UNDERSTANDING WORKS OF ART

Submitted by Nan Pendarvis

 

YOU DON’T NEED AN EDUCATION TO LIKE ART.  BUT, YOU DO NEED AN EDUCATION TO UNDERSTAND IT Earnest Goldstein

 

ROLES OF THE ARTIST

 

ROLES OF THE VIEWER

TYPES OF ARTWORK
 

There are basically two types of artwork.  They are as follows

 

ARTISTIC STYLES AS THEY RELATE TO THE NATURAL WORLD
 

Representational - Closely resembles the natural world.  Sometimes it duplicates it so closely that it "fools the eye".  This is known as Trompe L'oiel (French for fool the eye).

Abstract - Makes reference to the natural world but does not duplicate it.  It is a distortion or a transformation.

Non-representational - Makes no reference to the natural world.  It is pure line, shape, form, color, texture, etc.

 

ARTISTIC STYLIZATION
 

Artistic stylization is defined at the constant, recurring traits or distinguishing characteristics that mark or identify an individual, movement/group or period in art. Examples are as follows:

Individual: Vincent Van Gogh used heavy impasto technique, broad brush strokes that
 created a linear emphasis, and the dominate color of yellow.

Movement/Group: A Movement in art is a small group of artists that decide to approach the making of art in the same manner.  Usually, a movement in art lasts approximately 2 - 10 years.  The Fauvist used simplified forms and bright/intense colors.

Period:  A Period in art usually last for decades if not centuries.  It is highly influenced by the culture. In the Greek Archaic period artists created sculptures with rigid bodies where the arms and hands were depicted close to the body, stylized hair that appeared more like a headdress or wig and rendered the face with a quirky smile.

 

CONTENT VS FORM 

 

There are basically two components that work together to comprise a work of art.  They are known as "content" and "form". 

CONTENT

Content refers to the artist idea or what he wants to convey or communicate.  It consists of the subject matter or theme and the intent or purpose.  For example: If an artist wanted to communicate a sense of tranquility, inspiration, or elation he might use the subject matter of nature, depicting a scene of majestic mountain peaks rising above a picturesque valley below as the vehicle for such an intent. Conversely, if an artist wanted to communicate his negative feelings or concerns of the devastating effects of manmade pollution on the environment, he may use the subject matter of genre or everyday life, depicting a scene of exhaust fumes permeating the atmosphere during rush hour traffic on a freeway.  Literally, content refers to "what" the artist wants to say and "why" he wants to say it.

There are ten (10) broad subject matters that most works of art can be identified with.  They are as follows:

There are five (5) broad intents of an artist.  They are as follows:

 

 

ICONOGRAPHY

 

Universally recognized symbols that help to tell the story in a work of art.  Iconography is associated with content in that it directly relates to the artist's subject matter and overall intent. Example:  The cross is a symbol of Christ in the Christian religion, the lotus flower is the symbol of rebirth in the Buddhist and Hindu religions, or Martin Luther King is associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

 

FORM

 

Form is the physical manifestation or tangible evidence of the artist idea.  It includes the materials used, the process, and the artistic stylization or design. Literally, form refers to "how" the artist manifested his idea.

 In order for a work of art to be successful form must enhance and support the content.

In order to create, describe, analyze, interpret or judge the form one must develop a thorough understanding and comprehension of the Principles and Elements of Design.

 

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

 

The organizational guidelines used to arrange the parts (elements of design) in such a way as to create a unified, harmonious whole are known as the Principles of Design. This harmonious whole is known as the "composition". The basic methods used in organizing the elements are balance, unity, emphasis, direction and rhythm.

BALANCE: Balance is an overall feeling of equality in weight, attention, or attraction of the various visual elements within a work of art.  Being symmetrical creatures, human beings naturally desire balance outside themselves as well.  All art must deal with the concept of visual weight, whereby the two sides of any given composition must balance each other into a leveling state.

Symmetrical Balance – If you were to dissect a composition in half on its vertical axis both halves would correspond to one another in size, shape and placement.  Sometimes, they are very much like a mirror image of one another.  Symmetrical balance can be created by the following:

Placing the exact size and value shapes or forms in the same locations on both sides of the composition.
Placing a shape or form in the center of the composition in a full frontal position or full reversal position.  Ex.  The human figure placed in the center of the format, and facing the viewer in a standing or seated position.

Asymmetrical Balance – If you were to dissect a composition in half on its vertical axis both halves of the composition do not match with regard to object size, shape or placement but the weights of the objects on one side visually equal the weights of the objects on the other side.  This can be created by size relationships or value relationships.  Asymmetrical balance can be created by the following:

Placing shapes or forms of different size and value in both halves of the composition so that they will still equal each other in visual weight.  Example: One large object on one half of the composition could equal two or three smaller objects on the other half of the composition.  Or, two lighter valued large objects could equal one small darker valued object because dark values always appear heavier in weight than light values.

Radial Balance – Elements radiate out from a central, balanced point.

UNITY/VARIETY:  Refers to all the parts (elements) working together to achieve a unified feeling or a sense of oneness or completeness within a work of art.  But, at the same time there has to be a certain amount of variety so that the composition will catch and hold the viewer's attention. This can by created by the following:

Dominance and subordination – Using a dominant element or image and supporting it with the other elements. Example:  Using an overall dominant color of red and smaller amounts of other colors.

            Repetition – Repeating a specific element or motif to create unity, such as line,
            shape, or form, but, varying its size, width, or decorative quality to create
            variety

            Surface Quality – Creating a stylized surface quality throughout the work of art

Artistic Style – Rendering images or objects with similar stylistic characteristics. Example:  Elongating all shapes and forms or outlining all shapes and forms with bold lines.

EMPHASIS: Making a certain object or area within the composition the center of interest or “focal point”.  This can be created by the following:

DIRECTION: Relates to how an artist directs the viewer's eye throughout the piece of artwork.  A successful piece will have an entry into it and through the placement and utilization of the specific elements the viewer's eye will travel from one object to another.  This can be created by the following:

Using an actual line such as a curving thick black line to direct the view's eye throughout the work
Using an implied line such as a pointing finger or directional glance to lead or direct the viewer’s eye
Using an implied line created by the placement of  a specific color or shape in a row

RHYTHM: A type of implied movement in the work of art.  This can be created by the following:

Repeating a specific type of element that conveys movement such as a swirling line, jagged line or the repetition of shifting lines.  Line is the main element used to create rhythm. 

 

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

 

All two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art, no matter what style, have eight fundamental things in common.  Those things or elements are line, shape, form, value, color, space, proportion/scale and texture.  The success of a work of art depends on how well these elements are combined, arranged and working together to create a unified whole or “composition”.  The following are simple definitions of these basic art terms.

LINE

A line is the path between two points, that is, a mark made by a tool or an instrument as it is drawn across a surface or an implied path that is literally created in the viewer’s mind.

Line Type

 

Actual Line – Line, which is physically present within a work of art.  Actual lines can be thick, thin, horizontal, vertical, diagonal, angular, curving, plunging, soaring, or broken.

Implied Line – Line that is not physically present.  It is manifested in the eyes and mind of the viewer.  The following can create implied lines:

-  an edge of a sculpture
            -  a meeting of two areas where textural or color differences do not blend
-  a contour as it defines a drawn shape
-  a perceived directional device such as a pointing finger or a directional glance

Line Expression

Line can be used to convey particular emotions such as love, hate, harmony, anger, joy, sadness, peace, conflict, safety, fear, excitement or anxiety.  Example: Usually, curvilinear, soaring lines denote positive emotional content and angular, rigid and plunging lines denote negative emotional content.

Line Function –  Also see Principles of Design

To create balance by the use of actual or implied lines that serve to stabilize a composition (example: straight vertical lines perpendicular to horizontal lines)
To create rhythm by the use of particular types of line that denote a sense of motion (example: curved lines denote a flowing motion)
To create direction by the use of implied or actual lines that direct the viewer's eye around or through the work of art
To create emphasis by directing the viewer's eye to a specific object or area in a work of art

 SHAPE: Shapes are defined as areas with identifiable boundaries, which can be created by lines, colors or contrasting textures.  Shapes can also be considered positive and negative.  A positive shape is the enclosed area that represents the initial selection of shapes planned by the artist.  They can be representational, abstract or non-representational.  Negative shapes are the areas left over after the positive shapes have been rendered.  However, because these areas have boundaries they also function as shapes in the total pictorial structure.

Geometric Shapes: Geometric shapes are created by the exact mathematical laws of geometry. There are four basic geometric shapes in art, the sphere or circle, the cube or square, the cone or triangle, and the cylinder.  Infinite variations and combinations of these may be found in two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of art.  Try to look for these shapes within a work of art.

Organic Shapes: Organic shapes are based on forms that appear in nature.  They are usually rounded, irregular and curving.

 Shape Expression

Shape can be used to convey particular emotions such as love, hate, harmony, anger, joy, sadness, peace, conflict, safety, fear, excitement or anxiety. Example:  Usually, organic shapes denote high emotional content as well as a sense of energy and drama and geometric shapes denote a calm and stability.

Shape Function – Also see Principles of Design

FORM: Form is a three-dimensional shape that has physical mass, volume and density as seen in a sculpture or it can appear as an illusion of shape with mass and density created on a two-dimensional surface by modeling techniques. Volume also relates to form in that it is the space within the form that mass and density occupies.  Volume can also refer to a void or enclosed empty space such as the space found within an empty building.

Form Function – Also see Principles of Design

COLOR: A phenomenon of light and human visual perception.  What we call light is the part of the electromagnetic field that is visible to the human eye.  What things we identify as being red, blue or green are not innately these colors but what we perceive as such.  In actual reality, it is the particular wavelength of light that is being reflected from that surface.  In other words when you view a red apple all wavelengths of visible light hitting that surface are being absorbed except red; it is being reflected.  The three basic properties of color are hue, value and intensity.

Hue - Hue is simply the property of color that distinguishes it from another, its name.  There are 12 hues of color, broken down into three levels:

PRIMARY HUES: Yellow, blue and red

SECONDARY HUES: Created by mixing two primary hues together.  Green = yellow + blue, orange = yellow + red, and violet = red + blue.

TERTIARY/INTERMEDIATE HUES: Created by mixing a secondary hue and a primary hue together: Yellow-orange, yellow-green, red-orange, blue-green, and blue-violet.

NEUTRALS:  Also known as achromatic - black, white and grays represent the absence of color.  In pigment colors white represents all light being reflected and black represents all light being absorbed.  Neutrals are colors that have been reduced in intensity to a level where no distinct hue is identifiable.

TINT: Created by adding white to a hue.

SHADE: Created by adding black to a hue

Value - The reflective quality of the color or its relative lightness or darkness.  Sometimes the artist will use color value in such a way as to define and model the form.  This is known as “chiarscuro”, which means defining and modeling the form through subtle value changes.

Intensity - The relative degree of dullness or brightness of a color, refers to the degree of purity.  Sometimes this is called chroma referring to the degree of pure pigment saturation). The purer the color pigment the less diluted with black, white or some other substance.

Intrinsic Color Quality, Color Relationship and Simultaneous Contrast - All colors possess certain intrinsic qualities that cause the viewer to perceive them in a specific way.  Warm colors (yellow, yellow-green, yellow-orange, orange, red orange, red and red violet) will seem to come forward in space and appear larger in size where cool colors (green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet and violet) will seem to recede in space and appear smaller in size.  Consequently, all colors affect one another when placed side by side or one on top of the other.   For example: If you place the exact same red colored object on a yellow background it will appear duller, smaller and to recede.  But, if you place it on a green background the object will appear brighter, larger and to advance.  This is because opposite colors will create the greatest degree of contrast. This tendency for opposite or complementary colors to appear brighter, more intensified or change in size when in close proximity to one another is known as the concept of "Simultaneous Contrast". 

Color Schemes - There are six basic color schemes that artist may choose to utilize in a work of art.

Monochromatic - When one color is used throughout the entire piece with value and/or intensity changes applied to it in varying degrees.

Analogous - The use of three or four neighboring colors on the color wheel, usually sharing one color in common, i.e., yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green.

Complementary - The use of two colors opposite each other on the color wheel, i.e., yellow and violet, red and green, blue and orange, etc.

Split Complementary - The use of a color and two colors that are on either side of that color's complement.  Example:  Blue, yellow-orange and red-orange.

Double Complementary - The use of two neighboring colors on the color wheel and their opposites, i.e., red, red-orange, green, blue-green.

Triad - The use of colors that are equidistant from each other on the color wheel, i.e., red, yellow, blue or orange, green, violet.

NOTE:  Often artists will employ the use of a color harmony known as a “limited palette”.  It is comprised of three or four colors used throughout the composition with one of the colors being more dominant. This is not considered a true color scheme but does effectively create unity.

Color Expression - This refers to the emotional quality of color.  The two terms used to designate this are as follows:

Objective/Local Color - Color of an object as it is perceive in its natural state.

Subjective Color - Color of an object that is not natural or realistic, i.e., blue trees, green sky, red water, etc.  This is used to convey a particular emotional content.

Color Function – Also see Principles of Design

VALUE: Although closely related to the element of color as one of its properties, value is also considered an element of design due to its vital role in defining form and creating the illusion of space in a two-dimensional art form. As stated earlier, value refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color or it’s reflective quality. This element plays a role in our perception of light and color.  High value contrast can define and illuminate form; low value contrast can dissolve it.  Literally, there could be no form without value contrast. The way light touches or shines on a particular object can alter the viewer’s perception of that object.

Value Function – Also see Principles of Design

SPACE:  The area in which objects exist and are presented in relationship to position and direction. The interval or measurable distance between pre-established points or objects. Space can be described as "positive" and "negative". Positive spaces are the enclosed shapes or representative objects in a picture as opposed to the spaces that surround them. Negative space refers to the empty space left over after the artist has treated the positive spaces.

When trying to create the illusion of depth on a flat surface there are four main design mechanisms utilized: Linear Perspective, atmospheric perspective, overlapping and positioning.  In almost all cases the artist will employ a combination of one or more.

Linear Perspective - A design mechanism whereby parallel lines converge into             one single point on an imaginary horizon line (vanishing point) creating the             illusion of depth on a 2-D flat surface such as a picture plane.  In conjunction
with the converging parallel lines the size of objects will diminish in
mathematically proportionate increments as you move further back into the
picture plane.

Atmospheric Perspective - A design mechanism that renders objects and environments in the background of the picture plane lighter in value and fuzzy or blurred in appearance to give the illusion of depth.

Overlapping - Placing one object directly in front of the other to convey the             illusion of space.

Positioning - Placing an objects further up on the picture plane to convey the illusion of space.    

Space Function – Also see Principles of Design

PROPORTION/SCALE: Proportion and scale both deal with size.  Proportion specifically deals with size relationships between the parts of a whole and scale deals specifically with size as it is compared to what it considered “normal”.

Proportion/Scale Functions – See Principles of Design

            Actual – Texture that is physically present.  It feels the way it looks.
            Simulated – A representation of an actual texture that does not feel the way it
            looks.
            Invented – Two-dimensional patterns that are freely created by the artist.

Texture Function – Also see Principles of Design

 

 

PROCESSES IN ART
 

Photography:

Photography is considered a fine art because it is a process that can be manipulated by the artist in the following ways:

 

developing process

 

The photographer is considered the artist in the following ways:

 

Film:

Film is defined as pictures in motion.  That is why it is referred to as the “motion picture industry”.

Film is similar to traditional visual art (T.V.A.) in that it utilizes all the same principles and elements of design plus two added elements of time and motion.

Film is different than T.V.A. in the following ways:

GRAPHIC DESIGN:

The visual presentation of information as it is embodied in words and/or images.

Graphic design is similar to traditional visual art (T.V.A.) in that it utilizes all the same principles and elements of design.

Graphic design is different than T.V.A. in the following ways:

Fine Art Crafts:

Fine Art Crafts are defined as works of art that usually serve a utilitarian purpose such as it’s a chair you can sit in it or a bed you can sleep in it. 

The five Fine Art Crafts are:

Ceramics
Glass
Wood
Metal
Fiber