Chapter 4 - The Visual ElementsThe Visual Elements are a visual vocabulary – common

characteristics throughout the history of art

Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, wall painting in the cave at Pech-Merle, Lot, France, ca. 22,000 BCE. Approx. 11’ 2” long.

Deborah ButterfieldEarth Measure, 1997found welded metal83 x 120 x 30"

The Visual Elements

• Line

• Shape/Mass

• Light/Value

• Color

• Texture and Pattern

• Space

• Time and Motion

• LINE• Connotations of Line• Vertical• Horizontal• Diagonal• Contour and Outline

Direction and MovementImplied Lines

• SHAPE AND MASS • Implied Shapes• Figure/Ground

• LIGHT • Values• Chiaroscuro

• COLOR • Color Theory

Color PropertiesColor HarmoniesOptical Effects of ColorEmotional Uses of Color –

• Monochrome and Minimalism• TEXTURE AND PATTERN

• Actual TextureVisual TexturePattern

• SPACE • Three-Dimensional Space

Implied Space: Suggesting Depth in Two Dimensional Linear PerspectiveForeshorteningAtmospheric PerspectiveIsometric Perspective

• TIME AND MOTION

Line: path of moving point• Actual & Implied

(Contour/Outline• Direction & Movement• Hatching, Cross-

hatching, Stippling)

Shape: (2-D) enclosed line

Actual & Implied

Mass/Form: (3-D) depth, height & width

• Figure (positive) & Ground (Negative)

Value: Relative light & dark• Chiaroscuro (light & dark)Color: Hue Analogous (warm & cool)• Primary• Secondary• Complementary• Pointillism: optical mixing

• Draw a Non-objective design using line, and shape to convey meaning. – Anger– Energy/Exuberance – Love

Types of Line

Active Lines contrapposto

Static Lines

--------------------------Line

• Direction and Movement– Connotations of Line

• Horizontal

• Vertical

• Diagonal

• Contour and Outline

• Implied Lines

•Appear calm, Landscape, Tranquility, Body in Repose

•Strength, solidity, assertive, or denote growth & strength.

•Dramatic and imply action, movement and/of tension

Brice Marden, Grove IV, 1976. Oil and wax on canvas, two panels, 72 x 108 inches overall.

PIET MONDRIAN, Composition in Red,

Blue, and Yellow, 1930. Oil on canvas,

2’ 4 5/8” x 1’ 9 1/4”.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1982

Vinyl Ink on Vinyl Tarp

72 x 72 inches

182.88 x 182.88cm

MARK LOMBARDI

Egon Schiele, “Selbstporträt”, 1912

Otto Zitko, Cheim & Read, New York 2003

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1482. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’8”x 9’ 1”.

Implied Line / Eye Movement

SANDRO BOTTICELLI, Birth of Venus, ca. 1482. Tempera on canvas, approx. 5’8”x 9’ 1”.

Theodore Gericault, “The Raft of the Medusa”, 1819, Oil on canvas, 491 x 716

cm

Implied Lines / Eye Movement

Shape and Mass

• Shape = 2D form (triangle)

• Mass = 3D form that occupies a volume of space (pyramid)

• Figure/Ground• Positive/Negative Shapes

Types of Shapes and Forms

• Geometric (Hard-edge)

Types of Shapes and Forms

• Organic (biomorphic)

Paul Klee Matisse – cut paper collage

KAZIMIR MALEVICH, Suprematist Composition:

Airplane Flying, 1915 (dated 1914). Oil on

canvas, 1’ 10 7/8” x 1’ 7”. Museum of Modern Art,

New York

Zaha Hadid (architect), Cincinnati

Center for Contemporary Art

GUSTAV KLIMT, The Kiss, 1907–1908. Oil on canvas, 5’ 10 3/4” x 5’

10 3/4” Austrian

Gallery, Vienna.

Values (the Effects of Light)

• Chiaroscuro• The term "chiaroscuro" comes from Italian, and

literally means – A) organic shape. – B) a sense of movement. – C) outlined form. – D) rough texture. – E) light/dark.

Values (the Effects of Light)

• Chiaroscuro• The term "chiaroscuro" comes from Italian, and

literally means – A) organic shape. – B) a sense of movement. – C) outlined form. – D) rough texture. – E) light/dark.

LEONARDO DA VINCI, study for Virgin and Child with Saint Anne

and the Infant Saint John, ca. 1505–1507. Charcoal heightened

with white on brown paper, approx. 4’ 6” x 3’ 3”. National

Gallery, London.

Edward Weston photograph

A cluster of repeated parallel lines is known as – A) Cross-hatching

– B) Hatching

– C) Contours

Perpendicular hatched lines producing a cluster of lines similar to a checkered-board is

– A) Implied Lines – B) Cross-contour – C) Cross-hatching

Hatching/Cross-Hatching

Hatching:Closely spaced parallel lines

Cross-hatching:Parallel lines intersect like a checkerboard

Stippling: Dots spaced close or far apart to suggest light/dark

COLOR

The three physical properties of color are A) hue, intensity, and value.

B) primary, secondary, and intermediate.

C) warm, cool, and neutral.

D) tint, tone, and shade.

E) None of the answers are correct.

Color; Hue:Name of the color.

Intensity:Relative purity of a color.

Value:Relative lightness or darkness.

• The Primary Colors– Red, Yellow, and Blue– These colors cannot be

combined from mixing any colors together.

• The Secondary Colors – Green, violet, and

orange– Made by combining the

Primary colors together.

• The Tertiary Colors – Yellow-green, blue-

green, blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange.

– Made by combining a primary and a secondary hue.

• Hue – name of color• Value – lightness or

darkness of color• Intensity/Saturation –

relative purity of color– Tint – mixed with white– Shade – mixed with

black/dark color

Color Combinations:

•Monochromatic

•Complimentary

•Analogous

Color is relative

It is effected by the colors around it

JOSEF ALBERS, Homage to the

Square: “Ascending”, 1953. Oil on composition

board, 3’ 7 1/2” x 3’ 7 1/2”.

Analogous

Vermeer, 'A Young Woman standing at a Virginal', about 1670-2

Analogous

Complimentary

Peter Doig

GEORGES SEURAT, detail of A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886.

GEORGES SEURAT, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884–1886. Oil on canvas, approx. 6’ 9” ´ 10’. The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago

Mark Tansey, Forward Retreat, 1986

Ad Reinhardt. (American, 1913-1967). Abstract

Painting, Red. 1952. Oil on canvas, 9' x 40 1/8"

Magdalena Jetelova

“Domestizierung Einer

Pyramide” (Domestication of a Pyramid) aprox 15m

high, 1992, Red quartz Sand.

Otto Dix, Pisarka Sylvia von Harden,

1926

Subjective Color

• That which is derived from the mind reflecting a personal viewpoint, bias, or emotion.

• A subjective color tends to be intuitive, inventive, or creative.

Pablo PicassoThe Tragedy,

1903

Kirchner, Ernst Ludwig

Self-Portrait with Model

1910/1926Oil on canvas

150.4 x 100 cm (59 1/4 x 39 3/8 in.)

Texture - Surface quality (can be actual or implied)

Actual Texture: a tactile experience

Visual or Implied Texture: an illusionary experience

Brancusi, Bird in Space, 1925.

Richard Patterson's "Minotaur With Brushstrokes" (1998), oil on canvas.

Impasto – thick paint (“paste”)

Pattern

• Pattern– Decorative, repetitive

motif or design

Chris JordanPlastic Bottles, 200760x120"

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Prison Uniforms, 200710x23 feet in six vertical panels

Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in 2005. The U.S. has the largest prison population of any country in the world.

"Where There's a Will a Way”, glass cabinet with painted resin, plaster and cast metal pills, 72 by 108 by 4 inches, 2007,

Agnes Martin. (American, born Canada. 1912-2004). The Tree. 1964. Oil and pencil on canvas, 6 x 6' (182.8 x 182.8 cm).

Frank Stella, Zambezi, 1959; painting; enamel on canvas, 90 3/4 in. x 78 3/4 in.

Gregory Hayes, Primary Array #19 acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches 2010