Transcript:

These lectures are designed to give you an overview of what is included in the chapter, and to give you some clues of what to look for as you read.  Your success of course, will depend upon whether you READ that chapter.

Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, the Elements and Principles of Design

These two chapters will give you the terminology that’s used when discussing works of art. These two chapters are the foundation for ALL of the ones that follow. I will have the expectation that you’ll be able to discuss the art in your assignments with these terms that will explain what makes it “work” for you. Just saying “Well, I don’t know much about art, but I like it” will not be enough after these chapters.  So that’s a head’s up to pay attention and practice using the terminology as you look at these pieces of art.

This is the LANGUAGE of art.

First the elements which make up the artwork’s visual impact.

With Klee’s painting “Landscape with Yellow Birds” we see an artwork that has subject matter (birds and such) but can show you every one of the elements we’re going to see later: Line, shape, mass, space, time, motion, light, color and texture.  Don’t worry, you’ll learn them soon enough!

Line is the most basic element of all the elements of design. It is the tool of all artists to create initial ideas, yet it stands on its own in this photograph by Ansel Adams. If you stop LOOKING at the jet trails and rail lines, and just SEE the lines in this image, you’ll know how important line can be to an artist.

Line can have an energy, or character, depending upon how it is used, and can create a response in the viewer. Refer to this image in your book for different line energies.

In “Current”, we cannot focus on any one point of the image, the artist has created tremendous energy with the lines in this painting.

Many artists are famous for their lines, or linear work. Jackson Pollock and Alexander Calder created paintings and sculptures that are dependent upon line to work.

Japanese woodblock prints use a linear quality to create feelings of gracefulness, as in the left image, or speed and action as in the angular lines in the right image.

Marc Chagall’s painting uses implied line—when there are eyes looking, for example, there is a line connecting them even when it is not drawn. Can you see the implied line?  Chagall also used the design element of shape in painting the interconnecting circles and triangles to unify the painting. I had the pleasure of seeing the original painting last year in New York City. It is huge and I’m dwarfed by its presence. The book’s image is nice, but NOTHING like seeing it in person.

Shape can also be implied, as seen in these images.

Those of you familiar with M. C. Escher’s work will now understand that his SHAPE relationships are what make his art so fascinating!

Mass is thought of as the weight, or presence of an artwork. Found most easily in three-dimensional sculpture, it conveys power and presence. By contrast, Giacometti’s Man Pointing is more linear than massive. Henry Moore made his career out of massive human sculptures. And Picasso creates the illusion of mass in two dimensions on paper.

Space, which is an illusion for flat art such as drawings and paintings, is thought of in three major ways--linear, overlapping and atmospheric.

In three dimensions, we actually have to experience it by being there, and these photographs do not do that for us. Architects are always dealing with space in their designs.

The Egyptians didn’t know about space in their paintings—everything is laid out as on a table in this image of a garden with a pond, with no feeling of depth.  Children draw this way, too.

We get some clues to depth with these drawings of overlapping shapes, vertical placement, and diminishing size. Combining these aspects gives us the feeling of depth in two dimensions when we put them on the subjects, such as…

…these Six Persimmons.  The placement on the paper is important, as that upper space is an integral part of the design. Space-–the illusion that these fellows are sitting “down front” near us.

Linear perspective is the geometry of the illusion of depth in two dimensions.  Read about it in the book—it’s quite interesting, and when we apply it in analyzing fine art, the results are enlightening.  How important are the central figures when the geometry of the space is removed?

Atmospheric perspective is the artist’s tool to give you the illusion of deep space by lightening and losing detail as the distance increases. We’re so used to it, that we don’t even see it in those distant mountains around us as we drive home.

Time in western cultures is seen as linear, as the timeline of the road in this 15th century painting. Same figure at three places in time. The Aztecs and other non-western cultures saw time as circular, and never-ending.

Artists bring time into their work by bringing together pieces of history and distant places into one location. This high school creates it’s own continuum by having each graduating class add another glass block containing a piece of history to the building.

Artists use motion in their works as well. In “Dancing Krishna” we see a frozen motion—a stopped moment in time.

Eakins’ photograph series clearly shows the motion of a man’s pole vault, and …

…Balla’s “Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash” conveys the motions of frenetic movement of dog, chain and owner in a humorous way.

The Palm Springs Museum houses one of Calder’s mobiles, and I hope you can make a visit to that museum. Calder’s mobiles capture motion and time, and some are huge!

The lightness or darkness of something is referred to as its “value”. When the sculpture of Lincoln was created in the studio, it looked like the image on the right, lit from above. When it was installed in the Lincoln Memorial, the reflection of the white marble created the leftmost image of startled surprise. The government had to install artificial lighting to restore the sculpture’s intended solemn appearance.

Artists give the illusion of light by making darker areas in their compositions. This creates the illusion of mass or three dimensions in two.

Of all the elements, Color is perhaps the most powerful. As artists we have to deal with the visible spectrum and pigments to convey emotion, mood and action.

The color wheel is the spectrum spun into a circle, showing the relationships of the colors to one another. Please read what your book says about it.

We deal with pigment colors, called subtractive color, and the color of actual light, called additive color. Additive colors are more intense when mixed, and subtractive pigments are more dull and gray when mixed.  Please read the additional pages on the color schemes that artists use.

Oppenheim’s deerskin covered teacup is a great introduction to the element of texture in art—it is so out of place here that the viewer cannot miss it! We have two types of texture available to artists, one, like the teacup is actual or REAL texture.

Vincent Van Gogh was famous for his paintings with real textured paint on them.

Then we have “implied texture” as shown in this detail image of “The ARnolfini Portrait” painted in 1434. So real, you could pick up the objects!

Those were the elements of design. And now we move to the principles of design. Humans seek meaningful order, and design elements are words we can use to talk about art. Knowing these principles can help us to define what it is that makes experiencing art so meaningful. We can understand why it affects us.

In no particular order, here’s the first one: Unity and Variety. In Lawrence’s painting, we see the repetition of lines, shapes and colors (elements of design!) repeated with variety.

The unity of Giacometti’s sculpture is achieved by the similar light weight of the parts. It has symetrical balance, too!

Balance is either symmetrical, like the White House shown here. Symmetry is used in places of power and strength. See it in churches, palaces and other places of authority.

Asymmetrical balance is when the two sides of an artwork are not the same. Balance is achieved through the use of the elements in various ways. Please read this most interesting section on how artists use the elements of design to create balance in asymmetrical art.

Directional forces are powerful in art. In Goya’s drawing, there are pathways of direction to carry us into and through this dramatic moment.

Contrast is when we make elements different to enhance the work. This Islamic bowl shows contract of color, shapes and value. It does NOT show contrast of line, since all the lines are very similar.

Repetition and Rhythm are principles that help unify art. Raphael’s painting is FULL of circular lines and shapes. Do you see them? Even the painting is a circle!

By repeating an element, we get a rhythm not unlike a picket fence.

Diego Rivera’s painting has a lot of repetition of shapes in the hats, clothing and heads creating a rhythm of people moving.

Scale is the relationship of something to its surroundings. In this example, the size of the center does not change, but its relationship to the other circles does!

Claus Oldenburg uses scale as a major principle in his sculptures.

Proportion is the relationship of a part to the whole. This is evident in these two pietas. If the people stood up in the one on the left, they would be in scale to each other—normal, in other words. If the two people on the right in Michelangelo’s famous Pieta stood up, Mary would be over eight feet tall. Michaelangelo used distorted scale to create a sense of strength and power to his work.

Now, design is not set in stone. Fortunately we have a record of Matisse working on this large painting in the mid-1930s. He went through many major revisions before he was satisfied with it—over 20 images recorded its progress.

This ends the lecture on Chapters 3 and 4.