The Visual Elements of line, shape/form, colour, value, pattern, texture and space are the building blocks of composition in art. When we analyse any drawing, painting, sculpture or design, we examine these component parts to see how they combine to create the overall effect of the artwork.
Each of the elements may also be used individually to stress their own particular character in an artwork. Different elements can express qualities such as movement and rhythm, space and depth, growth and structure, harmony and contrast, noise and calm and a wide range of emotions that make up the subjects of great art. |
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) |
LINE
Line is the foundation of all drawing. It is the first and most versatile of the visual elements of art. Line in an artwork can be used in many different ways. It can be used to suggest shape, pattern, form, structure, growth, depth, distance, rhythm, movement and a range of emotions.
The way we draw a line can convey different expressive qualities:
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LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519) |
Line as Tone and Form | HENRY MOORE (1898-1986) |
Line as Texture 'The Architects Home In The Ravine' is an enchanting painting by Peter Doig based on photographs and childhood memories of Beaumont House, the home of the famous Canadian architect, Eberhard Zeidler. This is a vast postmodern landscape that draws on many different artistic influences and ideas. You can see its Canadian heritage in the art of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. The painting is as much about surface as it is about depth, recalling the woodland scenes of Paul Cézanne and Gustave Klimpt; it is as much about abstraction as it is about representation, evoking both the dense dribble and spatter of a Jackson Pollock and the isolation and emptiness of an Edward Hopper; and it is as much about the relationship between man and his environment, with nature reclaiming its own habitat as the architecture is menacingly encircled by the encroaching forest. Viewed from a high eye-level, an impenetrable weave of frosted branches glisten with snow and hang like a veil, obscuring the ice-cold building and its frozen pool. If an artist from an earlier and more traditional era had painted this picture, he or she would have started with the distant features of the background, building the image layer upon layer until they finished in the foreground with the veil of branches. Doig, however, establishes this dense tracery of lines earlier in the painting process and uses it as a device to pull your eye to the surface of the work. He then begins to explore the expanse of that surface by painting between the branches to develop a rich patchwork of color and texture that focuses on the abstract and expressive qualities of the medium. 'The place is a kind of portal to possibilities in painting. The painting is what it becomes, and when I start I don’t know what that will be. That’s what makes the process so fascinating.' |
PETER DOIG (1959-)
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Line as Structure Line can be used to generate the fundamental forces in the composition of an artwork. In Robert Delaunay's image of the Eiffel Tower, one from a series of eleven painted between 1909-11 when the tower was the tallest man-made structure on the planet, the artist uses the rhythmic lines of its structure to suggest its staggering power as it ascends into the skies. The contrasting curves of the clouds double up as billowing dust as this colossal construction bursts through the municipal buildings to become the global symbol of modernity at the onset of the Modernist age. ROBERT DELAUNEY (1885-1941) |
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Line as Movement |
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (c.1760-1849) |
Line as Emotion |
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) |
Line as Energy |
REMBRANDT VAN RIJN (1606-1669) |
Line as Form |
ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976) |
Line as Abstraction PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) |
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SHAPE
Shape can be natural or man-made, regular or irregular, flat (2-dimensional) or solid (3-dimensional), representational or abstract, geometric or organic, transparent or opaque, positive or negative, decorative or symbolic, colored, patterned or textured. The Perspective of Shapes: The angles and curves of shapes appear to change depending on our viewpoint. The technique we use to describe this change is called perspective drawing. The Behaviour of Shapes: Shapes can be used to control your feelings in the composition of an artwork:
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FRANCIS CAMPBELL BOILEAU CADELL (1883-1937) |
Two Dimensional Shapes |
M. C. ESCHER (1898-1972) |
Three Dimensional Shapes ANTHONY CARO (1924-2013) |
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Representational Shapes Representational art is the blanket term we use to describe any artwork whose shapes are drawn with some degree of visual accuracy. Realism, however, is not the sole objective of representational art. It can be stylized with various levels of detail, from a simple monochrome outline to a fully rendered form with color, tone, pattern and texture. For example, compare the exquisite detail of 'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' by Harmen Steenwyck to 'The Blue Fan' by Francis Cadell at the top of the page. Both are still life paintings that use accurate representational shapes but the former evolves as an outstanding study of tone and texture while the latter abstracts and develops color as a major theme of the work. |
HARMEN STEENWYCK (1612-1656) |
'Still Life: An Allegory of the Vanities of Human Life' is the pinnacle of representational art. It is painted with a remarkably realistic technique but it is more than just an example of skilled craftsmanship. Each object has a unique symbolic meaning and works together to create a moral narrative within the group. To discover more about the hidden secrets of this artwork: Harmen Steenwyck - Vanitas Still Life Painting.
'The Blue Fan' also uses accurate representational shapes which play a major role in the composition of the work but the balance of the other visual elements is altered for creative effect: tone and texture are suppressed to allow the expressive qualities of shape, color and pattern to flourish.
Abstract Shapes |
PAUL CÉZANNE (1881-1973) |
- creating a balanced arrangement of shapes, some of which may be distorted for the benefit of the composition.
- defining depth and form with the natural properties of color, where warm colors appear to advance while cool colors recede.
- adapting his painting technique by using regulated brushstrokes to emphasize the unity of surface in his work.
Cézanne was not interested in the Impressionists' attempts to imitate the fleeting effects of light and color in nature. He called his paintings 'constructions after nature' [1] where the colors and forms that he observed were reconstructed as 'something solid and durable, like the art of the museum'.Abstract artists attempt to stimulate an emotional response by arranging the visual elements in a
harmonic or dynamic configuration, much in the same way that a musician uses sound, pitch, tempo and silence to compose a piece of music. A musical analogy has often been used to help describe the effect of abstract art on the viewer.
Most people find it difficult to look at an abstract image without intuitively trying to interpret it through their
understanding of representational forms. When looking at abstract artworks, the viewer often needs to take a transcendent leap and open their mind to the metaphysical properties of the visual elements, embracing a more spiritual response as opposed to an analytical one.
Piet Mondrian, the major artist of the De Stijl movement, was arguably the greatest exponent of 'pure' abstraction in the 20th century. Throughout many years of development he reduced the visual elements of his paintings to horizontals, verticals, rectangles and primary colors with black, white and grey. He gave his paintings objective titles such as 'Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue' to try to disconnect them from any representational interpretation. His art was an attempt to discover a new language of universal relationships whose visual harmony could somehow touch the human spirit. One of his last great works, 'Broadway Boogie Woogie', is possibly the 'purest' of his paintings but its title paradoxically pulls us back into the realms of representation with its musical reference to Broadway in New York. Consequently it becomes very difficult to look at the work without relating it to an aerial view of the buildings and traffic flow through Manhattan. Once you have that image in your mind, the pulsing of the small squares becomes the movement of vehicles along the streets and colors such as yellow take on unintended references to New York taxis. Despite this representational distraction, it is a testament to the abstract qualities of this painting that it still retains the power to move us. |
PIET MONDRIAN (1872-1944) |
As a serious art form, pure abstraction is a rarified atmosphere. It requires the artist to look inwards with a rigorous discipline and to rely entirely on their own instincts and experience of the visual elements to inspire their creative vision. The representational artist has a far greater degree of freedom with both the natural and fabricated worlds accessible as the source of their inspiration, but the abstract artist has the unique opportunity to create something that has never been seen before. Perhaps the best art like 'Broadway Boogie Woogie' has a foot in both camps: it can create an idealized image that lifts the spirit but it also has a reassuring hold on reality.
Positive and Negative Shapes In 'Colonial Cubism', Stuart Davis plays with our interpretation of space by using color to subvert our reading of positive and negative shapes. He wrote, "I think of color as an interval of space - not as red or blue. People used to think of color and form as two things. I think of them as the same thing, so far as the language of painting is concerned. Color in a painting represents different positions in space." When we look at certain shapes in this work, their form appears to either advance or recede depending on their adjacent shapes and colors. Despite the fact that they are flat and on the same plane, they alternate between a positive or negative reading of their space. |
STUART DAVIS (1892-1964) |
There were two things that Davis loved which had a profound effect on his painting: New York and jazz. The title of this painting is a humorous reference to the ambience of New York as the inspiration for the shapes and colors of the work while acknowledging the European origins of its style. His love of jazz is reflected in the syncopated rhythm of his shapes as they oscillate between a positive and negative reading across the composition.
Geometric Shapes Geometric Shapes were originally formed mechanically using a ruler or compass. However today, even the most complex geometric forms can be easily created using digital imaging software. In art they tend to be used to convey the idea of rigidity, structure, pattern, perspective and 3 dimensional form. |
AL HELD (1928-2005) |
Organic Shapes Organic Shapes are usually natural, irregular and freeform in character. You can see them in the patterns of growth and decay in nature; in the shapes of seeds, plants, leaves, flowers, fruit, trees, branches; and in the ephemeral forms of clouds and water. They are also associated with anatomical forms such as heart and kidney shapes. Organic shapes can convey a sense of formation and development, and suggest qualities such as softness, sensuality, flexibility and fluidity. In 'Pastoral' by Graham Sutherland, the scene is set in a walled garden with a cast of organic forms. Two ancient trees, one a hollowed out trunk, the other a bent and twisted bough, commune in the choreographed language of abstract forms. The younger members of the woodland surround these two elders like an attentive audience absorbing their wisdom and experience. The clouds add a sympathetic backdrop while the garden wall acts like a geometric counterpoint to this organic drama. |
GRAHAM SUTHERLAND (1903-1980) |
Symbolic and Decorative Shapes Decorative Shapes: All decorative forms are based on either Nature or Geometry or a combination of both. Within each of these categories lies a huge range of styles that cross historical, geographic and cultural borders including Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Arabian, Turkish, Persian, Islamic, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African, Asian, Oceanic, Native
American, Celtic, Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernism and Post-Modernism (the eclectic combination of any of the aforementioned). |
EADFRITH, BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE (died 721) |
Transparent, Reflective and Opaque Shapes |
RICHARD ESTES (b. 1932) |
The Perspective of Shapes |
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920-) |
FORM
Form relates to the physical volume of a shape and the space that it occupies.
Three-Dimensional Form can be modelled (added form), carved (subtracted form)
and constructed (built form). It can be created from sculptural materials like clay, wax, plaster, wood, stone, concrete, cast and constructed metal, plastics, resins, glass and mixed media. It may also be kinetic, involving light and movement generated by natural, mechanical and electronic means. More recently the CAD process of 3D printing has be been added to the list of sculptural processes. IGOR MITORAJ (1944-2014) |
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Form as Carving ANCIENT EGYPYIAN RELIEF CARVING |
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The Laocoön is a marble sculpture just over two metres high that dates from around 42-20 B.C. Its tortuous form provided the model for the visual description of pain and suffering in Western Art. The Laocoön is such a unique image that it is not until the art of Michelangelo, more than 1500 years later, when we next encounter sculpture of comparative expressive power. |
AGESANDER, POLYDORUS, and ATHENODORUS |
Michelangelo Buonarroti was present in 1506 when The Laocoön was unearthed on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. Its dynamic figures had a major influence on the depiction of the human form in his mature painting and sculpture. The twisting torsos of the Sistine ceiling 'Ignudi' and the central figure of Christ in the 'Last Judgement', along with the unfinished 'Slaves' for the tomb of Pope Julius II are all testament to the deep impression that the
Laocoön made on Michelangelo. |
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI (1475-1564) |
Unlike the sculptors of the Laocoön, who would have carefully planned their approach to a work in order to correlate the connection of its interlocking parts, Michelangelo intuitively carved his sculptures from a single block of marble. He would chisel directly into the block from the front towards the back, slowly releasing the form that was trapped within the stone. Michelangelo is often quoted as having said, 'Every block of stone has a statue inside it and
it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.' Nowhere is this more evident than in his four unfinished sculptures of the 'Slaves'. Not only do these sculptures illustrate Michelangelo's carving technique, but like all great art they have a resonance beyond their original subject matter. |
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI (1475-1564) |
Wood Carving Wood and stone are the most traditional of sculptural materials due to their natural availability. As wood is a less durable material than stone, fewer examples of wooden sculptures have survived from the earlier eras of art. Wood has also tended to be the medium of the artisan as fine artists and their clients have favoured more permanent materials such as stone and bronze. There are,
however, some notable exceptions to be found in artists like Tilman Riemenschneider, the outstanding German sculptor who worked in the northern Bavarian town of Würzburg. |
WORKSHOP OF TILMAN RIEMENSCHNEIDER (1460-1531) |
At the start of the 20th century African masks were collected by artists like Picasso, Matisse, Derain and Modigliani who were inspired by their bold visual impact and unusual sculptural form. Picasso, in particular, saw the potential of incorporating their striking imagery into his own work in an attempt to revitalise the tired tradition of figurative art. Although these artists had no great appreciation of the cultural values of African masks, they sensed that the creative approach of the tribal artist opened the door to a wider exploration of the relationship between the form, medium and content of an artwork. The result was a cross-cultural fertilization of the 'classical' with the 'primitive' which gave birth to Cubism, Fauvism and Expressionism as well as influencing some of the more mystical elements of Surrealism. The form and content of an African mask were alien to the conventions of academic realism and as such, they offered a new freedom of expression to the contemporary artist. For example, mask imagery was often multi-layered, combining human and animal features in one design to symbolize an ecological balance. Masks were also a vigorous statement about experience, more than they were a response to what the artist had observed. Modern artists recognized the creative potential in this conceptual approach and were eager to explore it in their own work. |
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Tribal masks were mostly used in ceremonial dances as a channel of communication between the natural and supernatural worlds. Wood, the most common material used for making masks, was chosen not only for its abundance in the forest but also for its quality as a spiritual medium. Some tribal artists would take time to pay their respects to the life-force of a tree, requesting its permission to be cut down and used to make a carving. They
felt that the tree had its own soul and that its wood was the natural host for the spirit of their work. This kind of holistic approach to carving invested the form of a mask with a certain integrity that reflected contemporary ideas about 'truth to materials' where the sculptor respects the natural properties of wood or stone and allows them to show through in the finished work.
The adoption of these so-called 'primitive' conventions by modern artists actually widened the parameters of
artistic creativity and encouraged a more experimental attitude to the development of the form, medium and content of an artwork.
The sculpture of Henry Moore links the 'classical' with the 'primitive' and the figure with the landscape in an ambiguous relationship of form and space. You can see all these elements working simultaneously in his wood carving of a 'Reclining Figure' from 1936. The 'classical' in this sculpture lies in its subject matter which references numerous works of art from different eras stretching back to Greco-Roman antiquity. The 'primitive' element was inspired by the reclining pose of Chacmool figures, Pre-Columbian statues that date back to around 900 A.D.. Moore's admiration of 'primitive' art was not confined to African culture, but also included Pre-Columbian and Oceanic art. 'The distinguishing quality of most primitive art is the intense vitality which it possesses, because it has been made by a people in close touch with life, who felt simply and strongly, and whose art was a means of expressing vitally important beliefs, hopes and fears.' |
HENRY MOORE (1898-1986) |
'There are universal shapes to which everybody is subconsciously conditioned and to which they can respond if their conscious control does not shut them off.' [5] As you walk around Moore's 'Reclining Figure' you register an impression of the sensual curves of the female form: the angle of a shoulder as it balances above the prop of an elbow, the line of a back which glides into the swell of a hip and
the bulge of a thigh which flexes at a bulbous knee. On the same walk around the work, the ambiguity of these undulating forms may assume a geological metaphor where the figure adopts an Neolithic quality, like a stone that has been worn smooth and hollowed out by centuries of erosion. With another perceptual shift you may discern the configuration of a landscape where the form of the sculpture takes on the nature of hills, valleys, canyons, cliffs and caves. This synthesis of figure and
landscape is one of the major themes of Henry Moore's work.
'Reclining Figure' is also an exemplary illustration of 'truth to materials'. Its skillful carving and polished finish highlight its wood grain which behaves like an ingrained drawing that defines the contours of its form.
Form as Modelling and Casting Modelling is a process of adding form which is traditionally applied with malleable materials like wax or clay. Modelling offers the sculptor more freedom of expression than carving due to the tactility of its media, its speed of application and the adaptability of its techniques. Unlike wood or stone, if you make a mistake in your work you can scrape it out and add fresh material or smooth it down and start again. Modelling is often a transitional phase in the development of a sculpture. Models in clay or wax, which are soft materials, are usually cast in harder materials like bronze, plaster or reinforced plastics to give them a more durable finish. Good casting can give a perfect reproduction of the surface of the original model. |
AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917) |
In our detail of Rodin's 'Call to Arms', which was originally modelled in clay before it was cast in bronze, you can see the vitality and physicality of the artist at work in the energetic imprints of his fingers and hands as he pushes and pulls the clay over surface of the sculpture.
Auguste Rodin stands at the cutting edge of modern sculpture in a similar position that Claude Monet holds in relation to modern painting. As Monet was captivated by the changing effects of light on color, Rodin was fascinated by the changing play of light across the surface of a sculpture and how that generated the internal energy of the work. Since the heights of Michelangelo's mannerism and the baroque dramas of Bernini, the power of sculpture as a creative force had gradually diminished to the level of the academic and the ornamental. Rodin's career as a sculptor followed a conventional path until 1875 when he visited Italy and saw the works of Michelangelo. These had such a profound effect on him that he declared in a letter to his assistant, the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, 'My liberation from academicism came through Michelangelo, who by teaching me rules diametrically opposed to those I had been taught, freed me....'. What Rodin learned from Michelangelo was how to use the human form as a vehicle for emotional expression. Onto the academic rigour of his early training, Rodin grafted the distortion and exaggeration of Michelangelo's mannerist style, the evocative potential of his 'non finito' (Michelangelo's unfinished sculptures) and an expressive modelling technique whose rippling surface lit up his figures with an animated interplay of light and shade. While Michelangelo had carved his figures in stone, Rodin modelled his in clay and it was the fluidity of this material that sparked life into his turbulent forms. |
AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917) |
'Call to Arms' was originally designed as a competition entry for a monument to commemorate the defence of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war but the conservative jury rejected Rodin's sculpture as too radical in its concept and technique. However, the work was later cast in 1920 as monument to the French soldiers who fought at Verdun during the First World War. It comprises two figures emerging from a 'non finito' base and
back. The lower is a wounded soldier who represents the victims of war and the upper is a Génie ailé (winged genius) who symbolizes the liberty gained through the heroic sacrifice of those who died. Both figures also reference existing icons of sacrifice and liberty: the soldier is remarkably similar to the figure of Christ in Michelangelo's unfinished 'Rondanini Pietà' in the Duomo in Florence, while the winged genius recalls the 'Genius of Liberty' in Francois Rude's relief of
'La Marseillaise' on the wall of the Arc de Triomphe.
Rodin's figure of the winged genius from 'Call to Arms' reappears as an independent form in 'The Spirit of War', a freestanding sculpture of 1883. Rodin often recast figures and used them in different configurations and contexts, an approach to composition that was adopted by many 20th century artists.
Alberto Giacometti had a direct line of artistic descendance from Rodin having studied under Antoine Bourdelle, a former assistant to the sculptor. Rodin, who always worked from life models, had sought to reflect the vitality of the human form through the play of light and shade on his vigorously modelled surfaces. Giacometti, working from both life and from memory, turned the expressiveness of sculpture up a notch by tirelessly modelling and remodelling his subject in an attempt to shape the essence of a figure in a single form. |
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) |
Giacometti's earlier work was first associated with Cubism, then Surrealism, followed by the influence of the spindly Etruscan bronze votive figures that contributed to his mature style. He claimed that his work of this later period was motivated by witnessing the death throes of his neighbour, Tonio Potosching, in the days before and hours after he passed away. He describes this traumatic event in ‘Le Rêve, le Sphinx et la Mort de T', a bizarre essay for 'Labyrinthe', the art journal published by Albert Skira in 1946: ‘Standing motionless by the bed, I looked at the head which had become an object, a little box, measurable and insignificant. At that moment, a fly approached the black hole of the mouth and slowly disappeared inside.’ This surreal encounter deeply affected his daily life as he experienced disturbing episodes where he envisaged all those around him as lifeless. The existential gap that he perceived between the state of 'Being and Nothingness' became the theme of his work for the rest of his life. He tried to exorcise his psychological trauma by pursuing the elusive spirit of his subject matter rather than simply describing its physical presence.
When Giacometti started a work like 'Grande Tête Mince' he worked from both the model, in this case his brother Diego, and from his imagination. He would eagerly shape and reshape the head in his search for that ephemeral spirit of 'being'. Giacometti always worked directly in front of the model, so intensively fixed on a perpendicular perspective that his observation and insight concentrated his vision into the pinch-edged form that we recognize as his style. He later tried to explain the artistic struggle that he experienced in this approach, 'The more I looked at the model, the more the screen between his reality and mine grew thicker. One starts by seeing the person who poses, but little by little all the possible sculptures of him intervene. The more a real vision of him disappears, the stranger his head becomes. One is no longer sure of his appearance, or of his size, or of anything at all. There were too many sculptures between my model and me. And when there were no more sculptures, there was a complete stranger that I no longer knew whom I saw or what I was looking at.' [9] There comes a point in this process where Giacometti exhausts all configurations and possibilities and has to accept a conclusion that is subjectively felt as much as it is objectively observed. The elusive spirit of Giacometti's work is discovered when he achieves that point of balance.
The technique of 'Giant Gym Shoes' is parody of late Abstract Expressionism. First, Oldenburg dramatically enlarges the size of the shoes as a critique of the relationship between the large scale and significance of their artwork. Next, he models their form in the most elementary manner possible using scrim soaked in plaster over a basic chicken wire frame, a comment on the crudeness of their technique. Finally, he caricatures their spontaneous expressiveness in a slapdash simulation of the Abstract Expressionist painting style. |
CLAES OLDENBURG (b.1929) |
Oldenburg has an amusing sense of irony in the contradictions between his medium and its subject. He subverts the expectation of our senses by making soft objects like the gym shoes out of a hard material like plaster, and hard objects like a drum kit out of soft vinyl cloth. He also plays with the scale of his subjects which lifts them out of context, forcing us to reappraise their form.
Form as Construction Constructed form refers to the various techniques you can use to build a sculpture. A work may be constructed from a single material or may explore an interesting combination of different materials. The rise of constructed form in sculpture is a 20th century phenomenon that is due to the development and production of new materials that offered a fresh creative challenge to artists. Constructed metal forms in sculpture developed as the direct influence of industrialization processes in the early years of the 20th century. The economic and social changes in Russia at this time gave rise to Constructivism, a revolutionary style of abstraction that reflected a Utopian belief in technology. The sculptures of Naum Gabo are among the most lyrical examples of Russian Constructivism. Their origin lies in Analytical Cubism but Gabo's constructivist refinements created a more elegant fusion of sculptural and structural forms. His idea was to develop a mode of construction that would define the space of a form as opposed to its mass which had been the preoccupation of most earlier sculpture. He later summarized this approach in an essay that he published in 1937, 'Up to now, the sculptors have preferred the mass and neglected or paid very little attention to such an important component of mass as space.......We consider space from an entirely different point of view. We consider it as an absolute sculptural element, released from any closed volume, and we represent it from inside with its own specific properties.' |
NAUM GABO (1890-1977) |
The spatial language that Gabo used to create works like 'Head No.2' was derived from the type of 3-dimensional models used by mathematicians and architects. Gabo constructed the work using a framework of planes that penetrate and organize the space that exists within its mass. The edges of the planes delineate the form of the head and unite its internal and external space.
David Smith, one of the greatest American sculptors of the 20th century, originally trained as a painter. He was inspired to explore the possibilities of welding as an expressive medium when he was introduced to the welded sculptures of Pablo Picasso. His development of this technique led him through a range of subjects and styles culminating in the 'Cubi' series of his later years. Like many cubo-constructivist influenced artists he evolved an abstract
language of form which, in the case of the 'Cubis', explored the delicate balance between mass, space and surface. It was not only Picasso's welding technique that inspired Smith, but also his ability to to develop a series of works by arranging and rearranging forms to discover the dynamics of their relationship. |
DAVID SMITH (1906-1965) |
Form as Light and Space However, light as a medium in art is a relatively new genre which, after a few experimental forays in first half of the 20th century, found a footing in the Light and Space movement of the 1960's and 70's. This was a loosely associated group of artists from Los Angeles who used materials like glass, neon, fluorescent lighting, plexiglas and acrylic resins to project and reflect light and color to transform our perception of space. James Turrell, who was at the forefront of the Light and Space movement, explores the optical and emotional properties of natural and artificial light to create a sublime visual experience. His work is a mixture of technology and the transcendental but it remains historically part of that Romantic tradition which Isaiah Berlin described as 'a longing for the unbounded and the indefinable, for perpetual movement and change, an effort to return to the forgotten sources of life, ..........a search after means of expressing an unappeasable yearning for unattainable goals.' |
JAMES TURRELL (b. 1943) |
Turrell is known for his 'Skyspaces'. These are architectural installations on specific sites around the world that frame an expanse of sky on a ceiling by masking the surrounding area. With a careful balance of proportions, transitional ambient lighting, comfortable seating and no visible edge to the opening, Turrell creates an intangible portal to the heavens that stuns the observer with a mystical vision of 'the spiritual side of light.'
Form as Land Art Land Art, also classified as Earth Art or Earthworks, took sculptural form out of the galleries and into the landscape using the natural materials of the locality to create the work. Such artworks are often designed for a particular site which may be small or vast in scale. Sometimes they are ephemeral forms, eroding or decomposing
naturally in their environment. Although monumental 'earthworks' have been built since ancient times for socio-religious purposes, the land art of the 1970s was motivated by two main factors: the limitations of the gallery system and a desire to collaborate with nature as the core of creativity. |
ROBERT SMITHSON (1938-1973) |
'The Spiral Jetty' by Robert Smithson is probably the most famous and most influential earthwork in modern art. It is 15 feet wide and projects 1500 feet into the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Smithson built this structure in three weeks using a bulldozer and dump trucks. He chose the site for its magical ambience as the lake changes color from a pink to lilac to red due to the build up of beta carotene in the high salinity of its shallow
water. What he particularly sought was 'landscapes that suggest prehistory. As an artist it is interesting to take on a persona of a geological agent and actually become part of that process rather than overcome it.' Not only does the work look prehistoric but the symbolism of its spiral also incorporates the myth of the lake: the early Mormon pioneers believed that the Salt Lake was connected to the Pacific ocean by an underground channel that influenced its
fluctuating water levels. The torque of Smithson's spiral is a metaphor for the ebb and flow of this force. In actuality, the lake is fed by three rivers but has no outflow to the sea and its water level rises markedly in wet years and falls during dry years. It is also affected by evaporation and the volume of water that is diverted for agricultural and urban uses.
By 1973, three years after the Spiral Jetty was built, the water level rose again, eventually submerging it to a
depth of around sixteen feet. Robert Smithson never saw the work again as he died in a plane crash that year while surveying sites for another work. By 1993 the jetty reappeared, encrusted with sparkling salt crystals. It had taken on his 'persona of a geological agent and actually become part of that process'. It is a dynamic form in a dynamic environment that is now, in equal measure due to the untimely death of the artist and its remote location, a bucket list
destination for artistic pilgrimages.
Form as Kinetic Art The potential of technology to induce motion as a key element of an artwork was the main influence on the development of kinetic art. It charged the work with a spirit of modernity, an essential hallmark of the avant-garde at the beginning of the modern era. Early Constructivist works like Naum Gabo's 'Standing Wave' and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's 'Light Space Modulator' may be technologically primitive by contemporary standards, but they opened artists' eyes to the possibilities of movement and light as components of form in art. |
ALEXANDER CALDER (1898-1976) |
At the start of the 1930's Alexander Calder brought a sense of humour and playfulness to art in America with the introduction of his constructivist influenced 'mobiles' - painted metal sculptures with moving parts that were incorporated as elements of their construction and composition. Naum Gabo had previously explored the concept of kinetic sculpture with his 'Kinetic Construction (Standing Wave)' of
1919-20 which was operated by an electric motor. The great advantage that Calder's 'mobiles' had over Gabo's 'Standing Wave' was that they were naturally propelled by air and did not need a separate power source. Their elegant construction technique allowed Calder more scope to focus on their aesthetic form, unhampered by the necessity to find a wall socket or disguise a cumbersome battery.
Alexander Calder created two different types of mobiles: 'hanging mobiles' which
were suspended from the wall or ceiling and 'standing mobiles' which moved in relation to a fixed base. As the components of a Calder 'mobile' ease into action, the changing relationships of their colors, shapes and form echo the graceful and fluctuating dynamics of natural motion. His inspiration for their colors and shapes evolved from a witty combination of Mondrian's pure abstraction with the biomorphic forms of Joan Miró. Although Calder's 'mobiles' have these obvious influences, they are
not simply animated versions of a Miro or a Mondrian. They are an assimilated concept that is immediately identifiable as Calder's work and very much part of the American idiom of cut, bolted and welded steel sculpture that influenced many sculptors of the 20th century including his fellow American, David Smith, and the British artist, Anthony Caro.
VALUE
Value defines the lightness or darkness of a color. The tonal values of an artwork can be adjusted to alter its expressive character.
JOHANNES VERMEER (1632-1675) |
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See images below that have been chosen because they all use value in an inspirational manner. Each art work has been analyzed to demonstrate how great artists use line as a creative force in their work:
COLOUR
Colour has the strongest effect on our emotions. It is the element we use to create the mood or atmosphere of an artwork.
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WASSILY KANDINSKY (1866-1944) |
See images below that have been chosen because they all use colour in an inspirational manner. Each art work has been analyzed to demonstrate how great artists use line as a creative force in their work:
TEXTURE
Texture defines the surface quality of an artwork - the roughness or smoothness of the material from which it is made. |
JAN VAN HUYSUM (1682-1747) |
See images below that have been chosen because they all use texture in an inspirational manner. Each art work has been analyzed to demonstrate how great artists use line as a creative force in their work:
SPACE
Space refers to the distances or areas around, between, and within components of a piece. Space can be positive or negative, open or closed, shallow or deep, and two-dimensional or three-dimensional. Sometimes space isn't explicitly presented within a piece, but the illusion of it is. In Thomas Hart Benton (Right- American, 1889–1975). The Sources of Country Music, the dancers space is contrasted with the oncoming rush of the railroad. |
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Using Space in Art Space gives the viewer a reference for interpreting an artwork. For instance, you may draw one object larger than another to imply that it is closer to the viewer. Likewise, a piece of environmental art may be installed in a way that leads the viewer through space. In his 1948 painting Christina's World, Andrew Wyeth contrasted the wide spaces of an isolated farmstead with a woman reaching towards it. French artist Henri Matisse used flat colors to create spaces in his Red Room (Harmony in Red), 1908. |
Andrew Wyeth (American, 1917-2009). Christina's World, 1948. Andrew Wyeth, The Museum of Modern Art, New York |
Negative and Positive Space Quite often, we think of positive as being light and negative as being dark. This does not necessarily apply to every piece of art. For example, you might paint a black cup on a white canvas. We wouldn't necessarily call the cup negative because it is the subject: The black value is negative, but the space of the cup is positive. |
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Opening Spaces In two-dimensional art, negative space can have a great impact. Consider the Chinese style of landscape paintings, which are often simple compositions in black ink that leave vast areas of white. The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) painter Dai Jin's Landscape in the Style of Yan Wengui and George DeWolfe's 1995 photograph Bamboo and Snowdemonstrate the use of negative space. This type of negative space implies a continuation of the scene and adds a certain serenity to the work. |
Outdoor sculpture by Henry Moore is one of several works, by various artists, arranged around the grounds of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, U.K. Ferne Arfin |
Negative space is also a key element in many abstract paintings. Many times a composition is offset to one side or the top or bottom. This can be used to direct the viewer's eye, emphasize a single element of the work, or imply movement, even if the shapes have no particular meaning. Piet Mondrian was a master of the use of space. In his purely abstract pieces, such as 1935's Composition C, his spaces are like panes in a stained glass window. In his 1910 painting Summer Dune in Zeeland, Mondrian uses negative space to carve out an abstracted landscape, and in 1911's Still Life with Gingerpot II, he isolates and defines the negative space of the curved pot by stacked rectangular and linear forms.
Spaces and Perspective In a landscape, a tree may be large because it is in the foreground while the mountains in the distance are quite small. Though we know in reality that the tree cannot be larger than the mountain, this use of size gives the scene perspective and develops the impression of space. Likewise, an artist may choose to move the horizon line lower in the picture. The negative space created by the increased amount of sky can add to the perspective and allow the viewer to feel as if they can walk right into the scene. Thomas Hart Benton was particularly good at skewing perspective and space, such as his 1934 painting Homestead, and 1934's Spring Tryout. Thomas Hart Benton |
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The Physical Space of an Installation |
The Flamingo was created by Alexander Calder and was unveiled in 1974. Standing at 53 feet and weighing 50 tons, it’s not a subtle piece of art. It received its bright color, which is called ‘Calder Red,’ to offset the dark, steel office buildings nearby. This sculpture was commissioned by the US General Services Administration as a flavorful piece to go in front of the Kluczynski Federal Building. |