Painting in Spain – final exhibition submission guidelines
PinS Gallery, Summer Exhibition 2024
INSTRUCTIONS: Please use the following paintings and in the order: El 2 de Mayo by Francisco Goya, El 3 de Mayo by Frncisco Goya and La Batalla de Tetuan to create a virtual exhibition. Below are the detailed instrcutions of the assignment. (Write a curator’s notes of 400 words each and write a 300 word introductory note). Please also ome up with a title for the exhibition.
Presentation and Technical Information
1.
Prepare
the exhibition on Powerpoint and save the final version to pdf.
2.
Label
your document: MLAC3183_Student ID_23-24.
3.
Don’t
add in any extra images or other embellishments and keep your slides as
visually clean as possible. Avoid templates with background patterning, design
formatting that plays with the shape of the painting or any unnecessary other
graphics. The Gallery format is just one of the many design options available
but it isn’t working well for us this year. I suggest using a blank slide (no
formatting), with a black or very dark grey background for the slides one which
you show your paintings. Insert them without any formatting and try to make
them as big on the slide as possible. Place the painting captions in the note
slides, as titles but not in a font
larger than the note itself.
4.
Present
your slides in this order:
a.
title
slide (please do not include your name; your student ID should only appear on
the filename)
b.
introductory
curator’s note
c.
first
image (corresponding to the left-hand wall).
d.
curator’s
note for first image with caption as title
e.
second
image (centre wall)
f.
curator’s
note for second image
g.
third
image (right-hand wall)
h.
curator’s
note for third image
i.
bibliography
– you can present an integrated bibliography containing material for all three
images or a differentiated bibliography with material for each image listed
separately and, if appropriate, material used for the introductory note. These
can be arranged over several slides. Keep the font size the same for the
bibliography as for the curator’s notes. The captions should also be in the
same font size.
5.
Don’t
include footnotes or Harvard-style author-date referencing in any of your
notes. If you include a direct quote then make it clear in your text who made
the statement.
6. The painting caption or title should be in
Spanish if the image is kept in a Spanish gallery, in English if in an
English-language gallery. After that it’s up to you if you wish to use the
language of the country in which the gallery is located. The same applies to
the names of galleries. There’s no need for inventory numbers. Use the order
below:
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, La maja vestida, 1800-1807, Museo del
Prado, Madrid, oil on canvas, 94.7 x 188cm.
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, Philip IV of
Spain in Brown and Silver, c. 1631-32, National Gallery, London, oil on
canvas, 195 x 110cm.
7.
Download
your images from the galleries where they are kept unless this is impossible.
This will ensure the best colour reproduction. Don’t forget this exhibition
should be a pleasant visual experience for the viewer and the most important
element of that is that the images should be optimally displayed.
8.
The
word limits are for each individual note. Try to stick as closely as possible
to the word limit. You can’t aggregate the word counts and swop surplus words
from one note to another. Each curator’s note should be 400 words or within 20
words of that. The introductory note should be 300 words or within 15 words of
that. The title, captions and the bibliography are not subject to word count.
Put a word count at the end of each note.
Style and Content
9.
Avoid
lazy formulae such as ‘some say’, ‘many believe’ etc.
10.
Don’t
use ‘we’ or ‘I’. Maintain an objective distance.
11.
Avoid
‘isms’ (Mannerism, Impressionism), terms relating to periodisation (Baroque,
Romantic) and technical terms (chiaroscuro, tenebrism, brushwork) unless they
are indispensable to your analysis and you’re using them in a clearly targeted
way.
12.
You
don’t need to explain to the viewer how the painting works as a technical
composition. Try to help your viewer to explore the content of the painting:
objects, creatures, topography, buildings; gestures, clothing, interpersonal
dynamics; time of day and resultant lighting etc.
13.
You
will need to include relevant historical context but we do not need who the
painter trained with nor which other painters he/she may have been influenced
by – unless you yourself have observed such influence and are familiar with the
work of the other painter(s)
14.
You
can refer to other paintings in an individual note but try not to produce a
comparison-style text. These can be other paintings in your exhibition or other
paintings you think are relevant (and you are familiar with). The bulk of your
overarching argument, ie the theme of your exhibition, should be presented in
the introduction.
15.
Don’t
(unlike me in these notes) use contractions. Be more formal. Each gallery has a
house style and this is part of our PinS Gallery style.
16.
The
title should be the last thing you decide upon after you’ve written the
introduction. The introduction should only be done after the individual notes.
The title should be short and snappy. It should not look like an essay title or
a research question. It doesn’t have to present your theme/topic
comprehensively. It should entice viewers in to see your exhibition.
