Elements of Visual Art

ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY

• On a half sheet of yellow paper, write a short paragraph describing the painting in the next slide. Be as descriptive as you can. Imagine that you are trying to describe the painting over the phone. How would you describe it in such a way that the other person would have a mental image of the artwork.

Vincent van GoghThe Bedroom at Arles. 1888-89

Line

- The path of a moving point, that is, a mark made by a tool or instrument as it is drawn across a surface.

- A line is usually made visible by the fact that it contrasts in value with the surface on which it is drawn

- Linear- artists place great importance on contours and outline

- Painterly- artists try to hide or even eliminate the outline of their objects

Gentlemen in ConversationFrom 25-220 AD (Eastern Han Dynasty)

A Corner of the Moulin de la GaletteHenri de Toulouse-Lautrec1892

Haystack at Sunset near GivernyClaude Monet1891

Shape

• An area that stands out from the space next to or around it due to a defined or implied boundary, or because of differences of value, color, and texture

• Shapes may be geometric or biomorphic

Carnival Forms 1Arturo Luz1956

The Dance (first version)Henri Matisse1909

Value

• The relative degree of light or dark• The characteristic color determined by relative

light or dark, the quantity of light reflected by the color

Expressive Uses of Value

• Chiaroscuro- the technique of representation that makes forceful use of contrasting lights and darks.

Titian, The Entombment of Christ, 1559

• Tenebrism- use of extreme chiaroscuro

Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio, St. John the Baptist, c.1604

Texture

• The surface character of a material which can be experienced through touch or the illusion of touch.

• Texture is produced by natural forces or through an artist’s manipulation of the art elements.

• Actual textures- rough or grainy textures you can actually feel

• Implied texture- a painting, drawing , or print can be made to look like it a textured surface

Fur-lined TeacupMeret Oppenheim1936

Color

• The visual response to the wavelengths of light identified as red, green, blue, etc.

• Hue- is the generic color name – red, blue, green, and so on.

Sunday Afternoon at the Island of La Grande JatteGeorges Suerat1884-1886

• Value- a wide range of color tones can be produced by adding black or white to a hue

• Distinguishes between lightness and darkness of colors

• Intensity- refers to the quality of light in a color. The purer color produces brighter tones.

Color Intensity

Blue Nude IIHenry Matisse1952

Space

• The interval, or measurable distance, between points or images

• Mentally conditioned by the environment and experience of the viewer

• Perception involves the whole pattern of nerve and brain response to a visual stimulus

2 Major Types of Space

• 1) Decorative space- absence of real depth as we know it and is confined to the flatness of the picture plane

Henri Matisse, Nuit de Noël, 1952

• 2) Plastic space – the term ‘plastic’ is applied to imagery other than decorative. Artists base much of their work on their experiences in the objective world, and it is a natural conclusion that they should explore spatial resources

a. Shallow space- can be compared to the feelings one might experience if confined to a box or a stage.

Jacob Lawrence, The Studio, 1977

• b. Deep and infinite space- this spatial feeling is similar to looking through an open window over a landscape that rolls on and on to infinity

Jacob van Ruisdael, Wheatfields, 1670

Linear Perspective