Abigail C. answered • 10/12/19
Experienced Japanese and Fine Arts Tutor
Contextualism, in many ways, is considered the opposite of Formalism.
Formalism: when you objectively view and judge a piece of artwork at its face value. You evaluate a work based purely on what it's made of and what you're seeing. Think of this as the analysis of the physical and compositional elements of a piece of work.
Contextualism: when you evaluate the meaning, or message, behind a certain piece of work with a specific perspective. Contextualism is usually highly subjective, and it incorporates your knowledge of the artist, the era it was made, any associated artistic movements, and a reason why the piece might have been created. This approach to criticizing and discussing art has many ties with philosophy, so you may come across articles that argue the significance of a piece is arbitrary without regard for background circumstances for a piece's conception. Think of this as the analysis of the underlying message and purpose for a work.
Hope this helps!
