THE ELEMENTS AND ORGANIZATION

OF THE ARTS

THE VISUAL ARTS

THE ELEMENTS OF THE VISUAL ARTS

• LINE

• SHAPE

• TEXTURE

• COLOR

• VALUE

• SPACE & MOVEMENT

1. LINE

• Line is man’s own invention; it does not exist in nature.

• Lines have many qualities which the artist exploits (short or long, heavy or light, wavy or jagged, straight or curved).

• The artist uses lines to imitate or to represent objects and figures on a flat surface.

Direction and Movement of Lines• The straight line may proceed vertically,

horizontally, or diagonally.• These directions of line can express

emotional states or evoke emotional responses.– A horizontal line creates impression of

serenity and perfect stability;– A vertical line appears poised and stable;– A diagonal line implies action.

• Lines, whatever their direction, control our eye movement and help us relate the various elements in a work of art with one another

David by Michelangelo

Rizal Monument designed by Richard Kissling

2. SHAPE

• Our world is composed of a variety of shapes, some of which, because of constant use, have gained permanent meaning;

• Shapes can be used to simplify ideas;

• Classified according to their sources, shapes may be natural, abstract, non-objective, or geometric

• Natural shapes are those we see in nature, such as shapes of men, animals, or trees. They may be interpreted realistically or they may be distorted.

• Abstract shapes are formed after the artists has drawn out the essence of the original object and made it the subject of his work (e.g. Brancusi’s Bird in Space).

• Non-objective (biomorphic) shapes seldom have reference to recognizable objects, but most often they show a similarity to some organic forms (e.g. HR Ocampo’s abstractions).

Bird in Space by Brancusi

H.R. Ocampo’s works

• Some buildings looks like geometric solids –pyramids, cylindrical towers, and box-like office buildings. They have geometric shapes.

Shape in Painting• In painting and other two dimensional art

forms, shape is an area on a flat surface enclosed by a line.

• It stands out from the surface because of a difference in color, value, or texture, or a combination of these.

• Shapes can give the illusion of weight, volume, or flatness.

• Realistic painters can make objects appear as more than two-dimensional with the use of lines or color.

• Sometimes, shapes which are not parts of a single form are spread throughout the composition. They are often distinguished by color or textual areas and unified by lines drawn on the surface. (e.g. Joan Miro’s artworks)

• Negative shapes are areas between the shapes of figures which are not occupied by any form. In painting, these spaces can be as important as the shapes themselves.

Joan Miro’s works

Shape in Sculpture• Since sculpture is three-dimensional,

shapes are identified either as mass or as volume.

• Mass is matter that has weight and solidity; it can be lifted, pushed, or viewed in the round.

• Volume is mass that is structured or has a definite shape.

• The fundamental unit in sculpture is the single volume. (e.g. Rajah Soliman Monument in Malate Park)

Rajah Sulayman

Bonifacio Monument

• An important consideration in sculpture is the treatment of surface.

• Surface is generated by line movement, which in turn is determined by the structure of mass inside it.

• The expressive quality of sculpture depends on the curvature of the surface.

• Plane surfaces, like those of solids;• Single-curved surfaces =curved in a single

direction, like cones and cylinders• Warped surface = curves in several directions so

that no two directions are parallel to one another• Double-curved surface =curved in all directions

so that extremely difficult to draw a straight line

Transition in Sculpture

• Each of the component divisions of sculpture is connected to each other in one way or another.

• The places where the forms meet are very important. The expressive character of sculpture depends highly on how passage or transition is made from one part to another.

• Transition may be abrupt or smooth.

• An abrupt transition is one in which the intersection of the form shows a clearly defined line.

• The abrupt changes in the form provide a staccato effect, producing shadows and highlights which reveal the three-dimensional qualities of the figure.

• A smooth transition is achieved when one form flows into or blends with another element without any sudden interrruption in the continuity of the surface.

Reclining Figures by Henry Moore

Shape in Architecture• A house, a church or an office building has

a shape of its own, defined by walls and roof. The individual parts that composed a building have their own shapes which add up to the shape of the whole. (This we note as we look at the building from the outside.)

• The form or shape of the buildings and other structures depends upon the materials and type of construction used.

3. TEXTURE• Texture usually refer to the feel or tactile

quality of the surface of the object.• A piece of sculpture, a building and a

painting may have texture which we can describe in much the same way.

• For the sculptor and the architect, texture results chiefly from the physical properties of the materials they use.

• The sculptor consciously produces texture even when he seems to neglect it.

Flagellant by Solomon Saprid

Functions of Texture

• Texture can be enjoyed for its sensuous, decorative quality alone. On this level, textures are experienced as pleasurable sensation in the manner that we enjoy stroking velvet, silk and other materials we feel are pleasant.

• In life, we enjoy the contrast between different surfaces which emphasize and enhance one another when they are brought together. When the artist wishes us to feel that contrast, he simulates the surface qualities of the objects he represents.

• Texture can also be used as a means of description.

• The simplest visual method of describing a group of things, a natural force, or the character of a particular surface is by means of a two-dimensional code of repeated patterns in units of lines and spaces.

• In painting, such flat patterns have sensuous and expressive qualities and a natural symbolism in that they lock like the things they represent.

• Texture clarifies space.• Texture built up from symbolic patterns

can create a greater degree of spatial depth as well as volume.

• Sometimes the artist wants to draw attention to the texture of the entire picture surface itself. He may do this by applying pigments so thickly that we can see the movement or direction of his brush strokes. He does not pay toomuch attention to the imitation of the surface quality of objects.

Vincent van Gogh

Fernando Amorsolo’s works

Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

4. COLOR

• Color is not a permanent property of things we see around us. It is derived from light, whether natural, like sunlight, or artificial, like fluorescent light.

• Color is a series of wave lengths which strike our retina. Every ray of light coming from the sun is composed of different waves which vibrate in different speeds. The ray of light will break up and be seen on a sheet of white paper as bands of different colors.

• The colors -red, orange, blue, indigo, and violet – constitute the color spectrum.

• Any object has a color quality called pigmentation, which enables it to absorb some of the colors and reflect only one.

• Some objects do not have color. Some are black, white or gray. These are not present in the color spectrum. They do not have color quality. They differ in the quantity of light that they reflect.

• They are called neutrals since they do not have reflect any one distinct color.

Physical Properties of Color

• Hue. It is the quality which gives a color its name. The colors of the spectrum are therefore called hues.

• Value. Adding neutrals to any hue results in changing the quantity of light it reflects. The lightness or darkness of a color is called value.

• Intensity or Saturation. Intensity is the strength of the color’s hue.

• It refers to the quality of in a color. Hues become less intense (dull) when pigments are mixed with them.

• When gray is added, the result will be a variation in intensity without any change in value.

• Many colors may be formed by mixing two or more colors.

• However, there are three colors which we cannot form from mixtures because they are, in a sense, pure colors; red, blue and yellow are called primaries or primary colors (color triad).

• The color formed out of the combination of two primaries is called a secondary color.

• The colors that result from the combination of a primary and a secondary color are called intermediate colors.

Color Relationships• Colors gain intellectual and emotional

significance and sensuous quality only in terms of their relationship with each other.

• Each color therefore should be observed in terms of its position in the color wheel. The greatest contrast in hue is obtained by using two colors opposite each other in the color wheel

• Where colors actually appear next to each other, there is the shortest interval of the color relationship.

• All colors in the color chart may be distinguished by their relative warmth and coolness. Colors containing degrees of blue appear cooler, for instance, than those containing a higher proportion of yellow or red.

• These are distinctions which are relative. (i.e. yellow-green is seen as a cool color when used in the company of red, but when used with blue, it appears warm.)

• In most pattern relationships, an area of warm color will appear to advance in front of a cool one.

Uses of Color

• Color may give spatial quality to the pictorial field.

Color may be used to give pictorial field a three-dimensional quality, or create interest through the counterbalance of backward and forward movements.

• Color may create a mood and symbolize ideas and express personal emotions.

Light, bright colors make us feel happy and gay. Cool, somber ones can depress us.

The different hues on the color spectrum have different emotional impacts.

Hues are often used to symbolize ideas or abstract qualities such as virtue, loyalty, evil and cowardice.

Values and intensity of colors create mood. Contrasting light and dark together produce a sensation of vitality and directness; hues closely related and at low intensities produce calm and repose.

• Color has the ability to arouse sensations of pleasure because of a well-ordered system of tonality.

In art, color provokes physical sensations, such as exhilaration or euphoria. (i.e Fall by Bridget Riley)

Color is not exclusive to painting. In architecture, color plays a secondary role. The materials used in a building have their own integral color which the architect takes into account when the designs a building.

In sculpture, color is linked to the material chosen by the sculptor. Sometimes, color is used in sculpture as a purely decorative element.