The Visual Elements: I

Lecture 3A

Lecture Overview:

The 5 Main Visual Elements

1. Line /Shape

2 Space

3. Texture/Pattern

4. Time / Motion

5. Light / Color

“The language of art is

…the visual elements.”

“ I found I could only say

things with color that I

couldn’t say in any other

way—things I had no words

for.”

Georgia O’Keeffe

1. LINE

Lines are our basic means for

recording and symbolizing

ideas, observations, and

feelings.

Begin your examination of

every work by looking at and

describing the lines you see.

How many types of lines can

we as a class come up with?

FUNCTIONS OF LINE

Function 1: Indicate the edge of a 2D or 3D form

Outlines: indicate the edges of a two-dimensional shape.

Contours: indicate the edges of a three-dimensional form.

Implied lines: lines created by the viewer’s perception.

Dotted lines

Pointing our finger

Lines of sight

Following the

edges of several

objects to create a

shape

Giacometti, Man Pointing, 1947.

Function 2: Direct the viewer’s gaze

Titian, Assumption and Consecration of the

Virgin, ca. 1516-1518.

Function 3: Suggest Movement or Stillness

Theodore Gericault, Raft of the Medusa, 1818-1819

Horizontal and Vertical = Stillness, Stability

Diagonal = Movement, Chaos

Function 4: To convey emotional states.

What do the lines in this work tell us about Socrates’ attitude

towards his imminent death by a cup of poison?

SHAPE, MASS, AND SPACE

SHAPE and MASS Shape: a 2D form that

occupies area with identifiable boundaries that can be measured in height and width.

Mass: a 3D form that occupies a actual space. Has height, width, and depth.

Mondrian, 1930 and Sennefer, New Kingdom Egypt

Positive and Negative Shapes

Positive shapes: the

figures that draw our

attention (often the

sujbect matter).

Negative shapes: the

background.

Since we are used to

filtering out the

background, we have to

shift our awareness and

learn to see everything

the artist has included.

Donald Sultan, Lemons, May 16, 1984, 1984.

What are the positive and negative shapes in

Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks?

2. SPACE

Actual space: space of the real world occupied by 3D arts. To

fully understand a work of art in actual space, the viewer must

walk around or in the artwork.

Ara Pacis Augustae, 12-9 BCE. Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate, 2004

Implied space/depth: the illusion of space created on a

2D surface. Oftentimes created through a combo of

techniques.

Caillebtotte, Paris

Street on a Rainy

Day, 1876-1877.

TRICKS AND TECHNIQUES

TO CREATE THE ILLUSION

OF SPACE ON A 2D SURFACE

Techniques 1, 2, and 3: Overlapping, Diminishing Size,

and Vertical Placement

Clues to Spatial Depth

Technique 4: Linear Perspective

A technique based on the observation that parallel lines seem to

converge as they recede from the viewer, finally meeting at a

vanishing point. Linear perspective relies on a fixed viewpoint.

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.

1 point Linear Perspective as developed during

the Italian Renaissance

Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-1498.

1 point Linear Perspective as developed during

the Italian Renaissance

A work MUST HAVE 1 or 2 precise vanishing points to be linear

perspective.

A work MUST HAVE 1 or 2 precise vanishing points to be linear

perspective.

Duccio, Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin, 1308-1311.

Which work

uses linear

perspective?

Technique 5: Oblique Projection

The Three Sacred Shrines at Kumano,

ca. 1300.

A means of representing

buildings in which one side is

parallel to the picture plane,

and the sides of the buildings

use parallel oblique (ie slanted

lines).

Technique 6: Atmospheric Perspective

A technique based on the observation that objects appear paler and/or bluer, and less distinct the further away they are from the viewer due to the way moisture in the intervening atmosphere scatters light.

Durand, Kindred Spirits. See also Albert Beirstadt.

Technique 7: Foreshortening

Foreshortening is when

the dimensions of the

closer extremities are

adjusted in order to make

up for the distortion

created by the point of

view.

Difficult technique to

master!

Andrea Mantegna, The Dead Christ,

1501.

Left: What a realistic image of a man from this perspective

would look like.

FLAT SPACE IN NON-

WESTERN AND MODERN ART

Western artists trained

in a mimetic mode of

representation saw

new ways of depicting

space when introduced

to Japanese works.

FLAT

No “in-between” space

Odd cropping

Few values

Hiroshige, Moon Pine, Ueno, No. 89, 1856.

What gives

Matisse’s Harmony

in Red a flat, 2D

feel?

Can a contemporary, non-representational work embody space? Why

or why not?

TEXTURE, PATTERN, TIME,

AND MOTION

3. TEXTURE and PATTERN

Texture: the

surface quality of a

work. Can be

actual, implied

(visual), or both.

Michelangelo, The Pieta (detail of

the Virgin Mary), 1501.

What implied (visual)

textures are visible in

Ingres’ Comtess

d’Haussonville?

3. TEXTURE and PATTERN

Pattern: a repetitive

motif or design.

Often associated

with

decorative/functional

arts and crafts.

Kente prestige cloth, Ghana, 19th

century.

Pattern is often found in the arts

of people that have prohibited

representational art.

4. TIME and MOTION

Artists throughout the ages have sought to represent the passage of time and the movement of objects through space.

Scenes from Genesis in

the Moutier-Grandval

Bible, ca. 840

Registers: bands of

decoration. Can contain

narrative scenes.

Implied Motion

The viewer infers

motion is occurring

through diagonal lines

and/or repetition.

Bernini, David, 1623.

Actual motion

Kinetic art:

art that moves

Alexander Calder, Untitled, 1977.

Motion in the Arts in the 20th and 21st centuries

In the 20th century, new technologies and media allowed for new ways in which to include the elements of time and motion in the arts.

Dervish video on YouTube

Jennifer Steinhamp, Dervish, detail of a

video installation in New York, 2004.

Motion Pictures (and TV shows!)