The Principles of Design

Asymmetrical balance is when the objects on one side of the work seem to have approximately the same amount of weight as the objects on the other side.  Asymmetrical balance is also called "informal balance".

Symphony in White No. 2: The Little White Girl 

Symphony in White No. 2:  The Little White Girl,
by James McNeill Whistler, 1864, oil on canvas

James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) was an American-born, British-based artist. Whistler's art was characterized by a subtle delicacy.  The model in Symphony in White is Joanna Heffernan, Whistler's mistress.  As seen in Symphony in White, the artist places objects in the painting in a way that will allow objects to balance each other around a focal point, the woman.  Note the woman's left arm is extended horizontally following through her fingers to the vase on the fireplace mantle. Similarly, her right arm is extended vertically with her fingers coming to a point to the fan which she is holding.  The tips of both her fingers end at the point of an object, i.e. the fan and the vase, which are both similar in size and blue in color. Even though each side of the painting has different elements, it appears balanced. 

******

Emphasis is a principle of art which occurs any time an element of a work is given dominance by an artist.  In other words, the artist makes part of the work stand out, to draw the viewer's eye to a focal point. There are many ways to create a focal point, contrast; isolation; grouping, direction; and scale.  

The Third of May, 1808

The Third of May 1808, by Francisco de Goya, 1814, oil on canvas

Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) was a Spanish painter. de Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was a chronicler of his era. The Third of May 1808  is a good example of emphasis, as de Goya uses 1) contrast to give light to the focal point of the painting, which is the man dressed in white and yellow with his arms held up waiting to be executed (shown with a red arrow); 2) grouping of the men on the right to gain attention as they are clustered together (shown with a yellow arrow); and 3) direction by the vertical pointing of the bayonets which draw your attention to the focal point.  

******

Pattern or Repetition is a repetitive motif or design.  Rhythm is an effect achieved when shapes, colors or a regular pattern of any kind is repeated. 

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread, by Rene Magritte, 1942, oil on canvas

Rene Francis Ghislain Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist.  Magritte's early paintings were Impressionistic in style, but he become bored with the style and from 1918-1924 his paintings were influenced by Futurism. His illusionist dream-like quality is a characteristic of the artist's version of Surrealism.  Magritte was known for his witty and thought provoking images which challenged viewer's perceptions of reality. Our Daily Bread is a beautiful  surreal painting, the repetitive white clouds roll vertically to create the effect of rhythm.  The naked woman at the top of Our Daily Bread gives the illusion of walking down the clouds as if they are stairs from above. The clouds inside the rock formation in Our Daily Bread gives the illusion of a loaf of bread.  For Magritte, the final painting was not an end but rather was the means of formulating an awaited response so that objects could exist with maximum impact.  He gives a unique presentation of the world.  

******

Contrast is created when an artist uses elements that conflict with one another to add visual interest to the work of part, i.e. light and dark; thick and thin; big and small.  Contrast is used to make a painting more visually interesting.  Variety is the quality of having different forms or types of notable use of contract, emphasis, different sizes and colors. 

Still Life with Fruit Dish

Still Life with Fruit Dish, by Paul Cezanne, c. 1879-1880, oil on canvas

Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) was a French artist and Post Impressionist painter.  Cezanne's paintings are often repetitive, exploratory brushstrokes and clearly recognizable.  Cezanne had an intense study of his subjects.  In Still Life with Fruit Cezanne uses many design elements and principles to make a unified composition.  Cezanne uses 1) texture to smooth and rough areas of the work (as shown by white arrows); 2) shapes with various sizes of fruit in the painting (as shown by purple arrows); 3) pattern contract by the course brushstrokes on the wall and tablecloth; 4) edge contrast by having a hard edge where the table meets the wall and the soft edges of the tablecloth and fruit; 5) intensity in colors (as seen by the yellow arrows) using bright and dull or muted colors.  Still Life with Fruit is a beautiful representative painting. 

******

Visual Movement/Continuation is when the work causes your eye to find a path of movement (continuous flow) around the artwork, front one point to another. 

The Tub (Bathing Woman)

The Tub (Bathing Woman), by Edgar Degas, 1886
pastel on card

The Tub (Bathing Woman), by Edgar Degas, 1886
arrows added for emphasis

Edgar Degas(1834-1917) was a French Impressionist who became renowned as a stellar portraitist. His work frequently included the female body.  Degas was also an avid collector of art. In Degas' The Tub the line starts at the women's left out-stretched arm to where the round tub meets at the woman's hairline, the line continues where her fingers meet her hair and joins the vertical line of her back to the shelf where the brush handle overlaps.  The objects on the shelf barely touch and carry the eye from one object to the other. The Tub with its style perspective, and its plunging view, make this pastel one of the most audacious and accomplished of Degas' works on the modern theme of the woman in the bath.

******

Scale is the term used when an artwork has a physical size.  Scale is not only the size of the object, but the size of the object in relation to another object.  Proportion is the relationship between the parts of each other and to the whole work. 

David

David, by Michelangelo 1501-1504

marble sculpture

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni "Michelangelo" (1475-1564), was an Italian artist.  Michelangelo is regarded as the most famous artist of the Italian Renaissance.  Michelangelo took over the sculpture of David after two prior sculptors had attempted and abandoned the project.  Michelangelo turned the 17-foot marble piece in a dominating figure.  David represents the ideal portrayal of perfection in the human body. The proportions of the body are based on the ancient Greek mathematical system which defines perfection of the human body.  The scale David is overwhelming at over 13 feet tall and sits on top of a pedestal, which is taller than an average human, the sculpture stands high above its viewers.  This gives the sense of grandeur.  The sculpture is a representation of the story of David in the Bible, a shepherd boy who defeated the giant Goliath with one slingshot.  

Color, Light and Elements in Art

Chiaroscuro is the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting, also an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.

Saint Joseph the Carpenter

Saint Joseph the Carpenter by Georges de la Tour,
c. 1642, painting 137 x 102 cm

Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) was a French Baroque painter, who mostly painted religious chiaroscuro scenes lit by candlelight.  La Tour's education is unclear; however his entire family died of an epidemic in 1652. Saint Joseph the Carpenter is a magnificent painting. See the arrow to the left of the candle, the painting clearly depicts the light from the candle and the shadow the candle would portrays.  See also the child's brightly light face from the candle directly in front of her.  La Tour's uses various degrees of light and dark to complete the painting.   

******

Cross-Hatching is a technique used in drawing when two or more sets of parallel and overlapping lines, set at an angle to one another, in order to create a sense of three-dimensional drawing.

Nude Woman, Kneeling

Nude Woman, Kneeling by Michelangelo Buonarroti,
c. 1550, pen and brown ink with white wash on
brown paper, 2.7 x 15.3 cm

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) had a remarkable career as an artist.  His most famous works include statues of David and Pieta and the ceiling paintings in Rome's Sistine Chapel.  Nude Woman, Kneeling is a great example of cross-hatching as the layers of right-angles create a mesh-line pattern.  Michelangelo's use of cross-hatching creates tonal effects in Nude Woman, Kneeling by varying the spacing of lines and adding layers of lines.

******

A Primary Color Palette in Artwork is when the three primary colors are used, red; yellow; and blue.

New York City I

New York City I by Piet Mondrian, 1942
Oil on canvas, 119.3 x 114.2 cm

Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) was a Dutch painter. Mondrian first began his painting career in the representational form, favoring naturalistic and impressionistic landscapes. Mondrian's style was influenced by Picasso, which changed to his signature non-representational form.  New York City I, is a grid of the three primary colors, red; blue and yellow.  Even when the colors overlap they retain their true color and do not become secondary colors.  

******

Arbitrary Color is color that has no realistic or natural relation to the object that is being depicted, but that may have emotional or expressive meaning.  For example a purple dog or a pink cat.

The Bathroom

The Bathroom by Pierre Bonnard, 1932, Painting
oil on canvas, 47 5/8 x 46 1/2

Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) was a French painter. Bonnard studied law, he graduated and practiced law briefly, but after taking some art classes quickly decided to become an artist. Bonnard's intense use of color is evident in his paintings. The Bathroom is no exception, it has intense color, but the arbitrary use of color brings out something that maybe could not have been done using "normal" colors.  As shown by the arrows in The Bathroom, the dog is orange and the nude woman is purple and red hues.  Arbitrary color is used by artists to express a mood or a feeling. 

******

Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is applied very thick to an area on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture, the paint appears to be coming out of the canvas giving a three-dimensional effect.  If a painting is looked at from the side, globs of paint will be sticking out. 

Wheat Field with Cypresses

Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent Van Gogh, 1889
Painting, oil on canvas 

Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Dutch painter. Van Gogh did not start painting until his late 20's and died of a gunshot at the age of 37. Although his career was short, he a great influence on 20th century art. In Wheat Field with Cypresses Van Gogh uses impasto to his expressive lines to give weight to his colors, movement to the skies, bushes and trees, and adds emotion to the painting.  

******  

Optical Painting or "Op Art" is an art style where line and color are used in ways that stimulate the eye into believing it perceives movement. Op Art was popular in the 1960's. 

Current 

Current by Bridget Riley, 1964
emulsion on cardboard, 148 x 149 cm

Bridget Riley, born 1931 in London.  Riley is an English painter who is an exponent in Op Art.  Her work produces sensations of movements.  She is best known for her black and white paintings.  Riley's Current is a perfect example of Op Art.  A viewer gets the sense of movement from the painting  almost to a point of dizziness.  Riley, like Sol LeWitt, in many works has employed assistants to paint her pieces while she concentrates on the actual design of her work. 

Module 3: Vocabulary Words in Art

Seated Figure Sewing

Seated Figure Sewing by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (undated)
Drawing, ink on paper, The Phillips Collection

A contour line is the perceived line that marks the exterior edges of an object in space. A plain contour has a clean, connected line, no shading and emphasizes an open "shell" of the object.  In Henri Gaudier-Brzeska's Seated Figure Sewing (undated) a three-dimensional form can be seen using contour lines.  The contour lines in Seated Figure Sewing create the illusion of a body occupying space, the lines of the figure limit what the viewer sees in the drawing.  The lines within the drawing suggest a woman sitting on a blanket, bare footed, sewing.

Plain of Auvers

Plain of Auvers by Vincent van Gogh, 1890
Painting, oil on canvas

Expressive lines are loose and free lines. Vincent van Gogh's work is recognizable through his use of loose and free lines, which at times looks almost uncontrollable, but for van Gogh remains consistent.  Art was Van Gogh's means of personal, spiritual redemption, and his voluminous letters to his devoted brother Theo.  In Vincent van Gogh's Plain of Auvers van Gogh uses expressive lines to allow the viewer to follow the painting beautifully with swirls of brushstrokes from the grass of the plain to the clouds in the sky.  Vincent van Gogh's use of expressive lines are his personal signature and his use of color expressed his emotions.

Supper at Emmaus

Supper at Emmaus by Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio, 1601
Painting, oil and egg tempers on canvas

Foreshortening refers to the method of representing an object in a picture in depth to appear shorter than it actually is because it is angled toward the viewer. Foreshortening is an important element in art where visual perspective is being depicted and makes the view of the objects seem more natural when seen from above or below. Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio paintings combine a realistic observation of the human state, physically and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, Supper at Emmaus is a perfect example of foreshortening. see the hands of the gentleman on the right, they are the same size, there is no depth to the painting, but rather the whole painting touches the canvas.   

Maison Particuliere

Maison Particuliere by Theo van Doesburg, 1923
Architectural drawing

Axonometric projection is a technique that translates space in such a way that the changes or scale inevitable in linear prospective in which all lines remain parallel rather than preceding to a common vanishing point. Maison Particuliere is an axonometric drawing by Theo van Doesburg with assistance from Cornelius van Eeseren. The Maison Pariculiere project was one of the first designs featuring a minimal confinement of space. This drawing clearly shows that it removed any visible distinction between the building's front, side and rear elevations. 

What She Sees

What She Sees by Donald K. Sulton, 1995
Hologram and tar on tile over masonite

Positive/Negative space or shape is empty space, surrounded and shaped so that it acquires a sense of form or volume. Positive shapes occupy positive space. The area around positive shapes, the background, is negative space. Donald Sulton's What She Sees is an object surrounded by empty space, the viewer has nowhere else to look but at the point of interest, in this case an "eye". The viewer can fully appreciate the object without any distractions. With the proper use of negative space, the subject is isolated and placed in intense focus. Even the simplest and most ordinary objects can be fascinating when composed in this manner. For every positive space there is a negative space that surrounds it. 

Virtual space is a body of principles proposing a consistent and systematic understanding of the idea of virtual space, particularly with respect to its uses and occurrences in visual media, art, and architecture (http://virtualspacetheory.com/ Or Ettlinger, PhD.).  Virtual means digital. Mary Flanagan's From the Ranks, 2007 http://www.maryflanagan.com/from-the-ranks was the result from her playing an online video game called "America's Army", which was created by the US Army for recruiting purposes.  She used the basis of the video game for her work From the Ranks.  From the Ranks is a series of captured pictures and text to create a series of images reflecting the role of the military in everyday American culture. The work engages the viewer to the role of the military in everyday life.  See below additional work of Mary Flanagan's From the Ranks. 

Intro to Art #2

Form is the overall structure of the artwork.  Content is what the work of art expresses or means.

 

You're Fine  

You're Fine, Lorna Simpson, 1988, Four color Polaroid prints,
15 engraved plastic plaques, 21 ceramic pieces.

 

Lorna Simpson, is an American photographer, born in Brooklyn on August 13, 1960.  Her work explores gender, race, politically charged, and often has an emphasis on African American Women.  You're  Fine  depicts an African American woman lying on her right side, which could be an examination table.  To the left of the image is a list of various clinical terms used in a physical examination. To the right of the image are the words "Secretarial" and "Position".  My interpretation of form v. content is that is long as the woman stays healthy and remains lying there, she will have a job, and not being hired for her skills at all.  The model in You're Fine is carefully posed in a sexy manner, substituting symbol for incident. 

Representational art portrays natural objects in recognizable form.

Niagara

Niagara,by Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1869. Oil on paper.

Albert Bierstadt, (January 7, 1930-February 18, 1902)  is a German-American painter, who is well known for his paintings of landscapes. Bierstadt travelled long journeys to obtain the subjects of his paintings and was one of the first artists to record the sites. The Niagara, is a great example of representational art because it truly portrays the naturalistic form of the great Niagara Falls, including the slight rainbow, which is almost always seen over Niagara Falls due to the mist.

 

 

Abstraction is when art work less resembles real things in the real world.

 

                                                                    The Sun and the Moon

The Sun and the Moon, by Elizabeth Murray, 2005.  Oil on panel mounted on wood.
 

Elizabeth Murray (September 6, 1940-August 12, 2007) is an American painter.  The Sun and the Moon, is a great example of abstract art.  It's title does not represent the sun or the moon, but instead a mixtures of common shapes and many colors.  The Sun and the Moon, is ambiguous with opposing moods and references, i.e. anxiety, struggle.  The pink stick figure to the right has red stitches and is surrounded with cracked musical notes and among other images, a vague image of an orange cat.  It is noted that The Sun and the Moon, was created by the artist while recovering from brain surgery.

 

 

Nonrepresentational  art is when a piece does not refer to the natural or objective world at all. 

 

                                                                          White on White

White on White, by Kazimir Malevich, 1918. Oil on canvas.



Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935), was a Russian who was born in Ukraine. White on White, is nonrepresentational, with its stark white canvas and whiter square, it is not devoid of emotion.  The soft outline of the square makes the white of the canvas appear vast and empty.  White on White was known to be one of the most radical pieces of its day, without reference to reality.

An Icon is when an image is so big and powerful it becomes a symbol.

                                                                            Marilyn Monroe

Mariyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch",
by Sam Shaw  1954

Sam Shaw photographed Marilyn Monroe in the famous "flying skirt" image on the set of the movie "The Seven Year Itch" in New York City.  Marilyn Monroe is an icon.  Without words below a painting or photo of her name, Monroe is recognizable by all generations. Marilyn Monroe is American icon, a beautitul woman who unfortunately had a tragic ending. 

 

 

Iconoclast or Iconoclasm is the action of attacking, destruction or even rejecting cherished beliefs and institutions or established values and practices.

 

                                                                            White House

 

White House, by Ai Weiwei, 1999.

 

Ai Weiwei's White House is a perfect example of Iconoclasm.  The artist is standing in front of the White House, which is the residence of the United States President, with his middle finger extended upward toward the White House portraying his hatred for America's politics and challenging America's government. This photo is very straight foward and sends a very strong message by Weiwei.  

Roles of The Artist, Aesthetics and Kitsch

There are 4 Roles of the Artist, 1) new and innovative ways to see the world; 2) to create a visual record of a time or place; 3) making functional things more pleasant by giving them meaning and beauty; and 4) give form to immaterial feelings and ideas and spiritual belief.  Below is an example of each of the 4 roles.  

Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows. by Cai Guo-Qiang, 1998

In the Cai Guo-Qiang work entitled Borrowing Your Enemy's Arrows, gives a unique and innovative way to show the use of many arrows to make a boat.  I believe this is a metaphor for using your enemy's arrows to build a boat to escape from them. The sharp points of arrows do not point outward, as not used for a defense mechanism, but a way to escape.   I think that the use of the arrows is an innovative way to display art for the boat.

Fireman Chris. Rigoberto Torres, 1993

Rigoberto Torres sculptured the above of Fireman Chris. This is an exquisite plaster cast sculpture.  It is as if the Fireman is alive, the details are realistic. Fireman Chris was undoubtedly an acquaintance or a person known to Torres.

Coffin in the Shape of a Mercedes.  Kane Kwei 1984. Wood and Enamel

Kane Kwei is an artist that can make almost anything into a coffin.  He has the ability to make functional things more pleasant by giving them meaning and beauty.  Coffin in the Shape of a Mercedes above is a wonderful example of giving special beauty and meaning to a coffin.  

Christ Carrying the Cross, Jan van Eyck (undated)

Jan van Eyck's Christ Carrying the Cross, is a very moving painting.  Christ carrying the cross is very spiritual.  It gives you belief that the stories we have heard are true and add meaning.


Aesthetic Response to an artwork.  You may see a piece of art that is not beautiful to view, but it triggers deeper thoughts and meaning.

Ladder to Heaven, Yayoi Kusama 2002

I choose Kusama's Ladder to Heaven because aesthetically its does not appeal to me; however, the meaning of a ladder going to heaven really made me think about what Kusama was stating.  The work has no opening to enter heaven, it is just a ladder.  It is inviting because it is bright purple.  Is it as simple as climbing a ladder to enter heaven?

Kitsch is something that is over the top from the normal, something that makes you smile. Kitsch is something that usually may be gaudy or tacky.

The Hustler, Arthur Sarnoff

The Hustler by Arthur Sarnoff is a perfect example of kitsch.  It makes me laugh. The idea of dogs playing pool, smoking and a beer is funny.  The details of the painting are wonderful and its pleasing to the eye and funny for the soul.