art 110 (1.6&1.7)

Chapter 1.6

Unity, Variety, and Balance

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS

Copyright © 2011 Thames & Hudson

Introduction

• Unity refers to the imposition of order and harmony on a design

• Variety is a kind of visual diversity that brings many different ideas, media, and elements together in one composition

• Balance refers to the distribution of elements, whether unified or varied, within a work

Unity

• Provides an artwork with its cohesiveness and helps communicate its visual idea

• Artists are concerned with three kinds of unity: compositional, conceptual, and gestalt (the complete order and indivisible unity of all aspects of an artwork’s design)

Compositional Unity

• An artist creates compositional unity by organizing all the visual aspects of a work

• Too much similarity of shape, color, line, or any single element or principle of art can be monotonous and make us lose interest

• Too much variety can lead to a lack of structure and the absence of a central idea

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS

PowerPoints developed by CreativeMyndz Multimedia Studios

Chapter 1.7 Scale and Proportion

Compositional Unity

• A is unified but lacks the visual interest of B.

• C is unified but more chaotic than A or B

1.110 Three diagrams of compositional unity

Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa”A Masterpiece of Unity and Harmony

• Created a unified composition by organizing repetitions of shapes, colors, textures, and patterns to create a visual harmony, even though the scene is chaotic– Mount Fuji (A), in the middle of the

bottom third of the work, almost blends into the ocean

– Whitecaps on the waves (B) mimic the snow atop Mount Fuji

– Hokusai has also carefully selected the solids and voids in his composition to create opposing but balancing areas of interest. As the solid shape of the great wave curves around the deep trough below it (C), the two areas compete for attention, neither possible without the other

1.111 slide 2: Graphics with Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, 1826–33 (printed later). Print, color woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

1.111 slide 1: Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, 1826–33 (printed later). Print, color woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Interior design, I. Michael Interior Design

• The interior has a balance of curved and straight lines that complement each other– The linear patterns of

curved lines repeat (red), as do the other directional lines

– Shapes are distributed throughout the scene (green)

1.113 Linear evaluation of elements in interior design, I. Michael Interior Design, Bethesda, Maryland

1.112 Interior design, I. Michael Interior Design, Bethesda, Maryland

Marie Marevna (Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska),

Nature morte à la bouteille• The unifying features are the

angular lines and flat areas of color or pattern

• Marevna’s Cubist style breaks apart a scene and re-creates it from a variety of different angles

• The entire work becomes unified because the artist paints a variety of different viewing angles using flat areas of color and pattern throughout

• Even though we view the still life from many different angles, the artist was able to unify the composition by using similar elements

1.114 Marie Marevna (Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska), Nature morte à la bouteille, 1917. Oil on canvas with plaster, 19¾ x 24”

Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation

• The artist concentrates on two major areas: foreground and background– The organic human shapes in

the foreground arebalanced against the geometric lines of the background

• Rather than communicating a feeling of tensionand violence, the composition is quiet and logical, emphasizing the mood of detachment and contemplation

1.115 Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation, c. 1469. Oil and tempera on panel, 23 x 32”. Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, Italy

Romare Bearden, The Dove

• Some artists create compositional unity while gathering together bits and pieces of visual information

• In this work we see snippets of faces and hands, city textures of brick walls and fire escapes, and other associated images assembled into a scene that, at first glance, seems frenetic and chaotic

• Bearden reflects the order of the city with an underlying grid made up of verticals and horizontals in the street below, and the vertical street posts and buildings in the upper section of the work

1.116 Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964. Cut-and-pasted printed papers, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on board, 13⅜ x 18¾”. MOMA, New York

Conceptual Unity

• Conceptual unity refers to the cohesive expression of ideas within a work of art

• The expression of ideas may not look organized, butan artist can still communicate them effectively by selecting images that conjure up a single notion

• Artists bring their own intentions, experiences, and reactions to their work. These ideas—conscious and unconscious—can also contribute to the conceptualunity of a work

Joseph Cornell, Untitled (The Hotel Eden)

• The disparate shapes, colors, and other characteristics of everyday things come together to form distinctive images

• Cornell has collected objects from life and sealed them in a box

• Placed together, all the different objects in the box make and express an idea greater than any one of them could suggest on its own

1.117 Joseph Cornell, Untitled (The Hotel Eden), 1945. Assemblage with music box, 15⅛ x 15⅛ x 4¾”. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Gestalt Unity

• Gestalt is a German word for form or shape– Refers to something in which the whole

seems greater than the sum of its parts

• We get a sense of gestalt when we comprehend how compositional unity and conceptual unity work together

Vishnu Dreaming the Universe

• The repetition of the human shapes that attend Vishnu creates compositional unity

• The dualities of male/female, life/death, good/evil are illustrated in the complex stories of the gods

• A religious idea provides profound conceptual unity

• The image, the religious idea that the image illustrates, and the fervent belief of the artist who created the work all interconnect

1.118 Vishnu Dreaming the Universe, c. 450–500 CE. Relief panel. Temple of Vishnu, Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Variety

• Variety is a collection of ideas, elements, or materials that are fused together into one design

• Variety is about uniqueness and diversity

• Artists use a multiplicity of values, textures, colors, and so on to intensify the impact of a work

• Variety can invigorate a design

• Variety is the artist’s way of giving a work of art a jolt

1.119 Variety of shapes and values set into a grid

Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram

• Used variety to energize his artwork and challenge his viewers

• The work features a stuffed goat with a tire around its middle standing on a painting

• By combining these objects, Rauschenberg creates an outlandish symbol of himself as a rebel and outcast

• By using a variety of non-traditional art materials and techniques, the work becomes a transgression against traditional art and morals

1.120 Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1955–9. Mixed media with taxidermy goat, rubber tire, and tennis ball, 42 x 63¼ x 64½”.Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

Using Variety to Unify

• Even while using a variety of different shapes, colors, values, or other elements, an artist can create visual harmony

Album quilt

• These carefully sewn quilts are named after the scrapbooks kept by Baltimore girls

• Like a scrapbook, these quilts use a variety of images and fuse them together into a finished work

• Because a strong structure is imposed on the many different shapes through the use of a grid, the work holds together as a unified whole

1.121 Album quilt, probably by Mary Evans, Baltimore, Maryland, 1848. Appliquéd cottons with inkwork, 9 x 9’. Private collection

Balance

• Just as real objects have physical weight, parts of a work of art can have visual weight, or impact

• If the amount of visual weight does not have a reasonable counterweight on the opposite side, the work may appear to be unsuccessful or unfinished

• If there are reasonable visual counterweights the work seems complete, and balance has been achieved

Symmetrical Balance

• If a work can be cut in half and each side looks exactly (or nearly exactly) the same, then it is symmetrically balanced– Near-perfect symmetry exists in the human

body– Because it is a part of our physical body,

symmetry can seem very natural and we can make natural connections to it

Ritual container from Gui, China• Artists of ancient China designed a

creature born of symmetry called the t’ao t’ieh

• The image of the creature in an artwork is not immediately apparent, because its form is “hidden” amongst many separate symmetrical shapes and forms

• It is as if a symmetrical collection of elements coalesces to reveal a monster mask

• The meaning of this motif is mysterious, but it may symbolize communication with the gods

• On each side of the central ridge are patterns thatmirror each other

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

Muqi, Six Persimmons

• Chinese artists have used asymmetrical balance to reflect on life and spirituality

• Dark, light, and the subtle differences in shape are not distributed evenly between the left and right sides ofthe work

• The artist creates subtle variations in the placement of the persimmons on each side of the central axis

• Brilliantly counteracts the visual “heaviness” of theright side by placing one shape lower on the left

• The use of brush and ink was a form of meditation, through simple, thoughtful actions, in search of higher knowledge

Radial Balance

• Radial balance (or symmetry) is achieved when all elements in a work are equidistant from a central point and repeat in a symmetrical way from side to side and top to bottom

• Can imply circular and repeating elements

• Sometimes used in religious symbols and architecture where repetition plays an important role in the design

• Andrea Palladio. (Venice,1565/6- 1601), book II, p. 19Copyright: RIBA Library Photographs Collection

• Palladio built the Villa Rotonda close to the town of Vicenza as a place of entertainment. It is also sometimes known as the Villa Almerico Capra, after the original patron, Monsignor Paolo Almerico, and its later owners, the Capra family.

• The design: The villa’s location on top of a low hill is key to its design.

• An artist creates compositional unity by __________.

a) organizing all the visual elements of the workb) creating more variety in the piecec) intensifying parts of the compositiond) scattering the elements apart in the worke) meditating on the work

• In his work The Flagellation Piero della Francesca communicates a mood of detachment and contemplation by using this principle of design.

a) Varietyb) Balancec) Scaled) Unitye) Emphasis

• An interior designer can balance curved and straight lines to __________ each other.

a) complementb) negatec) contradictd) invigoratee) define

• Artists face a communication challenge: to find a __________ within the chaos of nature and to select and organize materials into a harmonious composition.

a) truthb) varietyc) structured) voide) none of these answers

• A work can still display unity, even if none of the visual elements has anything in common, if __________.

a) there is an extreme amount of varietyb) conceptual unity is usedc) all the visual parts are balancedd) there is a focal pointe) only two colors are present

• Gestalt unity is a term that is derived from this language:

a) Turkish.b) German.c) French.d) Greek.

• A good example of variety in a work would be __________.

a) the use of patternb) repetitionc) one color used in a workd) one texture used in a worke) different shapes and colors

• Hokusai’s print of The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa uses compositional unity in which of these ways?

a) It makes the wave crests like the snow on Mt. Fujib) It repeats the shape of Mt. Fuji throughout the

workc) It repeats textures throughout the workd) It places the boats in proximity to one anothere) All of the other answers

• 9.When Tibetan Buddhist monks create a sand mandala, they are creating a composition that has this kind of balance:

a) radial.b) symmetrical.c) asymmetrical.d) pictorial.e) actual.

• The focal point of Rauschenberg’s sculpture Monogram is __________.

a) a stuffed parrotb) Vishnuc) a t’ao t’iehd) a stuffed goate) a houseboat

Chapter 1.7

Scale and Proportion

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS


PART 1FUNDAMENTALS

Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields


Introduction

We perceive scale in relation to our own size Art objects created on a monumental scale appear larger

than they would be in normal life

Art objects created on a human scale correspond to the size of things as they actually exist

Small-scale objects appear smaller than our usual experience of them in the real world

Usually, an artist ensures that all the parts of an object are in proportion to one another

But discordant proportions can express specific meanings

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Scale

Artists and designers make conscious choices about the scale of their work when they consider the message they want to put across

A small-scale work implies intimacy

Large-scale works can be experienced by groups of viewers and usually communicate big ideas directed at a large audience

Practical considerations can affect an artist’s decision about scale too

Cost, time it will take to execute the piece, and demands that a specific location may place on the work are all factors

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Scale and Meaning

Usually a monumental scale indicates heroism or other epic virtues

War monuments, for example, often feature figures much larger than life-size in order to convey the bravery of the warriors

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen,Mistos (Match Cover)

• Uses monumental scale to poke fun while expressing admiration for the little things of everyday life

• Oldenburg transforms the essence of everyday things as he magnifies their sculptural form

• Oldenburg believes that the items of mass culture, no matter how insignificant they might seem, express a truth about modern life

1.126 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Mistos (Match Cover), 1992. Steel, aluminum, fiber-reinforced plastic, painted with polyurethane enamel, 68' x 33' x 43’4”. Collection La Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain

Robert Lostutter, The Hummingbirds

• Lostutter uses small scale to enhance the character of his work

• He likes to create his works on the scale not of a human but of a bird

• The tiny scale of the work—only one person at a time can see it properly—forces us to come closer, so viewing it becomes an intimate experience

1.127 Robert Lostutter, The Hummingbirds, 1981. Watercolor on paper, 1¾ x 5⅝”. Collection of Anne and Warren Weisberg

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



Hierarchical Scale

Hierarchical scale refers to the deliberate use of relative size in a work of art, in order to communicate differences in importance

Almost always, larger means more important, and smaller means less important

Hierarchical scale: Relief from the northern wall of the hypostyle hall at the great temple of Amun

• In the art of ancient Egypt, the king, or pharaoh, was usually the largest figure depicted because he had the highest status in the social order

• This scene depicts the military campaign of Pharaoh Seti I (figure A) against the Hittites and Libyans

1.128 slide 1: Relief from the northern wall of the hypostyle hall at the great temple of Amun, 19 th Dynasty, c. 1295–1186 BCE.

Karnak, Egypt

1.128 slide 2: Hierarchical scale: Relief from the northern wall of the hypostyle hall at the great temple of Amun, 19th Dynasty, c. 1295–1186 BCE.

Karnak, Egypt

Jan van Eyck, Madonna in a Church

• Uses hierarchical scale to communicate spiritual importance

• In his effort to glorify the spiritual importance of Mary and the Christ child, Van Eyck separates them from normal human existence

– Van Eyck has scaled them to symbolize their central importance in the Christian religion

1.129 Jan van Eyck, Madonna in a Church, 1437–8. Oil on wood panel, 12⅝ x 5½”. Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin, Germany

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



Distorted Scale

An artist may deliberately distort scale to create an abnormal or supernatural effect

Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

• Dorothea Tanning was a Surrealist artist

• The sunflower seems huge in relation to the interior architecture and the two female figures standing on the left

• By contradicting our ordinary experience of scale, Tanning invites us into a world unlike the one we know

• Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”) is a title borrowed from a lighthearted piece of music by the composer Mozart, but ironically Tanning’s scene exhibits a strange sense of dread

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

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Proportion

The relationships between the sizes of different parts of a work make up its proportions

By controlling these size relationships, an artist can enhance the expressive and descriptive characteristics of the work

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1.131 Examples of how proportion changes on vertical and horizontal axes

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Human Proportion

Carefully chosen proportion can make an art object seem pleasing to the eye

This goes for the human body, too

The ancient Egyptians used the palm of the hand as a unit of measurement

The ancient Greeks sought an ideal of beauty in the principle of proportion

The models used by the Greeks for calculating human proportion were later adopted by artists of ancient Rome, and then by Renaissance artists

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



1.132 Ancient Egyptian system using the human hand as a standard unit of measurement

Nigerian Ife artist, Figure of Oni

• The Oni is the most powerful and important figure in this culture

• The head is large in proportion to the rest of the body; the Yoruba believe that the head is the seat of a divine power

• Many African sculptures exaggerate the head and face as a way to communicate status, destiny, and a connection to the spiritual

1.133 Nigerian Ife artist, Figure of Oni, early 14th–15th century. Brass with lead, 18⅜” high. National Museum, Ife, Nigeria

Raphael, The School of AthensScale and Proportion in a Renaissance Masterpiece

• Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his pursuit of perfection

• He indicated the importance of his masterpiece by creating it on a magnificent scale

• He composed the individual figures so that the 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

1.134 Raphael, The School of Athens, 1510–11. Fresco, 16’ 8” x 25’. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican City

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The Golden Section

The Golden Section is a proportional ratio of 1:1.618, which occurs in many natural objects

Real human bodies do not have exactly these proportions, but when the ratio 1:1.618 is applied to making statues, it gives naturalistic results

The proportions of Ancient Greek sculptures are often very close to the Golden Section

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



1.135 The Golden Section

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

1.137 Diagram of proportional formulas used in the statue

Poseidon

• As a Greek god, Poseidon had to have perfect proportions

• The sculptor applied a conveniently simple ratio, using the head as a standard measurement

• The body is three heads wide (at the shoulders) by seven heads high

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



Proportional Ratios

“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

The result is an elegant spiral shape

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away

• Henry Peach Robinson was a great photographic innovator

• This image shows Robinson’s attention to the coordinated ratios in artistic composition

• Notice how the right-hand drape divides the photograph into two Golden Rectangles, and how the spiral draws our eye to the dying young woman

1.138a Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858. Combination albumen print. George Eastman House, Rochester, New York

1.138b Proportional analysis: Henry Peach Robinson’s Fading Away

Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon

• By applying the idealized rules of proportion for the human body to the design of the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena, the Greeks created a harmonious design– The proportions correspond

quite closely to the Golden Section

– The vertical and horizontal measurements work together to create proportional harmony

1.139 Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon, 447–432 BCE. Athens, Greece

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1.140 The use of the Golden Section in the design of the Parthenon

Click the image above to launch the video

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Chapter 1.5 Time and Motion


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Conclusion

When proportion conforms to scale, all the parts of the work look the way we expect them to

Scale and proportion are basic to most works; size choices influence all the other elements and principles in the design

PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



This concludes the PowerPoint slide set for Chapter 1.7

Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts By Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields


PART 1FUNDAMENTALS



1.126 Photo Attilio Maranzano. Photo courtesy the Oldenburg van Bruggen Foundation. Copyright 1992 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

1.127 Courtesy the artist

1.128 Werner Forman Archive, line artwork Ralph Larmann

1.129 Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

1.130 Purchased with assistance from the Art Fund and the American Fund for the Tate Gallery 1997 © Tate, London, 2011. © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2011

1.131, 1.132 Ralph Larmann

1.133 National Museum, Ife, Nigeria

1.134 Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican Museums, Rome

1.135 Ralph Larmann

1.136 National Archaeological Museum, Athens

1.137 Ralph Larmann

1.138a George Eastman House, New York

1.138b Ralph Larmann

1.139 iStockphoto.com

1.140 Ralph Larmann

Picture Credits for Chapter 1.7

• When a Yoruba sculptor created a human form, he or she made this body part disproportionately large:

a) feet.b) hands.c) head.d) torso.e) none of these body parts

• Something done on a monumental scale usually indicates __________ .

a) epic virtuesb) heroismc) braveryd) admiratione) all of the other answers

• This Greek sculptor wrote a treatise on how to create a statue of a human being with perfect proportions.

a) Platob) Aristotlec) Phidiasd) Michelangeloe) Polykleitos

• This use of scale can create an abnormal or supernatural effect, and was used by the Surrealists to do just that.

a) Proportionb) Distorted scalec) Monumental scaled) Small scalee) Balance

• Raphael’s School of Athens depicts this:a) a gathering of great scholars.b) the building where philosophy was taught.c) a Turkish bath.d) a group of figures with large heads.e) artists at work on Greek art.

• In Egyptian art the Pharaoh was almost always depicted in this way.

a) Small in relation to other objectsb) The same as other figuresc) Along the edge of the workd) As the largest of all figurese) Lying down

• Robert Lostutter creates his work with a particular scale in mind. That scale relates to these animals:

a) birds.b) elephants.c) whales.d) insects.e) microbes.

• Scale can be used to indicate importance but not __________ .

a) sizeb) bignessc) significanced) smallnesse) none of these answers

• Henry Peach Robinson created his photographic work Fading Away by using a Golden __________ for the format dimensions.

a) Triangleb) Spiralc) Squared) Sectione) Harp

• A work that is created in small scale can communicate __________ .

a) intimacyb) monumentalityc) big ideasd) epic storiese) all of the other answers

art 110 (1.6&1.7)

Education

indivisible unity

masterpiece of unity

kinds of unity

introduction unity

design variety

michael interior design

work of art

unified composition