Unit III Assignment Art Gallery: Visual Elements

Unit III: Visual Literacy Elements and Principles 0:04 In this section , we are going to b e looking at how to analyze a work 0:07 by looking at the elements and the principles of design . 0:11 There are other ways to look at art work , such as style 0:15 and media , but we'll be focusing on numbers 1 and 2 0:18 as shown on the screen. 0:22 So let's look at the visual elements first. They are also called the formal elements. 0:26 They include line, space, light and value, 0:30 color, shape, volume, and textu re. 0:36 Starting with line: What does line do when you look at this work? 0:39 So you can start asking yourself questions such as: 0:41 Does this line lead your eye anywhere across the image? 0:46 For example, does your eye follow the line 0:49 horizontally — perhaps following the white line near the top from left to right 0:55 and back again? Or perhaps the 0:58 lines of the triangle near the center 1:01 lead your eye up diagonally 1:05 through the image. You can also ask yourself : 1:08 Are the l ines broken or solid? Are there outlines? Thi ck, thin? 1:13 Do they define shapes such as 1:16 squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles that we see ? 1:20 Do they connect, or do they divide things? 1:23 In many ways , the lines in this work 1:26 seem to divide the bands of color . And are the lines loose or controlled ? 1:32 There are more questions you can ask in this, but this is just the beginning 1:36 of how to think about line. This is The Starry Night by Van Gogh. 1:40 You may not know this, but Van Gogh was an avid pen and ink 1:43 drawer , and he sketched constantly. What is really interesting about this drawing 1:48 is that he draws the same way he paints 1:51 in these little broken lines that lead the eye 1:54 around the image. So if you look at the sky , you actually go on a visual journey 2:00 as you follow the broken lines from left to right in 2:04 swirling around and then back again. Another way to think of line 2:08 is how something is drawn and oriented. 2:12 So for example, this i mage is a painting 2:16 called The Death of Socrates , and the artist , 2:19 David, when he first began thinking of this composition , 2:23 he started working on a grid, which you can see at the top 2:27 right . And, if you notice, 2:30 the postures and the ar ms of 2:34 his main character , Socrates , very much follow the vertical 2:38 and horizontal lines of a grid. And looking at the pain ting , you will see 2:42 there's a lot of horizontals 2:45 in the back in the bricks, 2:48 and ther e’s verticals. There’s horizontals in the stones 2:52 of the floor and just throughout. Horizontals and verticals 2:56 are predominant. Well, if you look 2:59 at an artist such as Delacroix : 3:03 This is a painting called The Death of Sardanapalus . 3:06 And, you can see peeking out of the top 3:10 his idea of a preparatory sketch, which doesn’t have a single 3:13 vertical or horizontal line at all . In fact , all the lines 3:17 are curvaceous; they are dynamic; 3:21 they fold in one onto the other; they serpentine. 3:25 So there’ s a lot of a lot of 3:29 active line that is in constant movement , 3:32 and it’s a very interesting contrast between this one and the work David 3:36 that we looked at before. There’s also, 3:40 sort of, a line of site. 3:44 So although, in the work called M ademoiselle d'Avignon 3:47 by Picasso, I have inserted these black lines to show you 3:52 that there is a line of sight 3:56 that is created by the direction 3:59 that the figures in the artwork are looking. So , just for example, the 4:03 image in the middle , the lady , she's actually looking 4:07 at us. We are in her line of sight. 4:11 While the two figures to the left and to the right , one is looking 4:15 horizontally across to the right side , while the lady on the right 4:19 is looking diagonally down and to the left. 4:22 So I do n’t know if you've ever looked at someone who is looking up the sky 4:26 and you instinctively look at the sky yourself 4:29 even know you ’re not sure why . Well, it's because we tend to look at things that 4:35 othe r people looking are at, 4:36 and there is an implied line that's created by 4:40 the direction we look that , as humans , we tend to follow . 4:44 The next element we’re going to look at is space. 4:48 So what you could start thinking about is : I s the space 4:52 positive or negative (which we’ll look at in a moment )? Is it 4:56 a deep space or a shallow space? Then, the question is: How is space created? 5:00 How does the artist imply on a flat canvas 5:04 that there is actually a sense of space ? 5:07 So, there’s di fferent ways that artists can do this. They can 5:11 overlap images , obviously if one things in front of another 5:14 we know that there's a sense a space . 5:17 Larger objects are put at the front , small er 5:21 objects near the back . And the use of linear perspective , which is in the image below , 5:26 which means that as things reseed from us in space , they 5:30 start to narrow towards a vanishing point , 5:35 and that suggests , as well , that ther e is a 5:38 sense of space . So if you look at this image , 5:41 we're not looking at line of sight , we’re looking at this image in terms a space , 5:45 and you'll notice that if you look down with the ladies’ fee t are, there seems to be 5:50 a very narrow strip 5:52 upon which these women are standing. 5:55 The y’re not standing in a large, open room, but 5:59 Rather on a thin band of floor, 6:03 which suggests to us that there is a very shallow space 6:08 in which they’re standing. 6:11 With positive and negative space, mentioned before , 6:14 basically positive space is the thing, the objects. For example, this yellow vase. 6:18 You are positive space as you stand in a room. 6:21 Negative space is all the space around the object. 6:24 So, it is the space around the vase, 6:27 or it is the space around you as you stand in that room. 6:30 What’s interesting about negative space is it too can have shape and meaning. 6:35 For example , in th is vase and in this illustration called a Rubin’s vase, 6:40 you'll notice that their two profiles on 6:4 3 either side of the vases’ contours. 6:46 The negative space is making a shape. Do you see that? 6:53 The next thing we ’re going to look at is light 6:55 and value . Value basically means 6:58 “from light to dark .” So it's the grayscale. Light and dark, 7:03 or value, creates interest in work. 7:06 It often can create contrast , 7:09 so think of a scene where something is in dark shadow, 7:14 but the side of a face is illuminated in bright light. 7:18 This creates drama , a sens e of 7:21 action about to happen. W hen there is a low contrast 7:26 or very little variation in value , the image seems to be more flat 7:31 and less dynamic . We also associate things such as light with life , 7:37 energy , day , while we associate dark with death, 7:40 sadness , and night . The next element we’re going to look at 7:45 is color , but complimentary colors basically are the colors 7:48 opposite each other on the color wheel . So if you look 7:51 at red, you'll notice the color directly opposite is green . 7:55 Opposite blue, we have orange, 7:59 and opposite yellow we have purple. If we go back to 8:02 this painting by Picasso , you ’ll notice that he has used the complement ary colors 8:07 of orange and blue in his work. 8:11 The next element we’re going to look at is shape. So, ask yourself questions such as: 8:17 Is the shape organic and natural , or is it geometric and man -made ? 8:22 Is it a solid shape? Is it outlined? 8:25 Think about these things . For example , when you look at this work by 8:28 Picasso: 8:28 Are these the natural shapes you expect to see in women? Or, has he created 8:33 unusual shapes in his compositions? 8:37 The next element is volume. 8:40 Volume basically means , “Does the shape look as if it’s two -dimensional 8:44 or three -dimensional , and how did the artist do this ?” If you look on the right of the 8:48 screen , 8:49 you’ll see an orb. The artist has shaded 8:52 the bottom left to look like it’s in shadow 8:55 and allow ed for highlights in the top right so that this orb looks like a 9:00 three -dimensional ball sitting on a table . 9:02 If you look below that you ’ll see the shape of the circle . It's just 9:05 a gray , flat shape — no 9:08 volume has been implied on the shape — 9:12 so it is two -dimensional . If you look at the Venus 9:15 in the painting provided , the artist has gone to paint to suggest that she's 9:20 a three -dimensional woman . 9:22 Do you see the highlight s and the shading that he's put into her body to make her look 9:27 three -dimensional ? The next element is texture . Texture c an b e something that you can 9:31 actually touch , or it can be visual. It can be 9:35 rough or smooth, soft or hard, prickly, 9:38 bumpy , a whole range of different words can describe it . 9:42 This painting actually has straw stuck onto it , 9:45 and so you know that if you were to touch it , it was 9:48 it would have a very sort of bumpy , rough texture . 9:51 But visually, there’s also texture to it. W e can look at it and 9:56 see that it's not smooth.