What Are the Basic Units of the Visual Artsthe Visual Elements

Line

A line is defined every bit a marking that connects the space between two points, taking any form along the way.

Learning Objectives

Compare and contrast different uses of line in art

Key Takeaways

Central Points

• Actual lines are lines that are physically present, existing as solid connections betwixt one or more points.
• Implied line refers to the path that the viewer 's eye takes as it follows shapes, colors, and forms along any given path.
• Straight or classic lines provide stability and structure to a composition and can exist vertical, horizontal, or diagonal on a work's surface.
• Expressive lines refer to curved marks that increment the sense of dynamism of a work of art.
• The outline or profile lines create a border or path around the edge of a shape, thereby outlining and defining it. "Cross contour lines" delineate differences in the features of a surface.
• Hatch lines are a serial of short lines repeated in intervals, typically in a single direction, and are used to add together shading and texture to surfaces, while cross-hatch lines provide additional texture and tone to the image surface and tin exist oriented in any direction.

Key Terms

• texture:The feel or shape of a surface or substance; the smoothness, roughness, softness, etc. of something.
• cross-hatching:A method of showing shading by means of multiple small lines that intersect.
• line:A path through two or more points.

The line is an essential element of art, defined as a mark that connects the infinite betwixt two points, taking any form along the fashion. Lines are used about often to define shape in two-dimensional works and could be called the most ancient, as well as the nearly universal, forms of marker making.

In that location are many dissimilar types of lines, all characterized by their lengths being greater than their width, also as by the paths that they accept. Depending on how they are used, lines help to determine the motion, direction, and free energy of a work of art. The quality of a line refers to the character that is presented by a line in order to animate a surface to varying degrees.

Actual lines are lines that are physically present, existing as solid connections between one or more points, while implied lines refer to the path that the viewer'southward middle takes every bit information technology follows shape, color, and grade within an art piece of work. Implied lines requite works of art a sense of motion and proceed the viewer engaged in a composition. We can come across numerous unsaid lines in Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii, connecting the figures and actions of the piece past leading the eye of the viewer through the unfolding drama.

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784: Many implied lines connect the figures and activity of the piece by leading the heart of the viewer through the unfolding drama.

Directly or classic lines add stability and structure to a composition and can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal on the surface of the work. Expressive lines refer to curved marks that increase the sense of dynamism of a work of art. These types of lines often follow an undetermined path of sinuous curves. The outline or profile lines create a border or path around the edge of a shape, thereby outlining and defining it. Cross contour lines delineate differences in the features of a surface and can give the illusion of three dimensions or a sense of form or shading.

Hatch lines are a serial of short lines repeated in intervals, typically in a unmarried direction, and are used to add shading and texture to surfaces. Cross-hatch lines provide additional texture and tone to the image surface and tin be oriented in any direction. Layers of cross-hatching tin add rich texture and volume to paradigm surfaces.

Lite and Value

Value refers to the use of calorie-free and dark in fine art.

Learning Objectives

Explain the artistic employ of light and nighttime (as well known every bit "value")

Cardinal Takeaways

Primal Points

• In painting, value changes are accomplished by adding black or white to a colour.
• Value in art is likewise sometimes referred to as " tint " for light hues and "shade" for night hues.
• Values near the lighter end of the spectrum are termed "high-keyed" while those on the darker terminate are chosen "depression-keyed."
• In ii-dimensional art works, the use of value can assistance to give a shape the illusion of mass or volume .
• Chiaroscuro was a common technique in Baroque painting and refers to clear tonal contrasts exemplified by very loftier-keyed whites, placed directly against very low-keyed darks.

Key Terms

• chiaroscuro:An artistic technique popularized during the Renaissance, referring to the use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of volume.

The use of calorie-free and dark in art is called value. Value can exist subdivided into tint (light hues) and shade (night hues). In painting, which uses subtractive color, value changes are accomplished by adding blackness or white to a color. Artists may as well employ shading, which refers to a more subtle manipulation of value. The value calibration is used to show the standard variations in tones . Values almost the lighter end of the spectrum are termed high-keyed, while those on the darker end are depression-keyed.

Value scale: The value calibration represents different degrees of low-cal used in artwork.

In 2-dimensional artworks, the use of value can help to give a shape the illusion of mass or volume. Information technology will besides give the entire composition a sense of lighting. High contrast refers to the placing of lighter areas direct against much darker ones, so their difference is showcased, creating a dramatic effect. High contrast besides refers to the presence of more blacks than white or grey. Depression-dissimilarity images result from placing mid-range values together so there is non much visible difference between them, creating a more subtle mood.

In Baroque painting, the technique of chiaroscuro was used to produce highly dramatic effects in fine art. Chiaroscuro, which means literally "low-cal-dark" in Italian, refers to clear tonal contrasts exemplified by very high-keyed whites, placed direct against very low-keyed darks. Candlelit scenes were common in Bizarre painting every bit they finer produced this dramatic type of effect. Caravaggio used a high contrast palette in such works as The Denial of St. Peter to create his expressive chiaroscuro scene.

Caravaggio, The Denial of St. Peter, 1610: Caravaggio'due south The Deprival of St. Peter is an excellent example of how calorie-free can exist manipulated in artwork.

Color

In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to colour mixing and the visual impacts of specific colour combinations.

Learning Objectives

Limited the most important elements of color theory and artists' utilise of color

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Color theory first appeared in the 17th century, when Isaac Newton discovered that white lite could be passed through a prism and divided into the full spectrum of colors.
• The spectrum of colors contained in white calorie-free are ruby-red, orange, yellowish, green, blue, indigo , and violet.
• Color theory divides color into the " primary colors " of blood-red, yellowish, and blue, which cannot be mixed from other pigments, and the "secondary colors" of greenish, orange, and violet, which result from unlike combinations of the main colors.
• Primary and secondary colors are combined in diverse mixtures to create tertiary colors.
• Complementary colors are plant contrary each other on the color wheel and represent the strongest contrast for those particular two colors.

Key Terms

• complementary color:A color which is regarded as the opposite of another on the color bike (i.due east., red and green, xanthous and purple, and orange and blue).
• value:The relative darkness or lightness of a color in a specific area of a painting or other visual fine art.
• primary color:Any of iii colors which, when added to or subtracted from others in unlike amounts, can generate all other colors.
• tint:A color considered with reference to other very similar colors. Red and blue are different colors, just ii shades of cherry are different tints.
• gradation:A passing by modest degrees from one tone or shade, as of colour, to another.
• hue:A color, or shade of color.

Color is a fundamental artistic element which refers to the utilise of hue in fine art and design. Information technology is the about complex of the elements because of the broad array of combinations inherent to it. Colour theory first appeared in the 17th century when Isaac Newton discovered that white lite could be passed through a prism and divided into the full spectrum of colors. The spectrum of colors contained in white light are, in lodge: crimson, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Color theory subdivides color into the "primary colors" of ruddy, yellow, and bluish, which cannot be mixed from other pigments; and the "secondary colors" of green, orange and violet, which outcome from dissimilar combinations of the primary colors. Primary and secondary colors are combined in diverse mixtures to create "third colors." Color theory is centered around the colour bicycle, a diagram that shows the relationship of the diverse colors to each other .

Color wheel: The colour bicycle is a diagram that shows the human relationship of the various colors to each other.

Color " value " refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a colour. In add-on, "tint" and "shade" are of import aspects of color theory and result from lighter and darker variations in value, respectively. "Tone" refers to the gradation or subtle changes of a color on a lighter or darker scale. "Saturation" refers to the intensity of a color.

Additive and Subtractive Color

Additive color is color created by mixing cerise, green, and blue lights. Television screens, for example, utilize condiment color equally they are made up of the principal colors of red, blue and light-green (RGB). Subtractive color,  or "process color," works every bit the reverse of additive colour and the primary colors get cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK). Mutual applications of subtractive colour can exist found in press and photography.

Complementary Colour

Complementary colors can exist constitute directly opposite each other on the colour wheel (majestic and yellow, green and cerise, orange and bluish). When placed next to each other, these pairs create the strongest contrast for those detail two colors.

Warm and Cool Color

The stardom between warm and absurd colors has been important since at least the late 18th century. The contrast, equally traced by etymologies in the Oxford English Dictionary, seems related to the observed contrast in landscape low-cal, between the "warm" colors associated with daylight or sunset and the "cool" colors associated with a gray or overcast day. Warm colors are the hues from crimson through yellow, browns and tans included. Absurd colors, on the other hand, are the hues from blue greenish through bluish violet, with most grays included. Color theory has described perceptual and psychological effects to this contrast. Warm colors are said to accelerate or appear more agile in a painting, while cool colors tend to recede. Used in interior design or fashion, warm colors are said to arouse or stimulate the viewer , while cool colors calm and relax.

Texture

Texture refers to the tactile quality of the surface of an fine art object.

Learning Objectives

Recognize the utilize of texture in fine art

Key Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• Visual texture refers to an implied sense of texture that the creative person creates through the utilise of various artistic elements such every bit line , shading, and color.
• Actual texture refers to the physical rendering or the real surface qualities nosotros tin notice by touching an object.
• Visible brushstrokes and different amounts of paint will create a physical texture that tin add together to the expressiveness of a painting and draw attention to specific areas within it.
• It is possible for an artwork to contain numerous visual textures but still remain smoothen to the impact.

Primal Terms

• tactile:Tangible; perceptible to the sense of touch.

Texture

Texture in fine art stimulates the senses of sight and touch and refers to the tactile quality of the surface of the art. Information technology is based on the perceived texture of the canvas or surface, which includes the application of the pigment. In the context of artwork, in that location are two types of texture: visual and actual. Visual texture refers to an implied sense of texture that the creative person creates through the use of various creative elements such every bit line, shading and color. Actual texture refers to the physical rendering or the real surface qualities we can notice by touching an object, such as paint application or three-dimensional art.

It is possible for an artwork to incorporate numerous visual textures, withal still remain smoothen to the touch. Take for instance Realist or Illusionist works, which rely on the heavy utilise of pigment and varnish, still maintain an utterly smooth surface. In Jan Van Eyck's painting "The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin" we tin can notice a great deal of texture in the wearable and robes particularly, while the surface of the work remains very smooth .

Jan van Eyck, The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin, 1435: The Virgin of Chancellor Rolin has a keen deal of texture in the wear and robes, only the actual surface of the piece of work is very polish.

Paintings oft utilise bodily texture every bit well, which we tin detect in the concrete application of paint. Visible brushstrokes and different amounts of pigment will create a texture that adds to the expressiveness of a painting and draw attention to specific areas within it. The artist Vincent van Gogh is known to have used a swell deal of actual texture in his paintings, noticeable in the thick application of paint in such paintings every bit Starry Night.

Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Dark, 1889: The Starry Dark contains a great bargain of bodily texture through the thick awarding of paint.

Shape and Volume

Shape refers to an area in a two-dimensional infinite that is defined by edges; volume is three-dimensional, exhibiting height, width, and depth.

Learning Objectives

Define shape and volume and identify ways they are represented in art

Key Takeaways

Cardinal Points

• "Positive infinite " refers to the space of the defined shape or figure.
• "Negative space" refers to the space that exists effectually and between one or more shapes.
• A " plane " in art refers to any area inside space.
• " Form " is a concept that is related to shape and tin be created past combining ii or more shapes, resulting in a 3-dimensional shape.
• Art makes utilize of both actual and implied volume .
• Shape, volume, and infinite, whether actual or implied, are the basis of the perception of reality.

Central Terms

• form:The shape or visible structure of an artistic expression.
• book:A unit of 3-dimensional measure of space that comprises a length, a width, and a height.
• plane:A apartment surface extending infinitely in all directions (due east.m., horizontal or vertical plane).

Shape refers to an expanse in two-dimensional space that is defined by edges. Shapes are, by definition, always flat in nature and can be geometric (e.one thousand., a circumvolve, square, or pyramid) or organic (e.g., a foliage or a chair). Shapes can be created past placing two different textures , or shape-groups, next to each other, thereby creating an enclosed area, such as a painting of an object floating in h2o.

"Positive space" refers to the infinite of the defined shape, or effigy. Typically, the positive space is the subject of an artwork. "Negative space" refers to the space that exists around and between one or more shapes. Positive and negative space tin can become difficult to distinguish from each other in more than abstract works.

A "plane" refers to whatsoever surface area within space. In two-dimensional fine art, the " picture aeroplane " is the flat surface that the paradigm is created upon, such every bit paper, canvas, or forest. Three-dimensional figures may be depicted on the flat picture airplane through the employ of the creative elements to imply depth and book, as seen in the painting Small Bouquet of Flowers in a Ceramic Vase by Jan Brueghel the Elder.

January Brueghel the Elder, Small Bouquet of Flowers in a Ceramic Vase, 1599: Three-dimensional figures may exist depicted on the flat pic plane through the utilise of the creative elements to imply depth and book.

"Form" is a concept that is related to shape. Combining two or more than shapes tin create a iii-dimensional shape. Form is always considered three-dimensional as it exhibits volume—or height, width, and depth. Art makes employ of both actual and implied book.

While three-dimensional forms, such as sculpture, have volume inherently, volume can also exist simulated, or unsaid, in a 2-dimensional work such as a painting. Shape, volume, and space—whether bodily or implied—are the basis of the perception of reality.

Time and Motility

Motion, a principle of art, is a tool artists apply to organize the artistic elements in a work; it is employed in both static and time-based mediums.

Learning Objectives

Name some techniques and mediums used by artists to convey motion in both static and time-based art forms

Fundamental Takeaways

Key Points

• Techniques such every bit calibration and proportion are used to create the feeling of motion or the passing of time in static a visual piece.
• The placement of a repeated element in dissimilar area within an artwork is another way to imply move and the passing of time.
• Visual experiments in time and motion were first produced in the mid-19th century, and the photographer Eadweard Muybridge is well-known for his sequential shots.
• The time-based mediums of film, video, kinetic sculpture , and operation art employ time and motion by their very definitions.

Primal Terms

• frames per second:The number of times an imaging device produces unique consecutive images (frames) in ane second. Abbreviation: FPS.
• static:Fixed in identify; having no motion.

Motion, or motility, is considered to be ane of the "principles of fine art"; that is, one of the tools artists use to organize the artistic elements in a work of art. Motility is employed in both static and in time-based mediums and can show a direct action or the intended path for the viewer 's center to follow through a slice.

Techniques such as scale and proportion are used to create the feeling of motion or the passing of fourth dimension in static visual artwork. For example, on a flat film plane , an prototype that is smaller and lighter colored than its surroundings volition appear to be in the background. Another technique for implying motion and/or time is the placement of a repeated chemical element in different areas within an artwork.

Visual experiments in fourth dimension and motion were showtime produced in the mid-19th century. The photographer Eadweard Muybridge is well known for his sequential shots of humans and animals walking, running, and jumping, which he displayed together to illustrate the motion of his subjects. Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 exemplifies an absolute feeling of motion from the upper left to lower correct corner of the piece.

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912: This work represents Duchamp's conception of motility and time.

While static art forms have the ability to imply or propose time and motion, the time-based mediums of picture show, video, kinetic sculpture, and performance art demonstrate time and motion by their very definitions. Motion-picture show is many static images that are quickly passed through a lens. Video is essentially the same procedure, but digitally-based and with fewer frames per 2d . Performance fine art takes place in real time and makes use of real people and objects, much like theater. Kinetic art is fine art that moves, or depends on move, for its effect. All of these mediums use time and motility as a fundamental aspect of their forms of expression.

Take a chance, Improvisation, and Spontaneity

Dadaism, Surrealism, and the Fluxus motion all relied on the elements of hazard, improvisation, and spontaneity as tools for making art works.

Learning Objectives

Describe how Dadaism, Surrealism, and the Fluxus movement relied on chance, improvisation, and spontaneity

Key Takeaways

Primal Points

• Dadaists are known for their "automatic writing" or stream of consciousness writing, which highlights the creativity of the unconscious mind.
• Surrealist works, much like Dadaist works, ofttimes feature an element of surprise, unexpected juxtaposition , and borer into the unconscious mind.
• Surrealists are known for having invented " exquisite corpse" drawing.
• The Fluxus movement was known for its " happenings ," which were operation events or situations that could have identify anywhere, in any grade , and relied heavily on hazard, improvisation, and audience participation.

Cardinal Terms

• happening:A spontaneous or improvised issue, specially one that involves audience participation.
• assemblage:A collection of things which have been gathered together..

Chance, improvisation, and spontaneity are elements that tin can be used to create art, or they can be the very purpose of the artwork itself. Whatsoever medium can employ these elements at any point inside the artistic process.

Marcel Duchamp, Urinal, 1917: Marcel Duchamp's Urinal is an example of a "ready-made," which were objects that were purchased or institute and then declared fine art.

Dadaism

Dadaism was an art movement pop in Europe in the early 20th century. It was started by artists and poets in Zurich, Switzerland with strong anti-war and left-leaning sentiments. The movement rejected logic and reason and instead prized irrationality, nonsense, and intuition. Marcel Duchamp was a dominant member of the Dadaist movement, known for exhibiting "set up-mades," which were objects that were purchased or institute and then alleged art.

Dadaists used what was readily available to create what was termed an "assemblage," using items such every bit photographs, trash, stickers, bus passes, and notes. The work of the Dadaists involved chance, improvisation, and spontaneity to create art. They are known for using "automatic writing" or stream of consciousness writing, which often took nonsensical forms, just immune for the opportunity of potentially surprising juxtapositions and unconscious inventiveness.

Surrealism

The Surrealist movement, which developed out of Dadaism primarily equally a political movement, featured an element of surprise, unexpected juxtaposition and the borer of the unconscious heed. Andre Breton, an important member of the motility, wrote the Surrealist manifesto, defining information technology equally follows:

"Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism , past which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by whatever other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of idea in the absence of all control exercised past reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation. "

Like Dadaism before it, the Surrealist movement stressed the unimportance of reason and planning and instead relied heavily upon risk and surprise as a tool to harness the creativity of the unconscious mind. Surrealists are known for having invented "exquisite corpse" drawing, an do where words and images are collaboratively assembled, one after another. Many Surrealist techniques, including exquisite corpse drawing, allowed for the playful creation of art through assigning value to spontaneous production.

The Fluxus movement

The Fluxus movement of the 1960s was highly influenced by Dadaism. Fluxus was an international network of artists that skillfully blended together many different disciplines, and whose work was characterized by the use of an farthermost practise-information technology-yourself (DIY) artful and heavily intermedia artworks. In addition, Fluxus was known for its "happenings," which were multi-disciplinary performance events or situations that could take identify anywhere. Audition participation was essential in a happening, and therefore relied on a great deal of surprise and improvisation. Key elements of happenings were oftentimes planned, but artists left room for improvisation, which eliminated the boundary between the artwork and the viewer , thus making the audience an of import part of the art.

Inclusion of All Five Senses

The inclusion of the five homo senses in a single work takes place most often in installation and operation fine art.

Learning Objectives

Explain how installation and performance art include the five senses of the viewer

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• In contemporary art, it is quite common for work to cater to the senses of sight, impact, and hearing, while it is somewhat less common to accost smell and gustation.
• "Gesamtkunstwerk," or "full work of art," is a German discussion that refers to an artwork that attempts to address all five human senses.
• Installation art is a genre of 3-dimensional artwork that is designed to transform the viewer 's perception of a space .
• Virtual reality is a term that refers to computer-imitation environments.

Central Terms

• happening:A spontaneous or improvised result, especially ane that involves audience participation.
• virtual reality:A reality based in the computer.

The inclusion of the 5 man senses in a unmarried piece of work takes place most oft in installation and performance-based fine art. In addition, works that strive to include all senses at once generally make utilise of some course of interactivity, as the sense of gustatory modality clearly must involve the participation of the viewer. Historically, this attention to all senses was reserved to ritual and anniversary . In gimmicky fine art, it is quite common for piece of work to cater to the senses of sight, touch, and hearing, while somewhat less common for fine art to address the senses of smell and taste.

The German discussion "Gesamtkunstwerk," meaning "total piece of work of art," refers to a genre of artwork that attempts to address all five human senses. The concept was brought to prominence by the High german opera composer Richard Wagner in 1849. Wagner staged an opera that sought to unite the art forms, which he felt had go overly disparate. Wagner's operas paid great attention to every detail in order to achieve a state of total artistic immersion. "Gesamkunstwerk" is at present an accepted English term relating to aesthetics , but has evolved from Wagner's definition to mean the inclusion of the five senses in fine art.

Installation fine art is a genre of three-dimensional artwork that is designed to transform the viewer's perception of a infinite. Embankment past Rachel Whiteread exemplifies this blazon of transformation. The term more often than not pertains to an interior space, while Land Art typically refers to an outdoor space, though there is some overlap between these terms. The Fluxus movement of the 1960s is cardinal to the development of installation and performance art every bit mediums.

Rachel Whiteread, Embankment, 2005: Whiteread'south installation Embankment is a type of art designed to transform the viewer'due south perception of space.

"Virtual reality" is a term that refers to computer-simulated environments. Currently, almost virtual reality environments are visual experiences, but some simulations include additional sensory information. Immersive virtual reality has developed in recent years with the improvement of technology and is increasingly addressing the 5 senses inside a virtual realm. Artists have been exploring the possibilities of these simulated and virtual realities with the expansion of the discipline of cyberarts, though what constitutes cyberart continues to be up for contend. Environments such every bit the virtual world of Second Life are more often than not accustomed, but whether or not video games should exist considered fine art remains undecided.

Compositional Residue

Compositional remainder refers to the placement of the artistic elements in relation to each other within a work of art.

Learning Objectives

Categorize the elements of compositional balance in a work of art

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• A harmonious compositional balance involves arranging elements so that no i function of a work overpowers or seems heavier than any other office.
• The three about mutual types of compositional balance are symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial .
• When balanced, a composition appears stable and visually correct. Just as symmetry relates to aesthetic preference and reflects an intuitive sense for how things "should" appear, the overall balance of a given composition contributes to exterior judgments of the work.

Cardinal Terms

• radial:Arranged like rays that radiate from, or converge to, a mutual center.
• symmetry:Verbal correspondence on either side of a dividing line, plane, center, or axis. The satisfying system of a balanced distribution of the elements of a whole.
• disproportion:Want of symmetry, or proportion between the parts of a thing, particularly want of bilateral symmetry. Defective a common measure betwixt two objects or quantities; Incommensurability. That which causes something to not be symmetrical.

Compositional rest refers to the placement of the elements of fine art (color, course , line , shape, space , texture , and value) in relation to each other. When balanced, a composition appears more than stable and visually pleasing. Only as symmetry relates to aesthetic preference and reflects an intuitive sense for how things "should" appear, the overall residuum of a given composition contributes to outside judgments of the work.

Creating a harmonious compositional rest involves arranging elements so that no single part of a work overpowers or seems heavier than whatever other part. The 3 most mutual types of compositional balance are symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial.

Compositional residual: The three common types of balance are symmetric, asymmetric, and radial.

Symmetrical balance is the nearly stable, in a visual sense, and generally conveys a sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality. When both sides of an artwork on either side of the horizontal or vertical axis of the picture plane are the same in terms of the sense that is created past the arrangement of the elements of art, the work is said to exhibit this type of residue. The contrary of symmetry is disproportion .

Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man, 1487: Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man is oft used every bit a representation of symmetry in the human body and, by extension, the natural universe.

Asymmetry is defined as the absence of, or a violation of, the principles of symmetry. Examples of asymmetry appear commonly in architecture. Although pre-modern architectural styles tended to place an emphasis on symmetry (except where extreme site conditions or historical developments lead away from this classical ideal), modern and postmodern architects frequently used asymmetry as a design element. For instance, while most bridges employ a symmetrical class due to intrinsic simplicities of design, analysis, fabrication, and economic utilize of materials, a number of modern bridges take deliberately departed from this, either in response to site-specific considerations or to create a dramatic pattern statement. .

Oakland Bay Bridge: Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge reflects asymmetrical architectural pattern.

Radial rest refers to circular elements in compositions. In classical geometry, a radius of a circumvolve or sphere is any line segment from its center to its perimeter. By extension, the radius of a circle or sphere is the length of any such segment, which is one-half the bore. The radius may be more one-half the diameter, which is usually defined every bit the maximum altitude between whatever two points of the figure. The inradius of a geometric figure is unremarkably the radius of the largest circle or sphere independent in it. The inner radius of a band, tube or other hollow object is the radius of its cavity. The name "radial" or "radius" comes from Latin radius, meaning "ray" only as well the spoke of a circular chariot wheel.

Rhythm

Artists use rhythm as a tool to guide the middle of the viewer through works of art.

Learning Objectives

Recognize and translate the use of rhythm in a work of art

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions" (Anon. 1971).
• Rhythm may also refer to visual presentation as "timed movement through space " (Jirousek 1995), and a common linguistic communication of pattern unites rhythm with geometry.
• For instance, placing a red spiral at the bottom left and superlative right, for instance, will crusade the eye to motion from one spiral, to the other, and everything in between. Information technology is indicating movement in the piece by the repetition of elements and, therefore, can make artwork seem active.

Primal Terms

• symmetry:Verbal correspondence on either side of a dividing line, plane, center or centrality. The satisfying arrangement of a counterbalanced distribution of the elements of a whole.

The principles of visual fine art are the rules, tools, and guidelines that artists utilise to organize the elements of in a slice of artwork. When the principles and elements are successfully combined, they assist in creating an aesthetically pleasing or interesting piece of work of art. While in that location is some variation among them, motion, unity, harmony, variety, rest, rhythm, accent, contrast , proportion, and pattern are commonly sited every bit principles of art.

Rhythm (from Greek rhythmos, "any regular recurring motion, symmetry " (Liddell and Scott 1996)) may be generally defined equally a "movement marked past the regulated succession of potent and weak elements, or of reverse or different conditions" (Betimes. 1971). This general pregnant of regular recurrence or blueprint in time may be applied to a broad variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or frequency of anything from microseconds to millions of years. In the performing arts, rhythm is the timing of events on a human calibration, of musical sounds and silences, of the steps of a trip the light fantastic toe, or the meter of spoken language and poesy. Rhythm may also refer to visual presentation, equally "timed movement through space" (Jirousek 1995), and a common language of pattern unites rhythm with geometry.

In a visual composition , pattern and rhythm are generally expressed past showing consistency with colors or lines . For instance, placing a red spiral at the bottom left and top right, for case, will crusade the center to move from i screw, to the other, so to the space in between. The repetition of elements creates movement of the viewer 's eye and can, therefore, brand the artwork feel active. Hilma af Klint's Svanen (The Swan) exemplifies the visual representation of rhythm using color and symmetry.

Hilma af Klint, Svanen (The Swan), 1914: Color and symmetry work together in this painting to guide the heart of the viewer in a particular visual rhythm.

Proportion and Scale

Proportion is a measurement of the size and quantity of elements within a composition.

Learning Objectives

Apply the concept of proportion to different works of art

Cardinal Takeaways

Cardinal Points

• Hierarchical proportion is a technique used in art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to describe the relative importance of the figures in the artwork.
• Mathematically, proportion is the relation between elements and a whole. In compages, the whole is non but a building but the set and setting of the site.
• Among the diverse ancient artistic traditions, the harmonic proportions, human proportions, cosmic orientations, various aspects of sacred geometry , and small whole-number ratios were all applied as part of the practice of architectural design.

Key Terms

• golden ratio:The irrational number (approximately 1·618), usually denoted by the Greek alphabetic character φ (phi), which is equal to the sum of its own reciprocal and i, or, equivalently, is such that the ratio of ane to the number is equal to the ratio of its reciprocal to 1. Some twentieth-century artists and architects take proportioned their works to approximate this—particularly in the course of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter equals this number—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing.

Proportion is a measurement of the size and quantity of elements within a composition . Hierarchical proportion is a technique used in fine art, mostly in sculpture and painting, in which the artist uses unnatural proportion or scale to depict the relative importance of the figures in the artwork. In ancient Egyptian fine art, for example, gods and of import political figures appear much larger than common people. Beginning with the Renaissance , artists recognized the connection between proportion and perspective , and the illusion of three-dimensional space . Images of the man body in exaggerated proportion were used to depict the reality an artist interpreted.

Depiction of Narmer from the Narmer Palette: Narmer, a Predynastic ruler, accompanied by men conveying the standards of various local gods. This piece demonstrates the ancient Egyptians' apply of proportion, with Narmer appearing larger than the other figures depicted.

Mathematically, proportion is the relation between elements and a whole. In architecture, the whole is not just a building but the prepare and setting of the site. The things that make a building and its site "well shaped" include everything from the orientation of the site and the buildings on information technology, to the features of the grounds on which it is situated. Calorie-free, shade, air current, elevation , and choice of materials all relate to a standard of architectural proportion.

Architecture has often used proportional systems to generate or constrain the forms considered suitable for inclusion in a building. In near every building tradition, there is a organization of mathematical relations which governs the relationships between aspects of the pattern. These systems of proportion are frequently quite simple: whole number ratios or incommensurable ratios (such as the gilded ratio) were determined using geometrical methods. Generally, the goal of a proportional system is to produce a sense of coherence and harmony among the elements of a edifice.

Among the diverse ancient creative traditions, the harmonic proportions, human proportions, cosmic orientations, various aspects of sacred geometry, and pocket-size whole-number ratios were all applied as part of the practice of architectural blueprint. For instance, the Greek classical architectural orders are all proportioned rather than dimensioned or measured modules, because the earliest modules were non based on torso parts and their spans (fingers, palms, easily, and anxiety), but rather on cavalcade diameters and the widths of arcades and fenestrations .

Temple of Portanus: The Greek Temple of Portanus is an example of classical Greek architecture with its tetrastyle portico of 4 Ionic columns.

Typically, one set of column diameter modules used for casework and architectural moldings by the Egyptians and Romans is based on the proportions of the palm and the finger, while another less delicate module—used for door and window trim, tile work, and covering in Mesopotamia and Greece—was based on the proportions of the paw and the thumb.

Dating dorsum to the Pythagoreans, at that place was an idea that proportions should be related to standards, and that the more general and formulaic the standards, the better. This concept—that at that place should be beauty and elegance evidenced by a skillful limerick of well understood elements—underlies mathematics, fine art, and compages. The classical standards are a series of paired opposites designed to aggrandize the dimensional constraints of harmony and proportion.

Space

Infinite in art can exist defined as the area that exists betwixt ii identifiable points.

Learning Objectives

Define infinite in art and list means information technology is employed by artists

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The organization of space is referred to as composition and is an essential component to whatsoever piece of work of art.
• The infinite of an artwork includes the background, foreground, and centre ground , also as the distance between, effectually, and within things.
• In that location are two types of infinite: positive space and negative space.
• Later on spending hundreds of years developing linear perspective , Western artistic notions about the accurate depiction of space went through a radical shift at the first of the 20th century.
• Cubism and subsequent modernist movements represented an important shift in the utilise of space within Western art, which is still beingness felt today.

Key Terms

• space:The distance or empty area between things.
• Cubism:An creative movement in the early on 20th century characterized by the depiction of natural forms every bit geometric structures of planes.

The organization of space in art is referred to every bit composition, and is an essential component of whatsoever piece of work of art. Space can be generally defined as the area that exists between any two identifiable points.

Space is conceived of differently in each medium . The space in a painting, for example, includes the background, foreground and middle ground, while 3-dimensional space, like sculpture or installation , will involve the distance between, around, and inside points of the work. Infinite is further categorized as positive or negative. "Positive infinite" tin be defined as the subject of an artwork, while "negative infinite" tin be defined as the space around the subject area.

Over the ages, space has been conceived of in various means. Artists have devoted a groovy deal of time to experimenting with perspectives and degrees of flatness of the pictorial plane .

The perspective organization has been a highly employed convention in Western art. Visually, information technology is an illusionist phenomenon, well suited to realism and the delineation of reality as information technology appears. Later on spending hundreds of years developing linear perspective, Western artistic conventions about the accurate depiction of space went through a radical shift at the commencement of the 20th century. The innovations of Cubism and subsequent modernist movements represented an important shift in the use of space within Western art, the impact of which is still being felt.

Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, 1907: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon is an example of cubist art, which has a tendency to flatten the pic plane, and its use of abstract shapes and irregular forms suggest multiple points of view inside a single image.

2-Dimensional Infinite

Two-dimensional, or bi-dimensional, space is a geometric model of the planar projection of the concrete universe in which nosotros live.

Learning Objectives

Talk over 2-dimensional space in art and the concrete properties on which it is based

Cardinal Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• In physical terms, dimension refers to the constituent construction of all infinite and its position in time.
• Drawing is a course of visual art that makes use of any number of instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium .
• Almost whatever dimensional form can exist represented by some combination of the cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone. Once these basic shapes take been assembled into a likeness, and then the cartoon can be refined into a more accurate and polished form.

Central Terms

• dimension:A unmarried attribute of a given thing. A measure of spatial extent in a particular management, such every bit superlative, width or breadth, or depth.
• Two-Dimensional:Existing in 2 dimensions. Not creating the illusion of depth.
• Planar:Of or pertaining to a airplane. Flat, 2-dimensional.

Two dimensional, or bi-dimensional, space is a geometric model of the planar project of the physical universe in which we live. The two dimensions are commonly called length and width. Both directions lie on the same plane . In physics, our bi-dimensional space is viewed as a planar representation of the space in which we move.

Mathematical depiction of bi-dimensional space: Bi-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system.

In art composition , drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of cartoon instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium (meaning that the object does not have depth). One of the simplest and most efficient ways of communicating visual ideas, the medium has been a popular and fundamental means of public expression throughout man history. Additionally, the relative availability of basic drawing instruments makes drawing more than universal than most other media.

Measuring the dimensions of a subject while blocking in the cartoon is an important step in producing a realistic rendition of a discipline. Tools such as a compass can be used to mensurate the angles of different sides. These angles tin be reproduced on the drawing surface and then rechecked to make sure they are accurate. Another grade of measurement is to compare the relative sizes of different parts of the subject area with each other. A finger placed at a betoken along the cartoon implement tin can be used to compare that dimension with other parts of the image. A ruler can exist used both as a straightedge and a device to compute proportions. When attempting to depict a complicated shape such equally a human being figure, it is helpful at start to represent the form with a prepare of primitive shapes.

Most any dimensional form can be represented by some combination of the cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone. Once these basic shapes have been assembled into a likeness, then the drawing tin can be refined into a more accurate and polished form. The lines of the primitive shapes are removed and replaced by the final likeness. A more than refined art of effigy drawing relies upon the creative person possessing a deep understanding of beefcake and the human proportions. A trained artist is familiar with the skeleton structure, articulation location, muscle placement, tendon motion, and how the different parts work together during movement. This allows the artist to render more natural poses that do non announced artificially potent. The artist is besides familiar with how the proportions vary depending on the historic period of the subject, particularly when drawing a portrait.

Drawing human figures: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's Madame Palmyre with Her Canis familiaris, 1897.

Linear Perspective and 3-Dimensional Space

Perspective is an judge representation on a flat surface of an image as it is seen by the eye.

Learning Objectives

Explain perspective and its impact on fine art composition

Cardinal Takeaways

Key Points

• Systematic attempts to evolve a system of perspective are usually considered to take begun around the 5th century B.C. in the art of Ancient Greece.
• The primeval art paintings and drawings typically sized objects and characters hierarchically according to their spiritual or thematic importance, not their distance from the viewer .
• In Medieval Europe, the use and composure of attempts to convey altitude increased steadily simply without a basis in a systematic theory.
• Past the Renaissance , nearly every artist in Italy used geometrical perspective in their paintings, both to portray depth and also as a new and "of the moment" compositional method.

Primal Terms

• curvilinear:Having bends; curved; formed by curved lines.
• horizon line:A horizontal line in perspective drawing, directly opposite the viewer's eye and often implied, that represents objects infinitely far away and determines the angle or perspective from which the viewer sees the work.
• vanishing point:The point in a perspective drawing at which parallel lines receding from an observer seem to converge.
• Perspective:The technique of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.

In fine art, perspective is an judge representation on a apartment surface of an prototype equally it is seen by the eye, calculated by assuming a item vanishing betoken . Systematic attempts to evolve a system of perspective are ordinarily considered to take begun around the 5th century BCE in the fine art of Ancient Greece. By the after periods of artifact , artists—especially those in less popular traditions—were well enlightened that distant objects could be shown smaller than those close at hand for increased illusionism. But whether this convention was actually used in a work depended on many factors. Some of the paintings constitute in the ruins of Pompeii show a remarkable realism and perspective for their time.

The earliest art paintings and drawings typically sized objects and characters hierarchically co-ordinate to their spiritual or thematic importance, not their distance from the viewer. The most important figures are often shown as the highest in a composition , also from hieratic motives, leading to the "vertical perspective" common in the fine art of Ancient Egypt , where a group of "nearer" figures are shown below the larger effigy(s).

The art of the Migration Menses had no tradition of attempting compositions of large numbers of figures, and Early Medieval art was ho-hum and inconsistent in relearning the convention from classical models, though the procedure can be seen underway in Carolingian fine art. European Medieval artists were aware of the full general principle of varying the relative size of elements according to distance, and use and sophistication of attempts to convey distance increased steadily during the period, but without a ground in a systematic theory.

By the Renaissance, even so, nearly every artist in Italian republic used geometrical perspective in their paintings. Not but was this use of perspective a fashion to portray depth, simply it was as well a new method of composing a painting. Paintings began to testify a single, unified scene, rather than a combination of several. For a while, perspective remained the domain of Florence. Gradually, and partly through the movement of academies of the arts, the Italian techniques became part of the preparation of artists across Europe and, subsequently, other parts of the world.

Perspective in Renaissance Painting: Pietro Perugino's usage of perspective in this fresco at the Sistine Chapel (1481–82) helped bring the Renaissance to Rome.

A drawing has one-point perspective when it contains only one vanishing bespeak on the horizon line . This blazon of perspective is typically used for images of roads, railway tracks, hallways, or buildings viewed so that the forepart is directly facing the viewer. Any objects that are made upward of lines either directly parallel with the viewer's line of sight or directly perpendicular (the railroad slats) can be represented with ane-point perspective. These parallel lines converge at the vanishing indicate.

Two-point perspective can exist used to draw the aforementioned objects as one-point perspective, but rotated—such as looking at the corner of a business firm, or looking at two forked roads shrink into the altitude. In looking at a business firm from the corner, for instance, ane wall would recede towards one vanishing betoken and the other wall would recede towards the opposite vanishing signal.

Three-point perspective is used for buildings depicted from above or below. In addition to the two vanishing points from before, 1 for each wall, there is now a third one for how those walls recede into the ground . This third vanishing point would exist below the ground.

4-point perspective is the curvilinear variant of two-point perspective. The resulting elongated frame tin be used both horizontally and vertically. Like all other foreshortened variants of perspective, iv-betoken perspective starts off with a horizon line, followed past 4 equally spaced vanishing points to delineate four vertical lines. Because vanishing points be only when parallel lines are present in the scene, a perspective with no vanishing points ("zero-point") occurs if the viewer is observing a non-rectilinear scene. The most common instance of a nonlinear scene is a natural scene (e.g., a mountain range), which frequently does not contain whatsoever parallel lines. A perspective without vanishing points can yet create a sense of depth.

Distortions of Space and Foreshortening

Distortion is used to create various representations of space in ii-dimensional works of art.

Learning Objectives

Place how distortion is both employed and avoided in works of art

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• Perspective projection distortion is the inevitable misrepresentation of three-dimensional space when drawn or "projected" onto a 2-dimensional surface. It is incommunicable to accurately depict three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional plane .
• Even so, at that place are several constructs available which let for seemingly accurate representation. Perspective projection tin can be used to mirror how the eye sees by the use of one or more than vanishing points .
• Although distortion can be irregular or follow many patterns, the almost commonly encountered distortions in limerick , especially in photography, are radially symmetric, or approximately and so, arising from the symmetry of a photographic lens.

Fundamental Terms

• radial:Arranged like rays that radiate from, or converge into, a mutual middle
• project:The image that a translucent object casts onto another object.
• foreshortening:A technique for creating the appearance that the object of a drawing is extending into infinite by shortening the lines with which that object is drawn.

A distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of an object, image, audio, or other course of information or representation. Baloney can be wanted or unwanted by the creative person. Distortion is usually unwanted when it concerns physical degradation of a work. Even so, information technology is more commonly referred to in terms of perspective, where it is employed to create realistic representations of space in two-dimensional works of art.

Perspective Projection Baloney

Perspective project distortion is the inevitable misrepresentation of three-dimensional space when drawn or "projected" onto a two-dimensional surface. Information technology is impossible to accurately draw three-dimensional reality on a two-dimensional aeroplane. However, there are several constructs available that allow for seemingly accurate representation. The most common of these is perspective projection. Perspective projection can be used to mirror how the eye sees past making use of i or more than vanishing points.

Giotto, Lamentation (The Mourning of Christ), 1305–1306: Giotto is one of the virtually notable pre-Renaissance artists to recognize baloney on two-dimensional planes.

Foreshortening

Foreshortening is the visual effect or optical illusion that causes an object or distance to appear shorter than it actually is because it is angled toward the viewer . Although foreshortening is an important element in art where visual perspective is existence depicted, foreshortening occurs in other types of two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional scenes, such as oblique parallel project drawings.

The physiological basis of visual foreshortening was undefined until the year 1000 when the Arabian mathematician and philosopher, Alhazen, in his Perspectiva, first explained that low-cal projects conically into the eye. A method for presenting foreshortened geometry systematically onto a plane surface was unknown for some other 300 years. The creative person Giotto may accept been the first to recognize that the image beheld by the eye is distorted: to the eye, parallel lines announced to intersect (like the distant edges of a path or road), whereas in "undistorted" nature, they do not. In many of Giotto's paintings, perspective is employed to achieve various distortion effects.

Foreshortening: This painting illustrates Melozzo da Forlì's usage of up foreshortening in his frescoes at The Basilica della Santa Casa.

Baloney in Photography

In photography, the projection machinery is light reflected from an object. To execute a drawing using perspective projection, projectors emanate from all points of an object and intersect at a station betoken. These projectors intersect with an imaginary plane of projection and an image is created on the airplane by the points of intersection. The resulting image on the projection plane reproduces the image of the object every bit it is beheld from the station bespeak.

Radial distortion can usually be classified as ane of two chief types: barrel baloney and pincushion baloney. Barrel distortion occurs when paradigm magnification decreases with distance from the optical axis. The apparent effect is that of an image which has been mapped effectually a sphere (or barrel). Fisheye lenses, which take hemispherical views, utilize this blazon of distortion every bit a way to map an infinitely broad object aeroplane into a finite image expanse.

On the other hand, in pincushion baloney, the prototype magnification increases with the altitude from the optical axis. The visible effect is that lines that practise non get through the center of the epitome are bowed inwards, towards the heart of the prototype, like a pincushion. A certain amount of pincushion distortion is often establish with visual optical instruments (i.e., binoculars), where it serves to eliminate the globe result.

Cylindrical perspective is a form of distortion acquired by fisheye and panoramic lenses, which reproduce direct horizontal lines above and below the lens axis level as curved, while reproducing directly horizontal lines on lens centrality level as directly. This is also a common feature of broad-angle anamorphic lenses of less than 40mm focal length in cinematography. Substantially information technology is only barrel baloney, but only in the horizontal plane. It is an artifact of the squeezing process that anamorphic lenses do to fit widescreen images onto standard-width film.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/visual-elements/