Looking and Writing: A Guide for Art History Students

Looking and Writing is an introductory guide for readers who are engaged in writing a visual analysis for the first time. Although it is written informally with the novice in mind, it provides the reader with the technical vocabulary appropriate to a visual analysis. KEY TOPICS: Guidelines for the selection, analysis, and presentation of an image found in a museum or gallery setting or an on-line site form the core chapters of the book. Other chapters discuss the use of symbols, the cultural precepts of how we process visual information, suggestions for writing and proofreading an essay and the structure of a proper bibliography. For those interested in art history, or writing about art.

Marilyn Wyman, Instructor in Art History and American Studies in the School of Art & Design, San Jose State University, received her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. Her areas of interest include American, Modern, and African Art as well as studies in American culture. Since 1989, she has worked extensively in South Africa. Dr. Wyman's recent publications include: "The Harlem Renaissance and the Affirmation of Identity" (1989): "The Lay of the Land: A Comparison of 19th Century Landscape Tradition in the United States and South Africa" (1990); "The Deracinated Worker in California Depression Murals" (1995); "Mechanisms of Power: Native American and Zulu Imagery in Popular Culture" (1995); and "African American Ties in the Development of Urban Black Culture in South Africa" (1996).