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Line, Form, and Feeling There is r kind of foik rrt knowlcdge cmbod-iecl in rhe nanre of rhe $ccping rvillow tree. Everyone knorvs thet droopingIires rre supposed ro convc,v sorrolv or t.rrigue. A crln se:r is placid, andplacidity is rnrrked by horiTont.rl lines- wherr youle "up" you are happv, rndlpcurving lines :rre oftcn usccl to indiclie jov. These assocritions of linedirection rvith mood probabl-v clcrive from sornrtic i.lnrificationsi that is,rvith their occurrence in our own bociies. Figrre'l '19 illLrsrrars rhc prcsunrcdrclationships. Actuallv, rhe inferercc drLrt downturned lires are sad rncluparrned ones jovous is simple-rrindcd. For instance, the f.rce made Lrp of onl,vupnrrned lines is nor as glccfLrlJooking .rs the top left frce in figurc 2-8bec.ruse the larter corresponds morr: closelv to acrual configurations in .tsniling f.rce. Bur simplistic or not, it is obvious ri1:rr rhere is sot,rlriTiS to thcidea that line moverrent and nnDd are connected.Lconrrdo's L,rsr S"pp?? (lig. 4-2 1) conveys .r pacilic feeling. lr is .r celnrpicturc. The Tintoretro version (6g.4-23) boils $,rrh energyi irs line move-ments are highl,v charged. In vierving it orc fcels less at rest because ir is nor arrest. hs nlood is inrense and ejnrs at pmvoking.r feeling akin ro ecstasy,religious fervor. In an analogous fashion, t*o famous works from th lite4-50 vrNcE Nr vaN GoGH. The Story Night | 889 Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ,/1"colleclion, The l'4use!m of |lodern Ar!, New York Acauired lhrouSh $eLillie P Bliss Bequest

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96 ART: THE WAY lT lS

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4 sl cEoRGEs sEURAa A Sundoy Afternoon on theOil on canvd, 6 9|l"r l0'l%" The Art Instlrule lsland of Lo Grcnde latre 18A4-86.of ChicaSo. Helen Birch Banlett

nineteenrh century, Tre srrr'ly NiSrt by Vincent van Gogh (i853-1890) andA Smday Aftemoon on the Islaltd of La Grande latte by Georges Selrrat(1859- 1891), evoke d;fferent moods because of dre different wa,vs tbe arristshave used line and fom.The brushstrokes in the Van Gogh (6g. 4 50) are exceprionallv linear' andrheir movcnlent is rorrential. Srd/ry Nrt is emotional ro the point of beingvehement. The nebuhe raging across the heaveDs of the night afe nor rhirgsseen bur sonrctiring felt. In A Sunday Aftemoon all the Isldncl of La Crandeldfte \frg.4-51) the painter has employecl little dots of color. His lines.rreregulared, prcdicrable, serene. Ever-vthing is thought out. Even the formsbctween the Ggures are calculated; tlrey resemble jigsrw cutolrls And thercperitions of line rre very clear' Compare the back of dre Lady in the busrle onrhe f:rr right s'ith the line movement from the seated girl ahead of irer uprhrough her companion's parasol to the hip of the oncoming morher' Suchsimilarities c.rn be discerned rhroughout dre pairting. The mood? Ir is one otcrlm, appropriare to a quiet Sunday afrernoon in Paris

Linc and forn are but !\,!'o of the elements ofart. They are, esvou haveseen,so closely related as to be almost interchangeable The orhcr elements arcsinilarly dependent upon each other. Without contrast between dark andlight we could not pcrceive form, and uithour forn u'e would not have linc.D:rkncss or lightness is an aspect ofcolor' ln frct, dre aspect ofcolor summedup by rhe terms darA and ilglr is perhaps dre most import.rnr :rspect of all. Onec.rn be colorblind and still see very *'ell indeed But withour dre contraslbenveen lights and d:rrks one would bc unable to see at all.

LINE AND FORM 97