Chapters 4 and 11 (week 3): Photography and Painting

Pictorialists

photographers who use achievements of painting, particularly realistic painting, in their effort to realize the potential of photography art. Their use of lighting selectively emphasizes the most important features of the subject matter.

Photo Secession Group

created by Steichen, Stieglitz, and Gertrude Kasebier to promote photography as a fine art

Sentimentality

the falsifying of feelings by demanding responses that are superficial or easy to come by.

Oversimplification of complex emotional issues. Mawkish and self-indulgent

Straight Photography Movement

pioneered by Alfred Stieglitz, this movement is a

reaction against pictorialism. They are not trying to make things look beautiful, but to depict things as they are. Both the F/64 group and Documentarists continued this tradition.

Pictoralist approach

dramatic lighting and soft focus

Framing

can omit important parts

f/64 group

name of the group derives from small aperture, f/64, which ensures SHARP focus.

DOCUMENTARISTS

Time is critical to documentarist, portray a world disappearing so quickly we cannot see it go

Daguerreotypes

(Louis Daguerre.)

The first practical photographs, which produced a finely detailed monochrome image on a silver-coated copper plate.

Media

The basic material of art

Pigment

The color of a painting

Binder

Something that could help the paint stay paint i.e. Egg yolk, glue or casein

Tempera

Pigment bound by egg yolk and applied carefully prepared surface like the wood panels of Cimabue's madonna and child enthroned with angels

Fresco

Pigment dissolved in lime water applied to wet plaster as it is drying. Wet fresco: the color penetrates and is bound to the plaster. Very little room for error.

Oil painting

A mixture of pigment, linseed oil, varnish and turpentine to produce a thin or thick consistency. Oil painting dominated 15th century

Watercolor

Pigments bound in a water soluble adhesive such as gum Arabic. Slightly translucent (blue mountain in the circle drive near Taos)

Acrylic

A modern synthetic, a form of plastic resin that dries very quickly and is flexible. Advantage is it does not darken or fade. ( the bay)

Line

A continuous marking made by a moving point on a surface. They suggest movement

Hue

The name of a color

Saturation

The purity, vividness, or intensity of a hue

Value

"Shading" the lightness or darkness of a hue. The mixture in the hue of white and black

Texture

The surface or "feel" of something, if the brushstroke she are smoothed then the surface is smooth

Composition

The ordering of relationships, among details, among regions, among these and the total structure. The way the painting is organized

Balance(principle)

The equilibrium of opposing visual forces

Gradation(principle)

A continuum of changes in the details and regions such as the gradual variation in color, shape, value and shadowing

Movement and rhythm(principle)

The way a painting controls the movement and pace of our vision.

Proportion (principle)

The emphasis achieved by the scaling of sizes and shapes i.e. The large madonna in the Cimabue contrasts with the tiny prophets

Unity (principle)

The togetherness despite contrasts, the details and regions as a whole combine to one piece

Variety (principle)

The contrasts of details and regions i.e. The color and shape in O Keeffe's Ghost ranch cliffs

Abstract painting

It can be difficult if we are confused about its subject matter. No distinct objects or events are depicted. The subject matter is the sensuous(all the qualities in one) gives us the feeling of the here and now( presentational immediacy) can be very intense

Representational painting

They situate the senses with objects and events. Past and future are more relevant. They bring in suggestion of once upon a time

Expressionism

Portray of strong emotions and energy i.e. Blume

Surrealism

Expressing the subconscious i.e. Siqueiros

Axis line

an imaginary line--generated by a visible line or lines--that helps determine the direction of the ey ina nay of the visual arts.

Color

the property of reflecting light of a particular wavelength.

Print

an image created from a master wooden block, stone, plate, or screen, usually on paper.

Mixed media

the combination of two or more artistic media in the same work.

Elements

the basic components of a medium.

Primary colors

red, yellow, and blue.

Secondary colors

green, orange, violet

Complementary colors

colors that lie opposite each other on the color wheel

Perspective

in painting, the illusion of depth.

Linear perspective

the creation of an illusion of distance in a two-dimensional work by means of converging lines.

Sensa

the qualities of objects or events that stimulate our sense organs, especially the eyes.