How to Talk About Art

LANGUAGE of ART

I. Formal Analysis

II. Contextual Analysis

III. Subjective Analysis

I. FORMAL ANALYSIS

A. Elements and Principles of Design

B. Medium/Media

A. Elements of Design

1. Line

2. Shape

3. Form

4. Space

5. Color

6. Texture

7. Time

LINE

LINE starts as a POINT. A line is the mark made by a medium between two different points. It is also the edge created when two shapes meet. Lines imply direction, by moving the pen to make a mark or moving the eye to see the lines.

Medium refers to the type of material used in an artwork, for example pencil, paint, ink, etc.

Classical

LINE has different qualities It can be expressive, dramatic, romantic, curvy and dynamic or it can be geometric, static, classical, implied, crisp and straight. It can divide and connect, be thick, thin, long or smooth.

Autographic

Implied

Contour

Eugene Delacroix is known for his expressive line and his work follows the Romantic style.

Jacques Louis-David is a founder of the Neo-classical style, thus his line is classical and geometric

Hung Liu, Three Fujins. 1995

Hung Liu was trained as a painter in Communist China under Chairman Mao’s regime. She relocated to Oakland and continues to develop her painting style with a greater sense of artistic freedom. What do you notice about the different kinds of line in this painting?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV8e43K2zCI

SHAPESHAPE is a self-contained, 2-dimensional area of geometric or biomorphic (organic) form. SHAPE is indicated by an OUTLINE. It is flat.

FORMFORM is a solid that occupies a 3-dimensional volume. It is measured in width, height, and depth. SHAPE becomes FORM when you add depth: circle to sphere, square to cube, etc.

Positive Shape

Negative Shape

Rubin Vase

We call the base layer or background of a painting the ground. The ground is known as the negative shape while the figure over the ground is known as a positive shape. The Rubin vase plays with our perception with a reversal of the figure-ground relationship.

Kara Walker, Exodus of Confederates from Atlanta, 2005. Lithography and silkscreen on paper.

Biomorphic Geometric

SHAPE

SPACE SPACE is what contains FORM. It can be actual and 3-dimensional as it is with sculpture, installation and architecture.

On the flat, 2-dimensional surface of a canvas (the picture plane), space is called pictorial depth, or spatial recession. Techniques of conveying a sense of pictorial depth is done through illusion by using various systems of PERSPECTIVE.

LINEAR PERSPECTIVE is a mathematically accurate system of drawing lines in such a way to represent parallel lines receding to a single point, or two points, on the viewers’ horizon, called the vanishing point. It was developed during the Renaissance.

One-point linear perspective

Two-point linear perspective

SPACE can be described as being flat, having depth, having linear perspective, and atmospheric perspective. LIGHT, COLOR, VALUE and PERSPECTIVE are elements used to define the illusion of SPACE.

FLAT PERSPECTIVE

COLORCOLOR has several attributes and these are HUE, VALUE and SATURATION.

HUE = COLOR: they mean the same thing. COLOR is described in reference to its HUE found on the color wheel.

VALUE is the degree of lightness or darkness of the HUE/COLOR. It is created by the amount of light reflected from an object’s surface.

SATURATION or intensity is a color’s quality of brightness or dullness. High saturation is vivid and pure, low saturation looks muddy or grayed.

Blue in a range of values

ACHROMATIC = NO COLORCOMPLEMENTARY

ARBITRARY COLOR

LOCAL COLOR

POLYCHROMATIC = MANY COLORS

COLOR and VALUE are used to give depth for spatial recession.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Madonna on the Rocks demonstrates atmospheric perspective with the rocks in the background (higher up on the picture plane) looking hazy and bluish-gray. Through ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE, objects in the far distance have less clarity than closer objects and the sky becomes paler on the horizon.

A great range of VALUE adds drama to the artwork.

CHIAROSCURO is used by artists of the Renaissance to render the effects of light and dark. In Italian chiaro means light and oscuro means dark.

TEXTURE

TEXTURE is a word used to describe the FORM of an art work’s ability to call forth the tactile, or touch perceived, quality of a surface. It is described by words such as smooth, rough, polished, prickly, grainy, oily, hard, soft.

ACTUAL TEXTURE

IMPLIED TEXTURE

TIMETIME is an element when the art work is telling a story or involves movement. You might view a series of illustrations in an altarpiece that tell the story of the Virgin Mary. By walking through an installation the element of TIME exists in the art work. A figure in an art work who is implied to be in motion also suggests time.

1. Balance

2. Emphasis

3. Proportion & Scale

4. Rhythm & Repetition

5. Variety

6. Unity

A. Principles of Design

BALANCEBALANCE refers to the even distribution of weight in a composition. Balance deals with the visual weight of the apparent “lightness” or “heaviness” of the shapes and forms arranged in a composition.

BALANCE can be Assymetrical, Symmetrical, Radial, Absolute, and Bilateral.

ASSYMETRICAL BALANCE

SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

RADIAL BALANCE

EMPHASISArtists use emphasis in order to bring your attention to one area of the work. This area is also referred to as the FOCAL POINT of the composition.

One way to establish emphasis is by creating strong contrasts of LIGHT and COLOR.

PROPORTIONSCALE is the word used to describe the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original object it depicts or in relation to the objects around it.

PROPORTION refers to relationship between the parts of an object and the whole, or to the relationship between an object and its surroundings.

CANON of PROPORTION

RHYTHM & REPETITION

When same or like elements such as shapes and colors are used in REPETITION over and over in a composition, a visual RHYTHM develops.

PATTERNS created from RHYTHM and REPETION imply MOVEMENT and TIME.

VARIETYThe visual world is made up various different lines, forms, colors, textures and other elements. All the different factors must work together.

UNITY and VARIETY must coexist in a work of art, in other words there is a tension that the artist must balance.

UNITY

UNITY happens when all the various elements and principles of design in an art object come together with a sense of completeness and wholeness. Each of the principles of design working together leads to unity. There is a consistent feeling of completion in the composition.

Discuss the overall composition in this painting by Raphael, Madonna of the Goldfinch (Madonna del Cardellino), 1506.

II. CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

1. Identifying Subject Matter

2. Style: Regional/Period

3. Historical Context

4. Meaning/Content/Iconography

IDENTIFYING SUBJECT MATTER

STILL LIFE LANDSCAPE

MODE of REPRESENTATION

FIGURATIVE

NON-REPRESENTATIONAL/NON-OBJECTIVE

EXPRESSIONIST

ABSTRACT is…

PERIOD STYLE

STYLE The combination of form and composition that make an art object distinct.

Neo-Classical

Contemporary

Renaissance

REGIONAL STYLE

China, Qing Dynasty

Netherlands

REPRESENTATIONAL STYLE

Naturalistic/Realistic Idealized/Stylized

ICONOGRAPHY

ICONOGRAPHY

Iconography in visual culture is the identification of meanings associated with forms and figures.

The forms and figures function as holders of symbolic or narrative content, often specific to a particular time and place.

Luscious fruits and flowers symbolize the abundance of nature but also it’s inevitable decay

Insects also symbolize the vulnerability of material life to decay and death

This is a wedding knife with Peeters’ signature on it

Clara Peeters, Still Life with Fruit and Flowers, 1612

Branch of art history that studies the interpretation of the content, or meaning, of images. It is the writing (-graphy) of images (icon-).

Iconography is secular and non-secular.

Non-secular means something has to do with religion.

Jean Fouquet. Étienne Chevalier and St. Stephen, Virgin and Child. c. 1452–1455

Iconography refers to religious symbolism found in Christian art as well as secular symbolism from Classical mythology, current cultural trends, and the artist’s, and often patron’s, personal life.

The face of this Virgin Mary portrait was painted to resemble King Charles VII of France’s favorite mistress, Agnes Sorel.

The Virgin Mary is typically seen wearing blue. Colors inform form and figure – this is iconography.

Secular means something is separate from religion and has ZERO affiliation with it. Common secular themes involve love, death, money, drugs and Mickey Mouse. What are some other symbols and motifs used in contemporary iconography?

III. SUBJECTIVE ANALYSIS

What was your personal response when viewing the art object? An art object is nothing without the viewer. It’s important to observe how the art object made you feel. Go deeper. Did it make you recall a memory, a person or event

in your own life?