Art Appreciation Principles & Elements of Art: Focal Point, Contrast, Emphasis, & Pattern

Art Appreciation

Professor Paige PraterT, R, 9:30-10:50AM

A850

10 ELEMENTS of Art:

1. Color 2. Form 3. Line4. Mass5. Shape6. Space7. Texture8. Time/Motion9. Value10. Volume

10 PRINCIPLES of Art:1. Unity 2. Variety3. Balance4. Emphasis5. Focal Point6. Pattern7. Proportion8. Rhythm9. Scale10. Contrast

Emphasis

• Drawing attention to particular content– VS SUBORDINATION (drawing attention away from

particular content)

Emphasis

Double-chambered vessel with mouse, Recuay, Peru, 4th–8th century. Ceramic, 6” high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Emphasis

Jules Olitski, Tin Lizzie Green, 1964. Acrylic and oil/wax crayon on canvas, 10’10” x 6’10”. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

NO Emphasis

Mark Tobey, Blue Interior, 1959. Tempera on card, 44 x 28”

Focal Point

• The particular part of emphasis to which the artist draws our eye

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1555–8. Oil on canvas, mounted on wood, 29 x 44⅛”. Musées Royaux des

Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT

Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Decapitating Holofernes, c. 1620. Oil on canvas, 6’6⅜” x 5’3¾“. Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy

• Directional Line• Contrasting Values

EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT

The Emperor Babur Overseeing his Gardeners, India, Mughal period, c. 1590. Tempera and gouache on paper, 8¾ x 5⅝”. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

water is the focal point conceptually as well as visually

Ando Hiroshige, “Riverside Bamboo Market, Kyobashi,” from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 1857. 15 x 10⅜”. James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii

• 3 separate focal points• Position• Shape• Rhythm

Contrast

• Very different elements right next to each other

CONTRASTFrancisco de Zurbarán, The Funeral of St. Bonaventure, 1629. Oil on canvas, 8' 2” x 7' 4”. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Rehash… ALL the elements and principles of art can serve to

create EMPHASIS

Both actual and implied lines shape our examination of a work of art by directing the movement of our gaze

Contrasts between different values, colors, or textures can sometimes be so dramatic and distinct that we cannot help but feel drawn to that area of a work

PATTERN

• Recurrence of an element– Motif – repeated design as a unit within a pattern

• Repetition creates UNITY• RHYTHM comes from repetition!

RHYTHM/PATTERN

Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas, 35½ × 45⅝”. Musée National d’Art Moderne,Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

Great Mosque of Córdoba, prayer hall of Abd al-Rahman I, 784–6

Motif

Huqqa base, India, Deccan, last quarter of 17th century. Bidri ware (zinc alloy inlaid with brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 1997. Oil on canvas, 8’6” × 7’. MOMA, New York

Motif vs. RANDOMNESS

• Hans Arp, Trousse d’un Da,1920–21. Assemblage of driftwood nailed onto wood with painting remains, 15 x 10½ x 1¾”. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

• Dada movement• “chance”• Random

arrangement