art appreciation: value, space (and perspective)

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

Value & SpaceIntro

• 2D = illusion• Techniques for creating illusion of depth:

– Value: lightness or darkness– Space: distance between points or planes– Perspective: uses mathematical principles

René Magritte, The Treachery of Images (“This is not a pipe”), 1929. Oil on canvas, 23¾ x 32”. LACMA

VALUE: lights & darks

Buckminster Fuller, Geodesic Dome (Art Dome), 1963–79, Reed College, Portland, Oregon

Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome (1963-79)

• Demonstrates the effect of light on planes • Each of these planes has a different relative

degree of lightness or darkness– Value changes occur gradually– The relative DARK values INCREASE as the

planes get further away and face away from the light

– There is a value range of black, white, and EIGHT valuesof gray

• Formerly used as a sculpture studio at Reed College in Portland, Oregon

• http://youtu.be/jN3FMx1TYt8

VALUE: lights & darks

Chiaroscuro Italian for “light dark”

A method of applying value to a two-dimensional piece of artwork to create the illusion of three dimensions

Renaissance artists identified five distinct areas of light and shadow

Highlight, light, core shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow

VALUE: lights & darks

Pierre Paul Prud’hon, Study for La Source, c. 1801. Black and white chalk on blue paper, 21¾ x 15¼”. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Caravaggio, The Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1601).

Hatching & Cross-Hatching

• Hatching consists of a series of lines, close to and parallel to each other

• Cross-hatching (lines overlap) is used to suggest values;greater sense of form and depth

Hatching

Cross-Hatching

Put ‘em together and what’ve you got?

Michelangelo, Head of a Satyr, c. 1520–30. Pen and ink on paper, 10⅝ x 7⅞”. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Space

– Size– Overlapping– Position– Alternating value and texture– Changing brightness and color– Atmospheric perspective

Space: Size/Overlapping/Position

Katsushika 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.

Funny!

Space: Alternating Value & Texture

Fan Kuan, Travelers among Mountains and Streams, Northern Sung Dynasty, 11th century. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 81¼ x 40⅜”. National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan

• Each area of light and dark occupies different amounts of space, making the design more interesting

• Note the change in visual texture from bottom to top

• These visual layers create a sense of depth

Space: Changing Brightness & Color

• Lighter areas seem to be closer as dark areas appear to recede

• Intensity of color affects perception

Thomas Hart Benton, The Wreck of the Ole ’97, 1943. Egg tempera and oil on canvas, 28½ x 44½”. Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Space: Atmospheric Perspective Distant objects lack contrast, detail, and sharpness

of focus because the air that surrounds us is not completely transparent

The atmosphere progressively veils a scene as the distance increases

Contemporary filmmakers use this atmospheric effect to give the illusion of great depth

• Asher Brown Durand, Kindred Spirits, 1849. Oil on canvas, 44 x 36”. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas

Perspective

• ISOMETRIC : parallels communicate depth; usually diagonal parallel lines

• LINEAR: lines appear to converge at points in space

ISOMETRIC PERSPECTIVE

Graphic detailing isometric perspective: The Qianlong Emperor’s Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Six: Entering Suzhou and the Grand Canal (detail)

LINEAR Perspective

• Uses MATH and lines to create the illusion of depth in a 2D artwork

• based on observation of space in the world• The theory of linear perspective was

developed in detail by the fifteenth-century artist Leon Battista Alberti

• The Italian Filippo Brunelleschi was the first artist to apply the theories of Alberti

Fillippo Brunelleschi, Perspective drawing for Church of Santo Spirito in Florence (1428).

1 POINT Perspective

• Single vanishing point• Unless the viewer is situated in direct line of

sight it is not as easy to see how the perspective creates the illusion of a recession of space

1 POINT PERSPECTIVE

• Edith Hayllar, A Summer Shower, 1883. Oil on panel, 21 x 17⅜”. Private collection

Masaccio, Trinity, c. 1425–6. Fresco, 21’10½” x 10’4⅞”. Santa Maria Novella, Florence, Italy

2 POINT Perspective

• TWO vanishing points• Relies on horizon line

Raphael, The School of Athens, 1510–11. Fresco, 16’8” x 25’. Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican City

2 POINT Perspective

Perspective: 3 POINT +

• Needs points away from the horizon line and other variations on perspective

• multiple angles that need even more vanishing points

• A vanishing point is placed above or below the horizon line to accommodate a high or low angle of observation– Worm’s-eye view: looking UP– Bird’s-eye view: looking DOWN

Human View: Cone of Vision

M. C. Escher, Ascending and Descending, March 1960. Woodcut, 14 x 11¼”. The M. C. Escher Company, Netherlands

Perspective: 3 POINT (Bird’s Eye)

FORESHORTENING

Albrecht Dürer, Draftsman Drawing a Recumbent Woman, 1525. Woodcut. Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna, Austria

Andrea Mantegna, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1480. Tempera on canvas, 26¾ x 31⅞”.Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan, Italy