XXXXXXThe Credit Line


















 
The Credit Line is a set of informational facts usually found below or beside a picture of a work of art. Should the picture appear in a book, magazine, poster, or even on the Internet, it will usually have a Credit Line. When looking at a work of art, the Credit Line contains some very useful information helping to provide you, the art critic, with clues about the work. Let's take a look at the information made available through the Credit Line and let's see just how you can use it.

1- Henri Rousseau (French) 1844-1910
2- Surprise!, 1891
3- Oil on canvas XX51 1/8 x 63 3/4 in.
4- National Gallery, London
1-The Name of the artist, His or her nationality, and Date of birth (and death)
This is very important information. For one thing, it states who did the work of art. Sometimes you may see Unknown Artist. This is very common with ancient works of art or folk art. It means that the work was never signed, or the name wore away, or that there was no reason to sign the work. In the case of the painting above, Henri Rousseau is the artist. He was born in France in 1844. He died in 1910.
What can we deduce from this information?
We know that the artist was a male. He was born in the middle of the 1800's. He was born in France which is a country in Europe. Now think of what information you may already know about males born in Europe during the middle of the 1800's? This time period was before electricity, before cars, before airplanes. He lived to see all of these inventions come into being. He experienced the Industrial Revolution. He was alive during the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, the Paris Commune and the American Civil War. He probably saw the Eiffel Tower completed in 1889 and the construction of the Suez canal. Africa was being explored, and exploited. He knew of the first exhibition of Impressionist painting in 1876. Millions die in the years of drought throughout Asia. England controls India. All of this second hand information sometimes helps you to understand a work of art by understanding the time period the artist lived in and what events may have affected his or her life.
2- The name of the artwork and the year (or years) it was made.
Sometimes the title can give clues as to the meaning of the artwork. Be aware that sometimes the titles give you no clues at all. The title of our sample work is "Surprise!". Often the title is italicized to make it more recognizable as a title. Some works are simply listed as "untitled". This means that no evident title was given to the work by the artist, though some artists intentionally do not title their work. This painting was created in 1891. Occasionally you may see a "c." before a date. That means circa, or "around the time of".
What can we deduce from this information?
If you look at the painting very carefully, you will see a crouching tiger hidden behind the foliage. Apparently, whatever he is stalking is unaware of the approaching danger. Here again, keeping in mind the year that this was painted, what world events may have provided the information about this painting? Can you guess it was the colonization of India by England. Imagine the tales of this exotic place being printed in the newspapers of the day.
3- The medium (or material used to create this work) and the size of the piece.
The credit line tells you that this is an oil painting on canvas. It also gives you the dimensions of the finished piece. Why is this so important? If you are looking at a picture of an artwork in a book, the picture may be printed at 3 inches by 4 inches. This is not the actual size of the piece, but it does fit nicely in a book or on a website at 3 x 4 ". The dimensions give you a sense of the actual size. Often art students are surprised by the actual size of certain pieces.
4- Usually the last piece of information will tell you where this work can be viewed, or who owns it. Sometimes works are "on loan" from other museums or from private collections.
If you wanted to go and see this work, you could look at the credit line and get this information. Sometimes artworks are owned by private collectors. This would make them unavailable to public viewing.
 

Discovering Credit Lines Clues (Print and Complete)