Elements of Visual Art

English III Pre-AP

Aesthetics: The study of artistic composition as it relates to visual effect.

Line• The continuous mark made on some

surface by a moving point.

Shape

• An enclosed space defined and determined by other items such as line, color, value, and texture.– Distinct from form, which has depth– May be described as

• Definite / amorphous• Simple / compound

Color

• A quality determined by hue, saturation, and value.– Hue: The property or wavelength that gives a

color its name.– Saturation: The purity or concentration of a

given hue– Value: The relative lightness or darkness of a

color.

Perspective

• The technique artists use to project the illusion of a 3-dimensional world onto 2-dimensional space.

• Created by use of– Converging/receding lines– Variation of object sizes– Overlapping objects– Height within the picture plane

Proportion

• The relationship of one part to another or to the whole with respect to size, quantity, or degree.

• Associated with emphasis

Space

• Refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within things.

• Associated modifiers– Two-dimensional / Three-dimensional– Flat / deep– Closed / open– Positive / negative– Actual / ambiguous / illusory

School of AthensRaphael

The Great MigrationPanel #18Jacob Lawrence

The Prison Courtyard

Vincent Van Gogh

Street OratorJacob Lawrence

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon

Pablo Picasso

The Great Migration – Panel #52Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence’s Style

• Aesthetics– Elemental, flattened shapes– Opaque and highly saturated color– Repeating patterns w/ emphatic breaks– Frequent use of grouping– Frequent use of limited space– Critics: “unsophisticated” and “barbaric”

• Content– The African-American experience– The plight of the poor– Family values– Manual labor (“builders”)

• Technique– Classified as “expressive cubism” or “dynamic

cubism”• Stresses simultaneity of action or experience (as

opposed to simultaneity of being)

• Influences– African abstraction– Rhythms of jazz and oratory– Mexican muralists

• Artistic goal– “For me, a painting should have three things:

universality, clarity, and strength.”