Artbull Structure And Exposition

---
name: artbull-structure-and-exposition
description: Use when organizing an Art Bulletin article so the argument unfolds clearly and the figures are integrated at the right moments within the ~16,000-word limit including endnotes. Art-historical exposition must move the reader through the objects, not around them. Shapes structure; it does not write the prose or do the analysis.
---

# Structure & Exposition (artbull-structure-and-exposition)

A long art-historical article (up to **16,000 words including endnotes**) succeeds or fails on
**architecture**: the order in which the thesis, the looking, and the evidence reach the reader, and
where each figure appears. This skill organizes the piece; the sentence-level craft and citation live
in `artbull-writing-style-and-citation`.

## When to trigger

- Outlining the article or reordering a draft that "wanders"
- Deciding where each figure is introduced and discussed
- Cutting to fit ~16,000 words including endnotes
- A reviewer found the structure "hard to follow" or "front-loaded with description"

## Structuring the article

1. **Open with the problem and thesis.** Within the first pages the reader should know the work(s),
   the question, the stakes, and your claim — not a slow throat-clearing tour.
2. **Lead with the argument, not a catalogue.** Description serves the thesis; do not stack pages of
   formal description before the reader knows why it matters.
3. **Integrate figures where they are discussed.** Introduce each figure at the moment the prose needs
   it ("Figure 4"); the reader should never hunt for the image a sentence depends on.
4. **Sequence the evidence.** Build from the strongest looking and documents toward the interpretation;
   place comparanda where the comparison does its work.
5. **Manage the endnotes.** Endnotes carry the apparatus and count toward the 16,000-word cap — keep
   them substantive but disciplined; do not offload the argument into the notes.
6. **Close on the stakes.** End by showing what the argument changes for the field, not by summarizing
   what was just said.

## Length discipline

- Endnotes count toward the cap — bloated notes are a common overage.
- Each figure must earn its place; if a figure is never discussed, cut it (and its permission cost).
- Move genuinely peripheral material out rather than padding the main text.

## Anti-patterns

- A long descriptive overture before any argument
- Figures referenced far from where they are discussed, or never discussed at all
- Burying the contribution in the final paragraph
- The argument hidden in the endnotes
- Going over length because the notes ballooned

## Output format

```
【Spine】problem → thesis → looking → evidence → interpretation → stakes
【Figure placement】each figure introduced where discussed? [Y/N]
【Length】est. words incl. endnotes vs ~16,000 cap
【Notes discipline】apparatus in notes, argument in text? [Y/N]
【Cuts】what moves out / is dropped to fit
【Next】artbull-writing-style-and-citation
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — manuscript and reference tooling
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — article length (incl. endnotes) and figure conventions