The Principles of Artzzz

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The Principles of Art

Our Directions/Guidelines to
Creating Works of Art
The Goal of Unity

• Unity is the main goal


• It is the arrangement of
elements and principles
with media to create a
feeling of completeness and
wholeness.
The Principle of Harmony

• If too little variety can


become boring, too much
variety can create chaos in a
work of art.
• Artists avoid chaos in their
works by using harmony.
Harmony, Cont’d.

• Harmony refers to blending elements


to create a work of calm, restful
appearance.
• An artist may use similar textures,
colors values, to make a piece feel
even and together.
• Sometimes, harmony is referred to as
unity.
• In Piccaso’s “Blue
Guitarist” the use of the
color blue throughout
the painting makes it
seem to fit together.
• In Robert Delaunay’s
painting “Rhythm” the
use of similar shapes,
values, and colors give
the feeling of harmony
or unity.
How to Implement Harmony

• One technique of creating


harmony in a work of art
is by utilizing smooth,
flowing lines and subtle
color schemes that will
easily blend together.
The Principle of Contrast

• Contrast refers to differences in


values, colors, textures, shapes,
and other elements.
• Contrasts create visual excitement
and interest to a work of art. If all
the other elements – value, for
example, are the same – the result
is monotonous and plain.
Examples of Contrast

• 1. Contrast of Color – warm vs.


cool colors
• 2. Contrast of Texture –
smooth vs. rough
• 3. Contrast of size – large vs.
small
• 4. Contrast of shape – organic
vs. geometric
• In Vincent Van
Gogh’s 1884 oil
painting “The Ox-
Cart”, the artist
used bright white
in the legs and
sky, next to dark
black in the ox’s
body and the
shadows under
the cart to create
a contrast of the
element of art
In Alfred Stieglitz’s untitled value.
photograph of his wife, the
painter Georgia O’Keeffe,
hands with one of the skulls
from her paintings we have a
contrast of not only light and
dark value, but also of the
texture in the hard
smoothness of the bone vs.
the fleshy softness of the
painter’s skin.
The Principle of Gradation

• Gradation refers to a way of


combining elements by
using a series of gradual
changes in those elements.
Examples of Gradation

• Small - to – large shapes


• Light – to – dark hues of
color
• Telephone poles in
landscapes (ordered, step-
by-step change as they go
back in the distance).
• Gradation of size and direction
produces linear perspective. Gradation
of color
In the student
drawing of a
hallway, we see
a gradation of
space in how the
areas in the
drawing seem to
get smaller and
farther back in
the image.
In the Japanese wood
cut print of the five
Herons, the background
gradually goes from dark
on top, to light by the
birds, then dark again at
the bottom. This is an
example of gradation of
value.
The same can be said for the painting “Fall Plowing” by the
American artist Grant Wood. By gradually making the
haystacks get smaller in each of the rows that go farther back,
the artist has created an illusion of depth that makes the
painting seem to go back in space. Gradation is one of the
things an artist may use to create “perspective” or depth in
their work.
The Principle of Variety

• The same routine day after day


can become dull and boring.
The same color or shape
repeated over and over in an
art work can become equally
dull. To avoid dullness, artists
use the principle of variety in
their works.
Variety, Cont’d.

• Variety is a principle of art


concerned with combining one
or more elements to create
interest by adding slight
changes.
• By giving a work variety, the
artist heightens the visual
appeal of the work.
• In George Seurat’s “La Grande Jatte”,
there is a variety in the many different
shapes, colors and values.
There are many
different colors in
the painting. In
Joseph Cornell’s
shadow box
“Hotel-Edan”, there
is variety in the
different forms and
textures that make
us look all around
in the box.
The Principle of Pattern

• Pattern uses the art elements in


planned or random repetitions to
enhance surfaces of paintings or
sculptures.
• Patterns often occur in nature, and
artists use similar repeated motifs
(a distinctive and recurring form, shape,
figure, etc., in a design, as in a painting or on
wallpaper) to create these
occurrences.
Repetition

• Repetition refers to a way of combining


art elements so that the same
elements are used over and over again.
Repetition will create a visual patter.
• Thus, repetition and pattern go hand-in-
hand.
• In Andy Warhol’s “100
Cans”, the artist used
the same shapes,
colors and lines to
create his image. The
pattern that was
created has a rhythm,
but also repetition
because each of the
elements are repeated
over and over.
Examples of Pattern

• 1. Fabrics – regular or planned


patterns – because certain
elements are repeated with
accuracy(lines, shapes, swirls,
or other design elements).
• 2. Quilts
The Principle of Movement

• You may not have realized it,


but when you look at a work
of art your eye moves from
part to part.
• Artists use the principle of
movement to lead the
viewer’s eyes throughout the
work.
Movement, Cont’d.

• Movement is the principle of


art used to create the look
and feeling of action and to
guide a viewer’s eye
throughout the work of art.
Nude
Descending
Staircase
#2

Marcel Duchamp
How is movement
demonstrated in this
statue?
• In David Hockney’s image “Day Pool with 3
Blues”, the shape and color of the diving
board create movement by pulling the
viewer’s eye from the bottom of the painting
to the center of the image.
The Principle of Rhythm

• Often artists seek to


make their works seem
active. When they do,
they call upon the
principle of rhythm.
Rhythm. Cont’d.

• Rhythm is the principle of


art concerned with
repeating an element to
make a work seem active
or to suggest vibration.
Even More About Rhythm

• Sometimes to create rhythm,


an artist will repeat not just
elements but also the same
exact objects over and over.
• One example is Edvard
Munch’sThe Scream.
Andy Warhol

• Another example of
rhythm is Andy
Warhol’s version of
Marilyn Monroe.
The Principle of Balance

• Balance is concerned with


arranging elements so no one
part of a work overpowers, or
seems heavier than, any other
part.
Three Kinds of Balance

• 1. Formal (symmetrical) Balance


– Two halves are mirror images.
• 2. Informal (asymmetrical)
Balance – Two unlike elements
seem to carry equal weight.
• For example, a small shape
painted bright red will balance
several larger items painted in
duller reds.
Three Kinds, Cont’d.

• 3. Radial Balance – This


occurs when elements or
objects in an art work are
positioned around a central
point.
 
                                 

Formal Balance
Formal Balance
Even
though
images are
different,
they
balance
each other
out equally.
Informal Balance

                                          
Informal

Large figures are balanced by the smaller.


What about the lighting?
What is it called when you paint with tiny little dots?
Asymmetrical or Symmetrical?
Where’s the
Emphasis?
Formal or Informal?

What does
the artist do
to draw your
attention to
the focal
point?
Formal & Informal Project
• You will be creating formal and
informal designs by cutting and
pasting art to a scene.
• The first scene will be formal –
where objects balance one
another out equally.
• The second scene will be
informal – where asymmetrical
layout is used.
Cow Skull: Red,
White, & Blue
(1931)

Georgia O’Keeffe
The Principle of Emphasis

• To attract viewer’s attention


to important parts of a work,
artists use the principle of
emphasis.
• This principle creates one or
more centers of interest in a
work.
Emphasis, Cont’d.

• Emphasis is making an
element in a work stand out
by using an element of art.
• Emphasis can be created by
contrast or by extreme
changes in an element.
• In Claus Oldenberg’s large public sculpture
“Stonebridge” we see an everyday object blown up
to massive size. The use of the large form, as well
as the dark red color of the cherry focus us to look
at the sculpture.

Minneapolis
Sculpture
Garden
The Principle of Proportion

• Have you ever tasted a food


that was so salty you
couldn’t eat it? The problem
was one of proportion.
Proportion, Cont’d.

• Proportion is the principle of


art concerned with the
relationship of one part to
another and to the whole
work.
Even More on Proportion

• The principle of proportion is


not limited to size.
• Elements such as color can be
used in differing proportions to
create emphasis.
Origin of Proportion

• Proportion in art was “hit and


miss” for many years until
artists during the Renaissance
rediscovered the Golden Mean
developed by the ancient Greek
mathematicians Euclid and
Pythagoras.
Proportion, Cont’d.

• The Golden Mean was a


proportion used in all forms of art
because the Greeks thought that it
was the perfect ratio of relating all
things to the whole.
• The Golden Mean was also used
to figure out the “proper”
proportions of the human body in
sculpture and other forms of art.
Vitruvian
Man, 1492
Distorted Proportion

• In Charles Schultz’s
Charlie Brown
charter, the
proportion of the
head is way to big
to the size of the
body. When an artist
chooses to make
something out of
proportion, it is
called distorted
proportion.
Simplicity
• A principle of art,
simplicity refers to the
practice of using a
limited number of
similar elements to
give a uniform
appearance.
• In Laura Walters
Abrams - “Eggcentric”
there is simplicity in the
way that the sculptures
texture, color, and form
are similar and limited
to a very few changes.

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