Wikipedia:WikiProject Visual arts/Art Manual of Style

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This is a draft, or a proposal or working notes or suggestions or whatever. It is not policy. Please add what you know or want to know about working with visual arts articles

Contents

[edit] Helpful wikipedia links

[edit] Text issues

[edit] Using infoboxes and templates

There are dedicated infoboxes and some templates for Visual arts articles at Wikipedia:WikiProject Visual arts#Templates, in addition to the standard biography infoboxes and national/cultural templates. There may be a conflict for space between the need to illustrate visual arts articles and the use of infoboxes. This is decided on a case-by-case basis.

Templates at the bottom of the page are usually preferable to those at the side, where they may make it difficult to incorporate proper illustration of a VA article. If so, they are likely to be removed.

Information in an infobox contains basic introductory facts from the article. If something is not substantiated in the article, it should not be included in the infobox. An alternative to an infobox is to use a normal picture with caption.

[edit] Lead section

In general it is best and safest to use "artist" in the lead; very many artists were not just painters (many articles are currently defective in this respect). If the artist did significant work in several media, that should be indicated, as, for example:

Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917), born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas (pronounced [ilɛʀ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ ɛdɡɑʀ dœˈɡɑ]), was a French artist, who worked in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing.

[edit] Capitalization and art movements

Capitalization of art movements and art style names is a complex issue. The College Art Association style guide for Art Bulletin says (or, it seems, used to say):

In general, sharply delimited period titles are capitalized, whereas large periods and terms applicable to several periods are not: e.g., Archaic, Baroque, Early and High Renaissance, Early Christian, Gothic, Greek Classicism of the fifth century (otherwise, classicism), Imperial, Impressionism, Islamic, Mannerist, Middle Ages, Modernism, Neoclassicism for the late-eighteenth-century movement (otherwise, neoclassicism), Post-Impressionism, Pre-Columbian, Rococo, Roman, Romanesque, Romantic period, Xth Dynasty, antique, antiquity, classicism (see above), medieval, modern, neoclassicism (see above), postmodern, prehistoric, quattrocento.

In passing references to details of style, it may be appropriate to use lower-case terms eg: baroque, gothic, mannerist, modernist—but always Renaissance, Impressionist, Middle Ages.

A style guide at zeal.com suggests using a dictionary to determine capitalization. However, dictionaries vary on art movement/style capitalization. (See User:Sparkit/capitalization.) The Wikipedia Manual of Style does not touch on art movements and styles in particular, but implies that wikipedia style is to use lower case. Bringing us back again to using a dictionary. Thus, the question of what to do when dictionaries do not agree with one another may remain.

See Netherlandish for the distinction between this and "Dutch" or "Flemish" in art.

[edit] Lists of works

Lists of works should be used cautiously; they are really only appropriate for major artists with a small oeuvre, like Leonardo da Vinci or Giorgione. Longer ones are best moved to separate articles. If compiled from old sources like EB 1911, there are likely to be inaccuracies as a) many works in private collections will have been sold and b) some in museums will have been re-attributed. A short section on notable works is better, although care must be taken to give a worldwide view, not just covering works in the anglosphere.

[edit] Articles to write

There is a need for more articles on non-Western historic art, and on applied or decorative art from all times and places, where coverage is generally very poor at present.

Generally, very short articles (say less than 200 words of main text) on individual works or art are to be avoided, as the information can be included in the main article on the artist, or incorporated with other similar short pieces in a dedicated article, such as Portraits by Vincent van Gogh.

When there is sufficient notability and information to merit an article on an individual work of art, all pertinent facts as specified in Image captions (below) should be included, as well as relevant material covering the content, iconography, style, significance in the artist's oeuvre and provenance.

Shorter articles on artists (i.e. a stub) are acceptable, provided the subject meets the notability guidelines, and the article meets our standard of verification, with a sufficient number of independent reliable secondary sources (see sources below).

[edit] Article titles

If a biography needs disambiguating then John Smith (artist) is usually the best choice (see Lead section above). For movements, techniques and the like add (art) or a more specific term like (sculpture) if this is appropriate.

For articles on individual works of art:

  • If the title is not very specific, or refers to a common subject, add the surname of the artist in brackets afterwards, e.g. Reading the Letter (Picasso). It is better to disambiguate by the artist's name than by medium, as there may be other paintings or sculptures of the same name by other artists. If the artist painted several works with the same, or very similar, titles, add the location of the work if it is in a public collection. For example, Annunciation (van Eyck, Washington), as van Eyck painted several Annunciations. A title like Madonna and Child (Raphael) is of little use (see Category:Raphael Madonnas).
  • Avoid the construction 'X's Y' (e.g. Botticelli's Birth of Venus). It only works in a small minority of cases, such as Dürer's Rhinoceros, where the work is very well known by that title and the alternative (The Rhinoceros (Dürer)) is considered too far from common usage.
  • Where there are several variant titles, preference is usually given to the predominant one used by art historians writing in English, and if this is not clear, the English title used by the owning museum. Few old master paintings had specific titles when they were painted.
  • Set up redirects for variant titles, such as the original language title for modern works or variant translations.
  • Many works have names by which they are well-known, but which are now falling out of use, as the museums who now own most tend not to use the former name. The Rokeby Venus is still sufficiently well-known by that name to justify using it for the title, even though the National Gallery, London uses the title The Toilet of Venus ('Rokeby Venus'). But in the same museum, a work formerly known as the Burlington House Cartoon is now called The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist. The institution's preferred name for the work is now more familiar than the older one, and is therefore used as the article title. In cases like this the older title should be set up as a redirect and mentioned as a variant, but not used for the article title.
  • Foreign language titles are generally only to be used if they are used by most art historians or critics writing in English - eg Las Meninas or Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. In that case they should be used in the form used by most art historians writing in English, regardless of whether this is actually correct by the standards of the other language. It is not necessary to give the original language version of titles of standard religious scenes or portraits, but for other titles this may be desirable, for example:

The Third of May 1808 (in Spanish El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid; Los fusilamientos de la montaña del Príncipe Pío [1] or Los fusilamientos del tres de mayo) is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish master Francisco Goya.

  1. ^ Prado, p. 141: "The third of May 1808 in Madrid; the shootings on Prince Pio hill".

[edit] Describing works

[edit] Museums and collections

It can be helpful to add the owner of works to texts or captions of works referred to, but is not necessary, except for articles about the specific work. If the owner is not included in the information in the picture file, and is known, it should be added there.

For works in permanent public collections, avoid "...currently resides in", "is currently in the Louvre", "is on display at", "hangs in" "is located in" and similar phrases. Just give the name of the collection, "Metropolitan Museum", or say "is in the Louvre", "is owned by", "now in" or "belongs to". Saying "private collection" is acceptable but not usually done. Once in museums, most works remain there, but not necessarily on display at any particular moment. Of course "currently" is fine if the work is known to be likely to move for some reason, such as belonging to another institution, although we do not need to reflect loans to exhibitions etc. Use "in the Royal Collection" rather than "at Windsor Castle" or another location, as that is the appropriate link and, for example, most of the works that were at Hampton Court Palace for decades were moved to Windsor a couple of years ago, while their permanent home was being decided on.

[edit] Dates

Avoid "an 1876 painting", it is a "painting of 1876" or "his famous nude Jimbo Wales (1876)" etc; "from 1876" is best avoided, except in a discussion of a chronological development of style or similar passage. For a painting that was completed over more than one year, either the range of years, or the year of completion should normally be given.

[edit] Medium

Avoid "an oil-on-canvas painting" - it is "an oil painting on canvas" (unless it it is actually a panel painting etc).

[edit] Prints

Avoid "copper engraving" etc (often found in material half-translated from German and other languages). Older sources (such as the 1911 EB) may use "wood-engraving" for woodcut, which is not acceptable now. Original prints, or reproductive ones of before about 1800 could be linked to old master print or popular print (the later not date-limited), if the technique, such as engraving, etching, linocut etc is not known. Descriptions of print techniques on Commons descriptions should be treated with great caution; many if not most are inaccurate. "Engraving" is often treated as a generic term for all prints, which is to be avoided. See printmaking for a summary of the techniques, but just use "print" if the actual technique is unknown.

[edit] Using Images of art

[edit] Basic formatting and size

The basic formatting code for an image is:

[[Image:Name of image.jpg|thumb|Name of artist. Name of artwork.]]

"Thumb" has three effects:

  1. Default position is on the right of the page (specifying "right" is therefore redundant)
  2. Default size is 180 pixels wide
  3. If registered users have changed the thumb size in their preference settings (anything up to 300 pixels wide) then the image will appear for them at their selected size.

Most images will be left at this default size and not have a "forced" image size. Specifying "225px", for example, means all users are forced to see the image at that size, as it over-rides their preference setting. Another reason for not forcing large image sizes, is that the result can be ugly on some, particularly low res, screen settings. It is therefore a sound practice to look at a page on different screen settings.

There are exceptions to this, when an image size is specified. This might be because there is a lot of detail, or because it is the lead image on the page. In such cases, 300px is a good size to consider, as anything less will have the reverse effect to enlargement for users who have their preference setting at the maximum 300 px.

There are some other options which can be put into the basic image coding:

[[Image:Name of image.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Name of artist. Name of artwork.]]

"Left" positions the image on the left of the page. The default sets the width at 180 pixels, which is fine for images, which are wider than they are tall. Where the reverse is the case, "upright" compensates for this. Even so, some very narrow images, may need a forced smaller size.

[edit] Image captions

The minimum information that needs to be included is:

  • Artist name - linked for at least his/her first caption, except where the article is a biographical one about the artist. The name should not be in bold text.
  • Title of work in italics, - wikilinked if there is an article on the work,

Extra information which can be included:

  • Date of work—usually date completed if it took more than one year,
  • Medium & support, especially if not oil on canvas,
  • Size—particularly helpful for unusually large or small works. There is not usually room to do this in both inches & centimetres, as the MoS prefers. Always put height before width.
  • Collection or whereabouts (optional, as should be on image data), linked in most cases.

Note: some editors prefer "Title, Artist" to the other way round. This should be consistent within an article. A short explanatory caption is often desirable, showing why the picture has been included, if necessary at the expense of some of the more technical information. Bear in mind image size preferences when writing long captions - a long caption may look good at 300px, but not at 180px. If any of the above is known, but is not included in the image file details, then it should be added there.

[edit] Placing

In general, portraits and other strongly directional works should face into the page. Remember the issues described in the "size" section above when placing images; at some settings images may either create large white spaces or overlap at left and right, leaving a narrow strip of text in the centre.

It will often be better to place a work by the artist at the top of the article; this is especially the case for imaginary portraits of early artists, or photographs of more recent ones.

[edit] Available templates

[edit] Too many pictures, too little text?

Solutions:

a) Write some more text, doh!
b) Use a gallery
c) Link to specific works, either by a piped link in the text, or from a footnote. This is especially useful as the links can go to Commons or the web in general, although generally web links should be in the notes.

Try to avoid just stringing images down the side opposite white space (although some white space may occasionally be necessary at the end of a short article, depending on screen size and file settings).

[edit] Galleries

Articles which are galleries (i.e. a page of pictures) were once common, but are largely deprecated, being either deleted or having their contents moved to the Wikimedia Commons, which is an image repository for the use of all the different language wikipedias.

Galleries are often necessary within the body of a VA article. These galleries should relate clearly to the text, be proportionate to it and provide adequate information in the captions. Galleries are important, not just for decoration, but to reinforce and amplify the meaning of the article and to demonstrate meaning and nuance, which cannot be made by words alone.

A wikipedia article gallery should not just replicate a Commons gallery for the sake of it, but needs to use the images with editorial judgement, as with the text, with the validity of inclusion of each image considered.

A particular image may be better used as a stand-alone one in the body of the text, because:

  • It is an outstanding example of work
  • It is specifically referred to in the text
  • It demonstrates an aspect (e.g. a particular period or style feature) referred to in the text: make this clear in the image caption.

Small galleries can be inserted in the body of the text: this is useful for general topics, such as Western painting. In a single artist biography, it may be more appropriate to include one gallery at the end of the article, such as in Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Claude Monet has two galleries within the text, one for earlier and one for later works. Self-portrait has both section galleries and a general gallery at the end. Mostly a gallery will be arranged chronologically.

There are options in formatting galleries which make them appear wider, or alter the number of images in a row, but these can cause visibility problems with different screen resolutions and should normally be avoided.

[edit] Image rationales

Rationales should be added to the file for all Fair Use images used, detailing the reasons why the image is needed for each article in which it appears.

[edit] Uploading

Where possible upload to Commons, and remember to categorise as thoroughly as possible (not always easy there - look at comparable images and see what categories they are in. Images available for Fair Use only cannot be uploaded there however, which affects many 20th century images, and those of three-dimensional objects.

  • Before you upload an image of art, know the following:
    • The source of the image. Usually the URL from which you downloaded it.
    • Who is the artist(s)?
    • The name of the piece?
    • When was the piece completed?
    • What are its dimensions?
    • What is the medium (oil and canvas/marble/mixed media...)?
    • Where is it displayed?
    • Copyright status - Is it copyrighted? By whom? If it is copyrighted and not by yourself, prepare a fair use statement.
  • Upload the image.
    • Include all of the above information when uploading or add it to the image page after you've uploaded the file.
    • Using the {{Image information art}} template for the above information formats the data easily.
  • Add the image to an article.
  • Add {{commonscat}}, or {{commons}} in the External links section to provide a link to the commons gallery or article.

[edit] Image resources

  • Commons - very large, rather chaotic, and with very many washed-out old scans (from out-of-copyright books). Everything on Commons can be used without further worries.
  • Google Images - can be very good, especially for portraits etc.

[edit] Sources

[edit] References are essential

Many articles, particularly on contemporary artists, groups and "movements", are deleted for failing to demonstrate notability by providing viable references from secondary sources, independent of the subject—i.e. not just the subject's own website or postings on other web sites. There is a guide to wikipedia format at Referencing for beginners.

[edit] Useful external resources

Unfortunately, 19th century books available online are likely to be seriously out of date, and often contain serious errors, so should generally be avoided.

[edit] External resources for writing about art


[edit] Issues to discuss

[edit] Notes

[edit] Example image and caption

Enter:

[[Image:Francisco de Goya y Lucientes 054.jpg|thumb|[[Francisco Goya]], 
''Charles IV of Spain and His Family''. 1800-1801. 
280 × 336 cm. Oil on canvas. [[Museo del Prado]], [[Madrid]].]]

Result:

Francisco Goya, Charles IV of Spain and His Family. 1800-1801. 280 × 336 cm. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Francisco Goya, Charles IV of Spain and His Family. 1800-1801. 280 × 336 cm. Oil on canvas. Museo del Prado, Madrid.