Art Appreciation, Principles of Art: Unity, Variety, Balance, Scale, & Proportion

Art Appreciation

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

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

Unity: order, wholeness, harmony in a design

• Compositional – overall design• Conceptual – idea behind the work• Gestalt – ALL aspects ordered

VSMONOTONY or

CHAOS

UnityKatsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, 1826–33 (printed later). Print, color woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Unity: 3 examples of COMPOSITIONAL unity

Unity: Conceptual

Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964. Cut-and-pasted printed papers, gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on board, 13⅜ x 18¾”. MOMA, New York

Unity: Gestalt

• Whole greater than sum of its parts…concept, composition, creation…

Vishnu Dreaming the Universe, c. 450–500 CE. Relief panel. Temple of Vishnu, Deogarh, Uttar Pradesh, India

Variety: visual diversity in one composition

• Ideas• Elements: shapes, values• materials

Variety: materials

Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1955–9. Mixed media with taxidermy goat, rubber tire, and tennis ball, 42 x 63¼ x 64½”.Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

Balance: distribution of elements (unified or varied) within a work

• Symmetrical• Asymmetrical• Radial

Balance: Symmetrical

Ritual container from Gui, China, Shang Dynasty, 1600–1100 BCE. Bronze, 6¼ x 10¾”. University of Hong Kong Museum

Balance: Asymmetrical

Muqi, Six Persimmons, Southern Song Dynasty, c. 1250. Ryoko-in, Dailoxu-ji, Kyoto, Japan

• Uneven distribution of value and shape

• Visual“heaviness” of theright side counteracted by placing one shape lower on the left

Balance: Radial

• Equidistance from a single point

Amitayas mandala created by the monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery, Tibet

Rehash

• Unity, variety, and balance are central principlesthat artists use to create visual impact

• Unity gives a work a certain oneness or cohesion• Variety is expressed in contrast and difference• Created by the use of different kinds of lines,

shapes, patterns, colors, or textures• Balance is imposed on a work when the artist

achieves an appropriate combination of unity and variety

SCALE

• relative to our own size– MONUMENTAL– HUMAN SCALE– SMALL SIZE

Scale: MONUMENTAL

Scale: HUMAN SCALE

Damien Hirst, Mother and Child (Divided), 1993

Scale: SMALL SIZE

http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/revealed-a-book-the-size-of-a-ladybug/278427/

SCALE: Unexpected…

Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943. Oil on canvas, 16⅛ x 24”. Tate, London

PROPORTION:

• Relationships between sizes of parts• Aids expression and description (and

NATURALISM)• Egypt• Greece>Rome>Renaissance

– Golden Section– Golden Mean– Fibonacci Sequence

Proportion: Egyptian cubit

Proportion: Golden Section, etc.

Proportion: Greece

Poseidon (or Zeus), c. 460–450 BCE. Bronze, 6’10½” high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

Proportion: Golden Rectangle

• Golden Rectangles is a technique based on nesting inside each other a succession of rectangles based on the 1:1.618 proportions of the Golden Section

• The shorter side of the outer rectangle becomes the longer side of the smaller rectangle inside it, and so on

• =elegant spiral shape

Proportion: Golden Rectangle

Proportion: Golden Rectangle

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858. Combination albumen print.

Proportion: Golden Rectangle

Proportion: Renaissance

Proportion: School of Athens

• Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his pursuit of perfection

• Magnificent scale = sense of importance• Parts of each figure are harmonious in relation

to each other and portray an idealized form• Double emphasis on the center brings our

attention to the opposing gestures of two famous Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle