Mfv intro 4

Formal elements
• Just as words are the basic
elements of oral/written languages
• Formal elements are the basic units
of visual arts
– Line
– Light and value
– Color
– Texture and pattern
– Shape and volume
– Space
– Time and motion

Line a moving point having length and no
width.
In art, a line usually has length and width,
but length is more important.
• Actual line—they physically exist
and can be broad, thin, straight,
jagged
• Implied lines—do not physically
exist, yet they seem quite real
to viewers—dotted line,
unconnected parts

Note the line quality:
Thick strokes—bottom of hem
Wispy lines—beard
Crisp lines—sword blade
Utagawa Kunishada, Shoki the Demon Queller, c. 1849-1853. Woodblock print

Line quality can
express a range of
emotions. Contrast the
thick, angular lines
of Shoki with the
thin, playful lines of
Klee.
Also the arrangement
of lines can seem
organized or
disorderly. Klee’s
lines seem arranged
whimsically.
Paul Klee. They’re Biting, 1920. Drawing and oil on paper

Line that depict three-dimensional objects:
• Outline—follows the outer edges of the
silhouette of a three-dimensional for with
uniform line thickness. Outlines flatten a
three-dimensional form into a two-dimensional
shape.
• Contour lines—mark the outer edges of a three-dimensional
object—with varying line thickness
and some internal detail.
• Cross-contours—repeated lines that go around an
object and express its three-dimensionality
• Hatching—lines that product tones or values
(different areas of gray)
• Cross-hatching—parallel ines in superimposed
layers

• In art, a directional line is a one
dimensional line that is used to show
direction. Lines help to express view points
to someone looking at images. Horizontal
lines give a sense of calm and rest, while
diagonal lines express energy and
movement.

"Directional Lines”
Directional lines are very precise. They are
not "free" like expressive lines…but
calculated constant, and even.

to suggest direction and movement:
• horizontal lines tend to communicate suggest
stability and calm, vertical lines suggest
strength and authority (architecture), and
diagonal lines tend to represent movement.
These characteristics can all be seen in
Botticelli's Birth of Venus.

Lines—firm carve out figures (from rigid horizontal and vertical trees)
Lines—zephyrs—straight breath—curved drapery (imply movement)
Lines—implied—compositional (overall triangle)

Jacob Lawrence, Harriet Tubman Series. 1939–40 . Panel #4
On a hot summer day about 1820, a group of slave children were tumbling in the sandy soil
in the state of Maryland - and among them was one, Harriet Tubman

• Lines—horizontal (like horizon) suggest stability
• Lines—vertical (skyscrapers) defy gravity, suggest assertiveness
• Lines—diagonal—movement/directionality (i.e. zephyr)

Light and value
• In art and architecture, light
might be an actual element. In
buildings, the control of light
is an essential design element.

Bruce Nauman. (American, born 1941). Human/Need/Desire. 1983. Neon tubing
and wire with glass tubing suspension frames, 7' 10 3/8" x 70 1/2" x 25 3/4"
Nauman believes that
language is "a very
powerful tool"; he was
inspired to use neon
tubing because of the
convincing messages and
hypnotic aura of neon
advertisements. Ironicly,
he uses this flashing
commercial medium—with
all its wires exposed—to
address fundamental
elements of human
experience.

Light and Value
• Most art does not emit or
manipulate light but relects
ambient light (the light all
around us)
• In two-dimensional art artist
use value to represent the
various levels of light that
reflect off of objects.

• Value (or tone) is one step on
a gradation from light and dark
• Achromatic value scale—the
extremes are white and black
(grey in between)
• Chromatic value scale—different
values of color
• Shading (modeling) manipulate
gradations in values to create
the appearance of natural light
on objects
• Chiaroscuro—light-dark
gradation that can depict

Achromatic value scale,
showing only black, white,
and gray tones.
Chromatic value scale,
showing various values of
red.
Values can create the
illusion of volume.
Light and Value

Chiaroscuro—use of various tones
(black, white, grays) to create the
illusion of volume
Rosso Fiorentino, Recumbent Female Nude Figure Asleep, 1530

A range of values can express
emotion.
Kunishada’s print carries a
strong emotional charge.
While Fiorentino’s nude may lull
the viewer.
Utagawa Kunishada, Shoki the Demon Queller, c. 1849-1853. Woodblock print

Sculpture and architecture have value difference because of
the many angles at which light hits and refects off their
three-dimensional surfaces.
Nevelson’s sculpture is painted black, but the light bouncing
off of various surfaces appears as gray or as black.
Louise Nevelson, Mirror-Shadow VII, 1985, wood painted black, 9'
9" x 11' 7" x 1' 9"

Examining Color
• Consider the various concepts and
properties of color—hue, value and
intensity

• Hue it the pure state of color in the spectrum
an is that color’s name, such as red, blue,
yellow, green violet and orange.

Hue: This is what we usually mean when we ask "what color
is that?" The property of color that we are actually asking
about is "hue". For example, when we talk about colors that
are red, yellow, green, and blue, we are talking about hue.
Different hues are caused by different wavelengths of light.
Therefore, this aspect of color is usually easy to recognize.
Hue Contrast - strikingly different hues
Hue Constancy - different colors, same hue (blue)
Value in color is the lightness and darkness within a hue

Value: When we describe a color as "light" or "dark", we are discussing its value
or "brightness". This property of color tells us how light or dark a color is based on
how close it is to white. For instance, canary yellow would be considered lighter
than navy blue which in turn is lighter than black. Therefore, the value of canary
yellow is higher than navy blue and black.
Low value—same brightness level
Contrast of value—grayscale, no chroma
Contrast of value—stark differences in
brightness

Tints, Tones and Shades:
• These terms are often used inappropriately
but they describe fairly simple color
concepts. The important thing to
remember is how the color varies from its
original hue. If white is added to a color,
the lighter version is called a "tint". If the
color is made darker by adding black, the
result is called a "shade". And if gray is
added, each gradation gives you a different
"tone."

• Tints (adding white to a pure hue)
• Shades (adding black to a pure hue)
• Tones (adding gray to a pure hue)

• Intensity/Saturation—tells us how a
color looks under certain lighting
conditions. For instance, a room painted a
solid color will appear different at night than
in daylight. Over the course of the day,
although the color is the same, the
saturation changes.
• Be careful not to think about
SATURATION in terms of light and dark
but rather in terms of pale or weak and
pure or strong.

Gainsborough, M/M Andrews
Most saturated color—blue
satin dress, modified with
tints and shades
Warm—foreground greens
Cool—distant blue-grey
greens
Local colors—the colors we
normally find in the objects
around us.

Primary Colors (R/Y/B): For paints and pigments, the primary colors are red, yellow
and blue
RED, YELLOW, BLUE:
Thought of as the “original” colors
since they are the starting point
for all other colors and cannot be
recreated by the mixing of any
others. They are thought to be
exuberant, decorative and
decisive.
For light-emitting media, the
primary colors are red, blue,
green

It is from the blending of the
primary colors that secondary
colors are born.
There are three secondary
colors.
Red + yellow = orange
Blue + yellow = green
Blue + red = purple
SECONDARY COLORS

TERTIARY COLORS
Tertiary colors come to life when
primary and secondary combine.
There are six:
Red-orange
Yellow-orange
Yellow-green
Blue-green
Blue-violet
Violet-red

ADDITIVE COLOR SYSTEM—applies to light-emitting media, the primary colors
are red, blue, green
If we are working on a
computer, the colors we see
on the screen are created
with light using the additive
color method.
Additive color mixing begins
with black and ends with
white; as more color is
added, the result is lighter
and tends to white

When we mix colors
using paint we are
using the subtractive
color method.
Subtractive color
mixing means that
one begins with white
and ends with black;
as one adds color, the
result gets darker.

primary colors (red, yellow, and blue)
are those that cannot be produced by
mixing two other colors together
secondary colors (violet, orange, and
green) are those that are produced
when two primaries are mixed
analogous colors are those that are next
to each other on the color wheel and
share similar wavelenghts

Monochromatic…Complementary…Analagous
COLOR HARMONIES

Monochromatic harmonies…variations on the
same hue (color)…often different value and
intensity
Inka Essenhigh, In Bed, 2005 o/c 5.8x5.2’

Complementary colors are opposites of each other and,
when mixed, give a dull result.
Red and green are complementary colors.
Complementary color…make both hues appear more intense

Hopper, Gas…the red pumps are enhanced by the green foliage.

COMPLEMENTARY VERSUS ANALOGOUS COLORS
• complementary colors
are opposite each
other on the color
wheel and
dramatically different
in wavelength
• Analogous colors
are next to each
other on the color
wheel and similar in
appearance
•

Analogous color harmonies are often found in nature because natural elements
often feature colors that are close to each other. It is also a visually pleasing
harmony.

LOCAL VERSUS OPTICAL COLOR
• local color is the color that an object has in
normal light
• optical color is color produced through our
visual perception

Haystack at Sunset Near Giverny
Clause Monet. oil on canvas, 1891 (Impressionism)
a great example of optical color

The Night Cafe
by Vincent Van Gogh, oil
on canvas
1888 (Post Impressionism)
• Expressive use of color (non-realistic)
• Harsh palette (a place where one can ruin oneself)
• Red (walls) green (ceiling) clash
• Billiard table and floor (contain red and green) marry the two
• Lamp light—agitated swirls of local color—psychological
brillance/agitation.

Color Properties in Various Media
Paint Light-Emitting
Media
Commercial
Printing or
Computer
Printer
Color System subtractive additive subtractive
Effects of
Environmental
Light Levels
more room light, the
brighter the colors
less room light, the
brighter the colors
more room light, the
brighter the colors
Primary Colors blue, red, yellow red, green, blue CMYK
Secondary Colors purple, green, orange yellow, cyan, magenta red, blue, green
Complementaries blue – orange
red – green
yellow – purple
red – cyan
green – magenta
blue – yellow
cyan – red
magenta – green
yellow – blue
Mixture of all
Primaries
gray or dull neutral white black

The Relativity of Color Perception

Explore Texture and Pattern
• Texture refers to the surface
characteristics, and may be tactile or visual.
• Pattern is the regular repetition of a visual
form.
• Describe both the texture and pattern
displayed in the 6th century mosaic below.

Texture
• ACTUAL TEXTURE is tactile it is more
than visual information
• VISUAL TEXTURE is the illusion of texture
– trompe l'oeil is a method of art that is intended
to create a realistic illusion of texture and
depth in a work of art. The term means "fool
the eye" in French.

Tactile texture
• Lion Capital from
Asoka pillar
• Sarnath, India
• ca. 250 BCE
• Culture:
Buddhist/Indian

Detail of Deesis Mosaic in
Hagia Sophia. Believed to be
1185-1204. Mosaic tile.
Each mosaic piece reflects
ambient light in a slightly
different direction.
Visual texture is illusionary.

James Rosenquist
Gift Wrapped Doll IV
1992
VISUAL TEXTURE
• Simulates texture of cellophane
• Transparent wrap reflect light, tearing across the innocent
face like white-hot rods
• Doll—haunting and sinister
• Commentary—ideal of beauty—blue eyed blonde

Considering Shape and Volume
• Shape refers to two-dimensional art,
and volume refers to three-dimensional
works.
• Shape and volume may have simulated
reality, may be abstracted or invented.

Examining Space
• Space refers to the actual space in which a work of
art exists, or an illusion of space created.
• An illusion of space (depth) may be created by
shading, overlapping, and atmospheric or linear
perspective.
• Artists may also use isometric, oblique, and mid-point
perspective.

• 1. Turn your paper horizontal ("landscape"
orientation)
•
1. Turn your paper horizontal ("landscape" orientation)

• 2. Line the end of your ruler up with the side
of your page.
• Be sure the ruler is straight and flush with the
edge of the page or everything will be
crooked!

• 3. Draw a horizontal line one or two
inches down from top of the page. This is
your horizon line.
•

• 4. Draw a dot in the middle of your
horizon line. This is your vanishing point.

• 5. Now draw a square or rectangle in the
right or left bottom area of your page.

• 6. Now connect three corners of your
rectangle or square to the vanishing point.
These are orthogonals.

• 7. Draw a horizontal line between the top
two orthogonals where you want your form
to end.

• 8. Draw a vertical line down from the
horizontal line to complete the side.

• 9. Erase the remaining orthogonals.

10. Add details and experiment!

Albrecht Durer,
The Adoration of the Magi (1511) woodcut
• Follow converging
parallel lines to
vanishing point
• This woodcut is
an exercise in
one-point
perspective

linear perspective is a
mathematical system for
organizing space in a
convincing way.
It is used in Piranesi's
Drawbridge drawing

Durer, Artist drawing a model in foreshortening through
a frame using a grid system, woodcut (crosshatching)
Foreshortened: the size of an object's dimensions along the
line of sight are relatively shorter than dimensions across
the line of sight

• ATMOSPHERIC
(AERIAL)
PERSPECTIVE is a
convention of art
that was invented by
Leonardo da Vinci
for creating an
illusion of depth by
incorporating the
natural effects of
atmosphere.

Time and Motion
• ACTUAL MOTION is
live movement. A
work of kinetic art
like Alexander
Calder's Untitled
mobile in the East
Wing of the National
Gallery of Art in
Washington D.C.
displays actual motion
when we see it in
person.

THE ILLUSION OF MOTION
• is what we experience when we see a
movie or series of shapes that note a
passage of time. A movie is a series of still
frames that do not contain actual motion,
but when shown in a time sequence, create
an illusion of motion.

IMPLIED MOTION AND TIME
is a non-moving image that
shows movement through the
attributes present in the
image.
Good examples of this are
found in Bernini's Apollo and
Daphne
Apollo and Daphne. Gianlorenzo Bernini, marble sculpture, 1622-24 (Baroque)

Examining Time and Motion
• Consider how time and motion may be
incorporated in visual art, usually
understood as static, by examining
issues of Marcel Duchamp’s Nude
Descending a Staircase.

Fig. 2.25 Marcel Duchamp.
Nude Descending a Staircase
(No. 2), 1912. Oil on canvas, 57
7/8” X 35 1/8”. Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Philadelphia.

Boccioni, Umberto. Dynamism of a Cyclist. 1913

Chance/Improvisation/Spontaneity
• Strongly affects visual organization of an
artwork
• Opportunity for uniqueness
• Uncontrolled outcomes

Fig. 2.26 Cai Guo-Qiang. Black
Rainbow: Explosion Project for
Valencia, Spain. 2005.
Omens for international unease—
frightening—but also attract with
their power and beauty.

Principles of Composition
• Balance
• Rhythm
• Proportion and scale
• Empasis
• Unity and variety

Exploring Balance and Rhythm
• Balance may be symmetrical, asymmetrical or
radial. What type of balance is used in the Angkor
Wat temple in Cambodia (Fig. 2-30)?
• Rhythm is the regular repetition of the elements
in a composition. It may be regular, alternating,
or eccentric.
• How is the concept of rhythm addressed in the
bas-relief from Angkor Wat (Fig. 2-31)?

POLYKLEITOS
Doryphoros (Spearbearer)
ca. 450-40 B.C.
[actual balance]

Leonardo da Vinci , Vitruvian Man, c.1490 [symmetrical balance]

Lindisfarne Gospels, Carpet Page
[bilateral symmetry]

The US Capital Building
[Symmetrical balance—bilateral symmetry]

Arnold Newman,
Georgia O’Keeffe,
Ghost Ranch, NM (1968)
[approximate symmetry]

Asymmetrical Balance
Your eyes tell you the elements are
skewed
Your brain registers balance

General precepts about asymmetrical or
informal balance:
• A large form is visually heavier than a smaller form
• A dark-value form is visually heavier than a light-value
form of the same size
• A textured form is visually heavier than a smooth form
of the same size
• A complex form is visually heavier than a simple form
of the same size
• Two or more small forms can balance a larger one
• A smaller dark form can balance a larger light one

Miro, Birth of the World
(1925) MoMA
[asymmetrical and balanced]

Helen M. Turner (1858-1958), Morning News, 1915
[well-placed touches of color …overall visual balance]

KLIMT, DEATH AND LIFE, c.1911
Asymmetrical balance…

Horizontal,
Vertical,
and
Radial Balance

Gertrude Kasebier
Blessed Art Thou Among Women
[horizontal balance…elements on left and
ritght seem to be equal in number or visual
emphasis]

[vertical blalnce…top and
bottom are in balance]

[radial balance..design elements radiate from a center point]

Barbara Morgan, Martha Graham (GSP)

Fig. 2.30 Angkor Wat. Central Temple Complex. C. 1113-1150 CE.
Cambodia.

IMBALANCE
Balance…comfort/aesthetically pleasing
Imbalance…discomfort/shock

Robert Capa. Death of a Loyalist Soldier (9/5/1936)
[imbalance..intensified drama

Niki de Saint-Phalle. Black Venus,1967
[precarious balance suggest weightlessness]

Proportion and Scale
Emphasis, Unity and Variety
• How do the use and manipulation of proportion and
scale alter our response to the Claes Oldenburg
binoculars?
• Emphasis is the creation of focal points.
• Unity is the quality of overall cohesion within a
work of art.
• Variety is the element of difference in a work of art.
• Examine how the principles of emphasis, unity and
variety are used in works of art.

Count of Montizon. Obaysch, London Zoo's first hippopotamus, 1852
The hippopatamus named Obaysch arrived at the London Zoo in May 1850

René Magritte, Personal Values. 1952

The Annunciation
From the Lectionary of Henry II
1002 - 1014, approximately
17" x 13”
Hieratic scaling

Pannini. Interior of the Pantheon,
Rome (c.1734)

Jan Van Eyck. Madonna in the
Church
c. 1425
Oil on wood, 32 x 14 cm

Claes Oldenburg, Coosje van Bruggen, and Frank O. Gehry. The
Binocular Entrance to the Chiat Building, Venice, California.

Claes Oldenburg.
Clothespin (1976) Corten
steel with stainless steel
base.
45’ H

PROPORTION
Everything is relative

POLYKLEITOS
Doryphoros (Spearbearer)
ca. 450-40 B.C.
“The Canon of Proportions…ideal
beauty”

Alice Neel. The Family
(John Gruen, Jane Wilson,
and Julia). 1970
• What is not
idealized?

Structural Systems in Architecture
• Traditional building methods
– Load-bearing construction
– Post and lintel construction
– Wood frame construction
– Arches, Vaulting, Domes
• Recent Methods and Materials
– Steel Frame construction
– Reinforced concrete
– Suspension and tensile construction

Compare load-bearing
with post and lintel
construction:
Fig. 2.33 El Castillo, Chichen
Itza, Mexico. See the elevated
view in the textbook.
Fig. 2.35 Mnesicles. The
Temple of Athena Nike and
the Proplylaea. 437-432
BCE. Athens.

Post and lintel construction at Stonehenge.

arcade: A series of arches supported by columns or piers.

colonnade: A row of columns which support horizontal members,
called an architrave, rather than arches

Fig. 2.36 Diagram of the Greek and Roman Orders

Examine the
issues of steel
frame construction.
Fig. 2.41 The Seagram
Building. 1954-1958.
New York City.

Consider the
issues of truss and
geodesic
construction.
Fig. 2.42 Truss (A)
and Geodesic
Dome (B)
Structural
Systems.

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