ART APPRECIATION: BALANCE, SCALE, PROPORTION, TIME/MOTION, EMPHASIS, CONTRAST & RHYTHM

T, R, 9:30AM-10:50AM

Professor Paige Prater

BALANCE: DISTRIBUTION OF ELEMENTS (UNIFIED OR VARIED) WITHIN A WORK

Symmetrical Asymmetrical Radial

BALANCE: SYMMETRICALRitual container from Gui, China, Shang Dynasty, 1600–1100 BCE. Bronze, 6¼ x 10¾”. University of Hong Kong Museum

BALANCE: ASYMMETRICAL

Muqi, Six Persimmons, Southern Song Dynasty, c. 1250. Ryoko-in, Dailoxu-ji, Kyoto, Japan

• Uneven distribution of value and shape

• Visual“heaviness” of theright side counteracted by placing one shape lower on the left

BALANCE: RADIAL

Equidistance from a single point

Amitayas mandala created by the monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery, Tibet

REHASH

Unity, variety, and balance are central principlesthat artists use to create visual impact

Unity gives a work a certain oneness or cohesion

Variety is expressed in contrast and difference

Created by the use of different kinds of lines, shapes, patterns, colors, or textures

Balance is imposed on a work when the artist achieves an appropriate combination of unity and variety

TIME/MOTION

Bernini. Apollo and Daphne, 1622-24.

Giacomo Balla. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash, 1912.

SCALE

relative to our own size MONUMENTAL

HUMAN SCALE

SMALL SIZE

SCALE: MONUMENTAL

SCALE: HUMAN SCALE

Damien Hirst, Mother and Child (Divided), 1993

SCALE: SMALL SIZE

http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/revealed-a-book-the-size-of-a-ladybug/278427/

SCALE: UNEXPECTED…

Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943. Oil on canvas, 16⅛ x 24”. Tate, London

PROPORTION:

Relationships between sizes of parts Aids expression and description (and

NATURALISM) Egypt Greece>Rome>Renaissance

Golden Section Golden Mean Fibonacci Sequence

PROPORTION: EGYPTIAN CUBIT

PROPORTION: GOLDEN SECTION, ETC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tAZe6pP-FM

PROPORTION: GREECE

Poseidon (or Zeus), c. 460–450 BCE. Bronze, 6’10½” high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

PROPORTION: GOLDEN RECTANGLE

Golden Rectangles is a technique based on nesting inside each other a succession of rectangles based on the 1:1.618 proportions of the Golden Section

The shorter side of the outer rectangle becomes the longer side of the smaller rectangle inside it, and so on

=elegant spiral shape

PROPORTION: GOLDEN RECTANGLE

PROPORTION: GOLDEN RECTANGLE

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858. Combination albumen print.

PROPORTION: GOLDEN RECTANGLE

PROPORTION: RENAISSANCE

Raphael, School of Athens, 1510-1511. Fresco, 16’ 8” x 25’. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican City.

PROPORTION: SCHOOL OF ATHENS

Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his pursuit of perfection

Magnificent scale = sense of importance

Parts of each figure are harmonious in relation to each other and portray an idealized form

Double emphasis on the center brings our attention to the opposing gestures of two famous Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle

EMPHASIS

Drawing attention to particular content VS SUBORDINATION (drawing attention away

from particular content)

EMPHASIS

Double-chambered vessel with mouse, Recuay, Peru, 4th–8th century. Ceramic, 6” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

EMPHASIS

Jules Olitski, Tin Lizzie Green, 1964. Acrylic and oil/wax crayon on canvas, 10’10” x 6’10”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

NO EMPHASIS

Mark Tobey, Blue Interior, 1959. Tempera on card, 44 x 28”

FOCAL POINT

The particular part of emphasis to which the artist draws our eye

PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS, C. 1555–8. OIL ON CANVAS, MOUNTED ON WOOD, 29 X 44⅛”. MUSÉES ROYAUX DES BEAUX-ARTS DE BELGIQUE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Decapitating Holofernes, c. 1620. Oil on canvas, 6’6⅜” x 5’3¾“. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

• Directional Line• Contrasting

Values

EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT

The Emperor Babur Overseeing his Gardeners, India, Mughal period, c. 1590. Tempera and gouache on paper, 8¾ x 5⅝”. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

water is the focal point conceptually as well as visually

Ando Hiroshige, “Riverside Bamboo Market, Kyobashi,” from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857. 15 x 10⅜”. James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii

• 3 separate focal points

• Position• Shape• Rhythm

CONTRAST

Very different elements right next to each other

CONTRAST

Francisco de Zurbarán, The Funeral of St. Bonaventure, 1629. Oil on canvas, 8' 2” x 7' 4”. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

REHASH…

ALL the elements and principles of art can serve to create EMPHASIS

Both actual and implied lines shape our examination of a work of art by directing the movement of our gaze

Contrasts between different values, colors, or textures can sometimes be so dramatic and distinct that we cannot help but feel drawn to that area of a work

PATTERN

Recurrence of an element Motif – repeated design as a unit within a

pattern

Repetition creates UNITY

RHYTHM comes from repetition!

RHYTHM/PATTERN

Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas, 35½ × 45⅝”. Musée National d’Art Moderne,Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

GREAT MOSQUE OF CÓRDOBA, PRAYER HALL OF ABD AL-RAHMAN I, 784–6

MOTIF

Huqqa base, India, Deccan, last quarter of 17th century. Bidri ware (zinc alloy inlaid with brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 1997. Oil on canvas, 8’6” × 7’. MOMA, New York

MOTIF VS. RANDOMNESS

Hans Arp, Trousse d’un Da,1920–21. Assemblage of driftwood nailed onto wood with painting remains, 15 x 10½ x 1¾”. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

• Dada movement

• “chance”• Random

arrangement