Elements and Principles of Art

The Elements of Art

The building blocks,

ingredients or tools

of art.

LINE

A mark with length and direction.

A continuous mark made on a surface by a moving point.

Ansel Adams

Gustave Caillebotte

Davinci

Pablo Picasso

Color

Consists of Hue

(another word for

color), Intensity

(brightness) and

Value (lightness

or darkness).

COLOR

Henri Matisse

Alexander Calder

VALUE The lightness or

darkness of a color.

MC Escher Pablo Picasso

SHAPE

An enclosed

area defined

and

determined

by other art

elements; 2-

dimensional.

Joan Miro

Matisse

A 3-dimensional object; or something in

a 2-dimensional artwork that appears to

be 3-dimensional. For example, a

triangle, which is 2-dimensional, is a

shape, but a pyramid, which is 3-

dimensional, is a form.

Jean Arp

Lucien Freud

Claude Monet

.

The distance or area

between, around, above,

below, or within things

Foreground, Middleground

and Background (creates

DEPTH)

Space

Space

Positive (filled with

something) and Negative

(empty areas).

Robert Mapplethorpe Matisse

The surface quality or "feel" of an object, its smoothness,

roughness, softness, etc. Textures may be actual or implied.

Texture

Cecil

Buller

The Principles of Art

What we use to organize

the Elements of Art

Principles of Design

• Balance

• Emphasis

• Proportion

• Pattern/Repetition

• Rhythm/Movement

• Unity/Harmony

• Contrast/Variety

Balance is an equal

arrangements of specific

elements within a

composition deliberately

organized to create a feeling of stability.

Elements could include

color, line, shape, or

texture. There are three

types of balance;

symmetrical, asymmetrical

and radial.

Balance

Hawk mask, Nuna peoples, Burkina Faso

Wood, pigment

Symmetrical Design

Symmetrical Balance

Symmetrical

Balance

Joseph Stella, Bridge, 1936, WPA

Federal Arts Project

Symmetrical Balance The parts of an image are organized so that one side mirrors the other.

Leonardo DaVinci

Informal Balance is

created when an

asymmetrical

layout is used.

James Whistler

(American)1834-1903,

Arrangement in Grey

and Black: Portrait of

the Painter's Mother

Asymmetrical Balance

George Seurat, (French) 1859-1891, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of

La Grand Jatte, 1884, oil on canvas, 81 x 120 inches

Asymmetrical Balance

Rose window, Notre

Dame Cathedral

Radial Balance starts

from the center of

the design and goes

out. Can you think

of something in

nature that has a

radial balance?

Radial Balance

Rosette from the ancient Temple of Jupiter,

Alexander Calder

What kind of Balance?

How is this painting

balanced?

5

How is this

painting

balanced?

4

Georgia O'Keeffe

Jack-in-the-Pulpit No.

IV, 1930

1

How is this

balanced?

CONTRAST

A large difference

between two things to

create interest and

tension.

Ansel Adams

Salvador Dali

Emphasis is used by artists to create dominance and focus in their work. The focal

point may be the largest, brightest, darkest, or most complex part of the whole, or it

may get special attention because it stands out for some other reason.

At the Moulin Rouge: The Dance, oil

on canvas by Henri de Toulouse-

Lautrec, 1890; in the Philadelphia

Museum of Art.

Emphasis

EMPHASIS

The focal point of an image, or

when one area or thing stand

out the most.

Jim Dine

Gustav Klimt

Ambassadeurs, Poster Toulouse Lautrec

Emphasis

Emphasis is the

created center of

interest, the place in

an artwork where

your eye first lands.

Leonardo da Vinci -

Lady with an Ermine

in Cracow

What is

the

emphasis?

Andrew

Wyeth.

Cristina’s

World,19

48

Emphasis?

Concerned with the

size relationship of one

part to another.

Diego Rivera's "Richest of

California"

Proportion

The comparative

relationship of

one part to

another with

respect to size,

quantity, or

degree; SCALE.

Gustave

Caillebotte

Scale

Spoonbridge and

Cherry, 1988

Stainless steel and

aluminum painted

with polyurethane

enamel

29 ft. 6 in. x 51 ft. 6

in. x 13 ft. 6 in. (9 x

15.7 x 4.1 m)

Minneapolis

Sculpture Garden

What is out of proportion?

What is out

of

proportion?

What do you

notice about the

proportions of

these figures?

The General And His Family

Artist:Fernando BoteroCountry of

Origin:ColombiaDate of Creation:1977

ADTagged With:N/A

refers to a regular

repetition of elements

of art to produce the

look and feel of

movement.

Piet Mondrian (Dutch, 1872-

1944), Broadway Boogie

Woogie.

Rhythm

A sense of visual

or actual motion

in an artwork

created by

repeating an

element of art

MC Escher

Rhythm&Pattern

A regular repetition of

elements to produce the

look and feel of movement.

Marcel

Duchamp

Repetition of a pattern.

Gustav Klimt

Giacomo Balla (Italian, 1871-1958),

Street Light (Lampada — Studio di luce),

1909

Regular

Rhythm

Alternating Rhythm

Progressive

Rhythm

Marcel Duchamp. Nude

Descending a Staircase, No. 2

(1912

UNITY/

Harmony

When all the

elements and

principles

work together

to create a

pleasing

image.

Johannes Vermeer

a way of combining

elements of art to accent

their similarities and bind

the picture parts into a

whole. It is often achieved

through the use of

repetition and simplicity.

Unity and Harmony

Vincent VanGogh

Kazimir Severonic Malevich

(Russian, 1878–1935)

The Knife Grinder (Principle of

Glittering

What gives

this piece

unity?

Thomas Eakins

American, 1844 -

1916

Baby at Play, 1876

oil on canvas

How is this painting balanced?

By Sandra M. Victorino 3

How is this pottery balanced?