Composition

Foundations of Design2007-08

Semester 1

• The first decision we are faced with in any creation is the choice of our format.

• Since the Renaissance formats often have a proportion known as The Golden Ratio:

• The Golden Ratio can also be calculated as: 1.618….

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Format

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•The most basic element of any composition is the point.

•The point is a small mark placed in the composition and is not to be confused with the geometric point, it is not a mathematical abstraction.

•The point has form and color. This form can be a square, a triangle, a circle, etc.

•According to its placement on the plane the point will have different effects. It can be isolated or put in resonance with other points or lines.

Point

•The line is the product of a force. The force applied on the pencil or on the paint brush by the hand of the artist.

•The produced linear forms can be of several types: a straight line, an angular line, or a curved or wave-like line.

•The effect produced by a line depends on its orientation: the horizontal line corresponds to the ground on which man rests and moves and has a static effect. The vertical line corresponds to height and to mans aspirations to the heavens.

Line

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To whom do we owe these observations?

Wassily Kandinsky 1866-1944

• Born to a musical family the influence of music on Kandinsky’s art and theories is immense.

• Kandinsky studied law and was active as a lawyer up until his early thirties. His orderly, lawyer’s mind is evident in his work as well.

• Kandinsky was heavily influenced by Theosophical teachings and believed that the universe is put together from basic building blocks all evolving towards consciousness

Kandinsky – the artist• Kandinsky’s art career was ignited

by his visit in 1895 to an Impressionist exhibition where he witnessed Monet’s “Haystacks at Giverny”

• Kandinsky started his art studies in his thirties and combined his artwork with extensive theoretical writings.

• One of the most famous 20th-century artists, he is credited with painting the first modern abstract works.

• One of the master teachers at the Bauhaus school in Weimar.

Claude Monet - Haystacks at Giverny1890; Oil on canvas, 60x100cm

Kandinsky and the metaphysical in Art

• Kandinsky’s greatest contribution to the evolution of Art and Design was his formulation of an approach that maintained that in order for Art to attain a universal significance it must free itself of “decoration” and “rhetoric” and remain a whole unto itself, having significance only as a function of the spiritual quest of it’s creator.

• Kandinsky believed art to be an autonomous language governed by it’s own set of universal rules – similar in many ways to music.

Kandinsky -Yellow, Red, Blue 1925; Oil on canvas, 127x200cm

Point and line to plane (1926)

• Kandinsky’s theoretical analysis of the geometrical elements that compose every painting, are the basis of our discussion of composition.

• The novelty of Kandinsky’s approach is that he bases his research on the point of view and inner effect that these elements have on the observer who looks at them and lets them act on his senses.

• Kandinsky believes that the artist is obligated to employ color and form to best create an experience that is in harmony with his inner world.

Lets look at some simple line and point black and white compositions…

…and now for some more complex compositions

Mondrian -Composition with Gray and Light Brown1918; Oil on canvas, 80x50cm

Mondrian - Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue 1921; Oil on canvas, 39x35cm

Mondrian - Broadway Boogie Woogie 1943; Oil on canvas, 127x127cm

Rothko - Untitled1949; Oil on canvas

Rothko - Orange and Yellow 1956; Oil on canvas

Klee- Mural from the Temple of Longing 1922; Water colors on cardboard

Klee- Portrait of an Artist1927; Oil and collage on cardboard, 63x40cm

Klee - Scherzo with Thirteen

1922; Water colors and ink on cardboard, 28x36cm

Miro - Landscape (The Hare)

1927; Oil on canvas, 51x76cm

Miro - Personage1925; Oil on canvas, 51x37cm

Kandinsky -Autumn in Bavaria1908; Oil on canvas, 45x33cm

Kandinsky -Improvisation 71910; Oil on canvas, 97x131cm

Kandinsky -Composition 41911; Oil on canvas, 250x160cm

Kandinsky -On White 21923; Oil on canvas, 105x98cm

Kandinsky -Composition 101939; Oil on canvas, 195x130cm

Thank You

Good Luck…