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WORLD OF ARTWORLD OF ART

CHAPTER

EIGHTH EDITION

World of Art, Eighth EditionHenry M. Sayre

Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.

All rights reserved.

The Principles of Design

7

Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives1 of 21 of 2

1. Define symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance.

2. Explain the relationship between emphasis and focal point.

3. Differentiate between scale and proportion.

4. Describe the relationship between pattern, repetition, and rhythm.

Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives2 of 22 of 2

5. Discuss the traditional relationship between unity and variety, and why postmodernist artists have tended to emphasize variety over unity.

IntroductionIntroduction1 of 31 of 3

• Leonardo da Vinci's Study of Human Proportion: The Vitruvian Man embodies all the qualities of design. Symmetry, proportion, and ratio derive

from the perfection of the human figure. The figure's limbs fit perfectly within

their frame.

Leonardo da Vinci, Study of Human Proportion: The Vitruvian Man. ca. 1492. Pen-and-ink drawing, 13-1/2 × 9-5/8". Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.

CAMERAPHOTO Arte, Venice. [Fig. 7-1]


• In contrast, the Rasin Building in Prague seems to teeter in its playfulness. It is nicknamed "Fred and Ginger" for its

seemingly dancing frame. However, both parts of the building

balance each other out like a dialogue.

Frank Gehry and Vlado Milunić, Rasin Building (a.k.a. the "Dancing House" or "Fred and Ginger"), Prague, Czech Republic.

1992–96.© Curva de Luz/Alamy. [Fig. 7-2]


• In the creative process, even such "rules" as created by the Vitruvian Man are meant to be broken so that artists can discover new ways to express themselves.

• Media are the materials that artists use to create their works.

BalanceBalance

• Balance refers to even distribution of weight in a composition. In works, balance can be symmetrical,

asymmetrical, or radial.• In sculpture, actual weight is the

physical weight of materials in pounds.• All art deals with visual weight, or the

apparent "heaviness" or "lightness" of the forms in the composition.

Symmetrical BalanceSymmetrical Balance1 of 41 of 4

• Symmetrical representations recall Leonardo's Study. When each side is exactly the same, it is

called absolute symmetry. When there are minor discrepancies but

the overall effect is symmetrical, it is called bilateral symmetry.


• The Taj Mahal is one of the most symmetrically balanced buildings in the world. Each facade is identical with openings

that give the building a sense of weightlessness.

Taj Mahal, Agra, India. Mughal period, ca. 1632–48.

© 2015 Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-3]


• Enguerrand Quarton's Coronation of the Virgin is a composition featuring small details at its edges with a cruciform shape dominating the whole. Father and Son flank Mary with near-

perfect symmetry.

Enguerrand Quarton, Coronation of the Virgin. 1453–54. Panel painting, 6' × 7' 2-5/8. Musée de l'Hospice, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon,

France.Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 7-4]


• Frida Kahlo's Las Dos Fridas is symmetrically balanced. A Frida dressed in native Tehuana

costume is connected to the mirrored Frida rejected by Diego Rivera by a vein, which the rejected Frida cuts off with surgical scissors.

Frida Kahlo, Las Dos Fridas (The Two Fridas). 1939. Oil on canvas, 5' 9-1⁄5" × 5 ft. 9-1⁄5". Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City.

© 2015. Photo Art Resource/Bob Schalkwijk/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New

York. [Fig. 7-5]

Asymmetrical BalanceAsymmetrical Balance1 of 31 of 3

• A composition that lacks symmetry can still be balanced if sides possess the same visual weight; this is called asymmetry.

• While there are only a few ways in which a work can appear balanced, but there are no "laws" about how this can be achieved.

Some different varieties of asymmetrical balance. [Fig. 7-6]


• Johannes Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance contains several references to balance, yet retains asymmetry of subject matter. The central axis of the composition

shows a woman weighing her jewelry with scales; behind her is a painting in which Christ weighs all souls during the Last Judgment.

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a Balance. ca. 1664. Oil on canvas, 15-7/8 × 14", framed 24-3/4 × 23 × 3". National Gallery of Art,

Washington, D.C. Widener Collection. Photo © 2015 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art. Photo: Bob

Grove. [Fig. 7-7]


• Childe Hassam's Boston Common at Twilight features a central axis left of the middle, where a woman and her daughters feed birds at the edge of a tree-lined expanse of Boston Common.

• Tension between light and dark as well as the open Common and the street reinforce asymmetrical balance.

Childe Hassam, Boston Common at Twilight. 1885–86. Oil on canvas, 42" × 5'. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Gift of Miss Maud E. Appleton, 1931.952. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [Fig. 7-8]

Radial BalanceRadial Balance

• In radial balance, everything radiates outward from a central point. The "rose window" above the south

portal of Chartres Cathedral is an example.

• The Villa La Rotonda by Andrea Palladio also features radial balance. The central domed rotunda is flanked by

four symmetrical reception rooms.

Rose window, south transept, Chartres Cathedral. ca. 1215. Chartres, France.Angelo Hornak. [Fig. 7-9]

Andrea Palladio, Villa La Rotonda.Begun 1560s.

CAMERAPHOTO Arte, Venice. [Fig. 7-10a]

Andrea Palladio, Plan of main floor (piano nobile), Villa La Rotunda. [Fig. 7-10b]

Emphasis and Focal PointEmphasis and Focal Point1 of 31 of 3

• The focal point of a composition is an area to which the artist draws the viewer's attention the most.

• Strong contrasts of light and color can create a focal point easily. Still Life with Lobster uses

complementary colors with the focal lobster in red and everything else in green.

Anna Vallayer-Coster, Still Life with Lobster. 1781. Oil on canvas, 27-3/4 × 35-1/4". Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio.

Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1968.1A. Photo: Photography Incorporated, Toledo. [Fig. 7-11]


• Light in Georges de La Tour's Joseph the Carpenter draws attention away from Joseph and to the brightly lit face of Christ, symbolizing the Divine Light.

• It is also possible to make a work that is afocal, or without a single point of focus.

Georges de La Tour, Joseph the Carpenter. ca. 1645. Oil on canvas, 18-1/2 × 25-1/2". Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Inv. RF1948-27. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/Michel Urtado.[Fig. 7-12]


• Lucas Samaras's Room No. 2 is an 8-by-8-foot space lined entirely with mirrors. Only two visitors are allowed inside

simultaneously. Viewer and work become inseparable;

the viewer enables the work, yet loses their individuality.

Lucas Samaras, Room No. 2 (popularly known as the Mirrored Room) (detail). 1966. Mirror on wood, 8 × 8 × 10'. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1966. © Lucas Samaras, courtesy of Pace Gallery.

[Fig. 7-13]

The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process1 of 21 of 2

• A Multiplication of Focal Points:Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas An obvious focal point is the infanta

Margarita at center, but figures outside of her central group gaze away from the infanta.

Their focal point appears to be the King and Queen, who are reflected in the mirror at the opposite end of the room.

Diego Velázquez, Philip IV, King of Spain. 1652–53. Oil on canvas, 17-1/2 x 14-3/4". Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Inv. 324. © 2015. Photo Austrian Archives/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-14]

Diego Velázquez, Portrait of Queen Mariana. ca. 1656. Oil on canvas, 18-3/8 × 17-1/8". Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist

University, Dallas. Alger H. Meadows Collection. MM.78.01. Photo: Michael Bodycomb. [Fig. 7-15]

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor). 1656. Oil on canvas, 10' 3/4" × 9’ 3/4". Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

© 2015. Image copyright Museo Nacional del Prado © Photo MNP/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-16]

The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process2 of 22 of 2

• A Multiplication of Focal Points:Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas Either the royal couple is the actual

subject of the painting or they have entered the room to see their daughter being painted; or, in fact, their images are a double portrait rather than themselves reflected in the mirror.

The painting depicts a work-in-progress, although it is unclear what that work is.

Diego Velázquez, Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor)(detail). © 2015. Image copyright Museo Nacional del Prado © Photo MNP/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-

17]

Scale and ProportionScale and Proportion1 of 71 of 7

• Scale describes the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original object or objects around it.

• Julie Mehretu's Mural is "large-scale" at 80 feet long and 23 feet high.

• When looking at a textbook or screen reproduction, it is important to consider the actual size of the work.

Julie Mehretu, Mural, detail. 2010. Acrylic on canvas, 23 × 80'. Goldman Sachs headquarters, New York.Courtesy of the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York. [Fig. 7-18]


• Comparing Do-Ho Suh's Public Figures and Kara Walker's Subtlety, both artists have manipulated the scale of the object depicted.

• Do-Ho Suh's work shows the people carrying the pediment in a diminished scale. The expected figure atop the pedestal is

purposely absent.

Do-Ho Suh, Public Figures. 1998–99. Installation view, MetroTech Center Commons, Brooklyn, New York.

Fiberglass/resin, steel pipes, pipe fittings, 10 × 7 × 9'.Courtesy the artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York. [Fig. 7-19]


• Walker's work is a large, exaggerated homage to carved sugar centerpieces that would have decorated the tables of the upper classes through history.

• Artists can manipulate scale through the relative scale of objects. An object "closer" to us is larger, while

one that recesses in to the background appears smaller.

Kara Walker, A Subtlety: The Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar

Refining Plant. 2014. Installation view, Domino Sugar Factory, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. Carved

polystyrene coated with 160,000 lb of sugar, 10 × 7 × 75'.Courtesy the artist and Creative Projects, New York. [Fig. 7-20]


• Hokusai's views of Mount Fuji subvert the knowledge of how large the mountain is. The Great Wave off Kanagawa shows

two boats in a tumultuous wave in the foreground, visually diminishing the importance of Fuji in the distance.

Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. 1823–29. Color woodcut, 10 × 15".

© Historical Picture Archive/CORBIS. [Fig. 7-21]


• Proportion refers to the relationship between parts of an object and the whole.

• Ingres's Mme. Rivière appears at first to be natural, but upon closer inspection, her arm has been elongated to accommodate the curve of the frame.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Mme. Rivière. 1805. Oil on canvas, 45-5/8 × 35-3/8". Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre)/Thierry Le Mage. [Fig. 7-22]


• Greek sculptor Polyclitus described "perfect" proportions of the human body in a text called The Canon. Both the text and the original

Doryphoros statue were lost, but both proclaim that each part of the body is a common fraction of the figure's height.

Polyclitus, Doryphoros (The Spear Bearer). 450 BCE. Marble, Roman copy after lost bronze original, height 7'. National Archaeological

Museum, Naples.Art Archive/Musée Archéologique Naples/Collection Dagli Orti. [Fig. 7-23]


• The Greek Parthenon possesses proportions on the facade in a ratio based on the algebraic formula x = 2y + 1. The ratio of the length of the top step of

the platform (or stylobate) to its width is 9:4.

Pattern, Repetition, and RhythmPattern, Repetition, and Rhythm1 of 51 of 5

• Pattern is the systematic repetitive use of the same motif or design and it can be used as a decorative tool.

• The Lindisfarne Gospels, particularly the Cross page, features pre-Christian pagan motifs woven into Christian imagery. Beasts were drawn in "animal style"

with intricate, ribbonlike traceries.


• Patterned kente cloths from Ghana's Ewe and Asante societies contained patterns that designated social prestige.

• African sculptor El Anatsui used kente cloths as inspiration for his pieces, which are made from discarded aluminum caps and seals rather than strips of cloth.

Kente prestige cloth (detail), Ghana, Ewe peoples. 19th century. Cotton, silk, warp (vertical threads) 6' 2", weft (horizontal threads) 9' 1-

7/8". The British Museum, London.© The Trustees of the British Museum. [Fig. 7-26]

El Anatsui, Between Earth and Heaven. 2006. Aluminum and copper wire, 7' 2-3/4" × 10' 4". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Fred M. and Rita Richman, Noah-Sadie K. Wachtel Foundation Inc., David and Holly Ross, Doreen and Gilbert Bassin Family Foundation and William B. Goldstein Gifts, 2007.96. © 2015. Image copyright Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-

27]


• Repetition can imply monotony, but if certain elements are used repeatedly, they can create a visual rhythm.

• Jacob Lawrence establishes rhythm in Barber Shop through the repetition of both shape and color. Each diamond-shaped client wears a

different colored apron; the color is repeated again elsewhere in the work.

Jacob Lawrence, Barber Shop. 1946. Gouache on paper, 21-1/8 × 29-3/8". Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio.

Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1975.15. Photo: Photography Incorporated, Toledo. © 2015 Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight

Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 7-28]


• Auguste Rodin's The Gates of Hell was based on Dante's Inferno and features nearly 200 figures. At the top, a grouping of figures called

The Three Shades is actually the same figure cast three times and arranged in a semicircle.

Below, the posture of Adam echoes the Shades, implying that it was he who brought us to the Gates of Hell.

Auguste Rodin, The Gates of Hell with Adam and Eve. 1880–1917. Bronze, 20' 10-3/4" × 13' 2" × 33-3/8". Stanford University Museum of Art.

Photo: Frank Wing. [Fig. 7-29]

Auguste Rodin, The Three Shades. 1881–86. Bronze, Coubertin Foundry, posthumous cast authorized by Musée Rodin, 1980,

6' 3-1/2" × 6' 3-1/2" × 42". Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.

Gift of the B. Gerald Cantor Collections. [Fig. 7-30]


• Layla Ali's Greenheads series features brown-skinned, gender-neutral "Others" that appear at once alien and familiar. In this piece, three nearly identical

Greenheads have been hanged in front of a fourth victim.• It symbolizes that such a horrifying act

can inevitably happen again, though the place could be anywhere.

Laylah Ali, Untitled, from the series Greenheads. 2000. Gouache on paper, 13 × 19".

Courtesy of the artist and Paul Kasmin Gallery. [Fig. 7-31]

Unity and VarietyUnity and Variety1 of 41 of 4

• In Barber Shop, Lawrence kept his figures consistent, yet unique.

• If every subject or figure were the same, there would be no need to discuss the unity of diversity that makes a work "complete." Generally, variety must coexist with

unity in order for the work to succeed.


• Louise Lawler's Pollock and Tureen brings seemingly contradictory objects in a state of opposition and tension. The Pollock painting is transformed into

a decorative object that seems as marketable and empty of its original meaning when placed by the tureen.

Louise Lawler, Pollock and Tureen. 1984. Cibachrome, 16 × 20".

Courtesy of the artist and Metro Pictures, New York. [Fig. 7-32]


• A sense that parts can never form a unified whole is commonly called postmodernism.

• Robert Venturi wrote in Learning from Las Vegas that a collision of styles, signs, and symbols such as those seen on an American "strip" can be seen as a new kind of unity; anything can be put next to anything else.

Las Vegas, Nevada. ca. 1985.

Vidler/Mauritius. [Fig. 7-33]


• Elizabeth Murray's Just in Time appears at first to be abstract, but reveals a teacup split in half. Its ordinary subject matter is

monumentalized by a height of 9 feet. Animal forms and pop lyrics also inspire

interpretations. The work is rich in meaning, each

fragment unifying the whole.

Elizabeth Murray, Just in Time. 1981. Oil on canvas in two sections, 8' 10" × 8' 1". Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Purchased: Edward and Althea Budd Fund, the Adele Haas Turner and Beatrice Pastorius Turner Memorial Fund, and funds contributed by Marion Stroud and Lorine E. Vogt, 1981. © 2015. Photo Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Murray-

Holman Family Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 7-34]

The Critical ProcessThe Critical ProcessThinking about the Principles of DesignThinking about the Principles of Design• Claude Monet's The Railroad Bridge,

Argenteuil employs line in a number of ways. Opposition is apparent in the two

diagonals as well as opposing directional lines of the train and boat.

• What appears to be a simple landscape of a newly-built bridge is fraught with complexities.

Claude Monet, The Railroad Bridge, Argenteuil. 1874. Oil on canvas, 21-4⁄5 × 29-2⁄5". Philadelphia Museum of Art.

John G. Johnson collection, 1917. © 2015. Photo Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 7-35]

Thinking BackThinking Back1 of 21 of 2

1. Define symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance.

2. Explain the relationship between emphasis and focal point.

3. Differentiate between scale and proportion.

4. Describe the relationship between pattern, repetition, and rhythm.

Thinking BackThinking Back2 of 22 of 2

5. Discuss the traditional relationship between unity and variety, and why postmodernist artists have tended to emphasize variety over unity.