into account the state of research, an article only provides a substrate of traditional - but therefore far from correct - information, interpretations and evaluations. In principle, skepticism is required with regard to supposedly "unquestionable" statements in the specialist literature, which should be reflected in the indication of the author and the publication (see References).

Read more

Epochs as constructs
Helpful terms of agreement or dangerous constructs? Epoch terms in art Wikipedia articles
In the past, epochal terms were meant to order and evaluate history or certain historical phenomena in terms of time and culture. In art history, epochs were usually defined by arbitrarily chosen formal commonalities (usually the so-called "style"), which, in addition, were based on certain ideas of epochs (e.g. Renaissance as "rebirth of antiquity", Eurocentrism, concepts of progress). As has long been discussed in art historical research, concepts of epochs are therefore more of a hindrance than a useful descriptive or even analytical category.
In light of the fact that epochal terms are based on discursive, shifting routines, they are to be avoided when writing work-monographic articles. A formulation such as "Michelangelo was the master of Renaissance art" may today be considered scientifically outdated not only in its approach, but quite fundamentally.
So far, there are no clear rules for dealing with this problem in Wikipedia. In many work-monographic articles, epoch, school and style terms can be found both in the text and in the superordinate categories.

Lists

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  • Lists and tables facilitate access and overview.
  • Lists and tables can be implemented as (classic) closed enumerations, but also as open lists to be added to successively, due to the extensible and collaborative writing in Wikipedia.
  • Creating a table initially requires some advanced know-how (and a bit more effort). Creating the table can be worthwhile for selected cases: The overview and the access are improved. Once the table is created, it is easy to add to it.

artwiki recommendations

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  • Lists/tables are especially useful for versions of a work, parts of series of works, illustrations of different views (e.g. for architecture), for multi-part works (e.g. frescoes, stained glass), etc. (from about 5 entities), and listings of works.
  • "Open lists" can have empty fields, marked in color if necessary, where data is still missing; e.g. a provenance history with gaps.
  • Tables in particular can be useful for clearly presenting information on provenance and exhibition history, different versions of a work, etc.
  • Alternatives to the table are the arrangement of the illustrations next to each other via gallery (e.g. for detailed representations, parts of a series of works up to max. 35 illustrations), or the use of the infobox (e.g. for different versions of a work).

  Technical support: Lists

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Frequently asked questions

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(coming soon)

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