UMB Art of The Twentieth Century Art as A Form of Expression Research Literacy

I’m working on a art writing question and need a sample draft to help me understand better.

Choose one of the following paper topics and write an essay of 1200-1500 words (12 pt. double-spaced, not courier, times new roman) in length. This is a research paper, which means you must gather your information from sources beyond the readings assigned for the course – though you may use those as well.

Your paper should use at least three outside sources. (Use your judgment in evaluating the authority of your sources – Wikipedia, for example, is not reliable for this purpose—though could be OK to get a start on the material). Webpages created by museums or libraries (e.g. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/), databases like JSTOR can all yield useful sources (see https://www.umb.edu/library/journals), or SmartHistory (https://smarthistory.org/). Periodicals like Artforum, Art in America, Hyerallergic, e-flux, New York Times, Boston Globe, or The New Yorker might also be consulted.

You should also provide illustrations of the work(s) of art/ institutions/ webpages that you discuss or use as relevant comparisons. Make sure you label these with artist, title, date (or institution, section–in case of web content).

Every paper should have a coherent thesis statement that is the result of your own thoughts, and not someone else’s.

Every paper must include Chicago-stylefootnotes orendnotes. See this site for a reference about how to format: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html

Paper Topic- Create a paper looking at the current role of monuments, memorials, and/or public art. Select a particular monument or monuments (no more than two) or public artworks (e.g. sculpture, graffiti, murals, etc) made between c.1865 and the present. Though your argument should be specific and employ some formal analysis, you might also consider some of the following questions: How do monuments relate to memory? How do monuments represent history? Do monuments teach about history? Whose history is being represented? Whose interests are served by the works? How does public art relate to the location it is in (site specificity)? Is public art a democratic form of expression? You might think about contemporary debates (https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200612-black-lives-matter-protests-why-are-statues-so-powerful or https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/26/statue-wars-what-should-we-do-with-troublesome-monuments)