Elements and Principles of Art Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering principles and elements of art including unity, harmony, proportion, value, texture, space, form, and chiaroscuro.

Harmony

Described as sameness or the belonging of one thing with another, creating a visually satisfying effect by combining similar or related elements such as colors, shapes, and textures.

Unity

The principle that art should be perceived as the sum of its parts, where elements work together to convey cohesiveness, meaning, and artistic value.

Simplicity

A technique for achieving unity by limiting variations to allow focus on special properties.

Repetition

A method of creating unity through the repeated use of elements such as color and shapes.

Proximity

A technique for achieving unity by limiting negative space to create convergence of objects.

Proportion

The size relationship of forms and shapes, describing how the sizes of objects and elements relate to each other.

Equal Division

A division of elements or shapes in proportion that creates monotony.

Unequal Division

A division of elements or shapes where excessive disparity causes a lack in harmony.

Value

An element of art involving the use of light to add quality and depth to a composition, resulting in the illusion of form and depth.

Achromatic Value

The gradual change from light to dark and vice versa in an artwork.

Texture

Refers to the feel of a surface and how the material looks and feels, tapping into touch for tactile sensations and sight for visual sensations.

Visual Texture

Surface sensations that elicit visual responses through the sense of sight.

Rough Texture

A surface characteristic where some light rays are blocked, resulting in light and dark patterns.

Atmospheric Perspective

A technique to create the illusion of depth using a gradient technique across texture, brightness, color intensity, and warm/cool colors across foreground, middle ground, and background.

Form

Pertains to how a shape or physical configuration occupies space, characterized by depth alongside length and width or diameter.

Positive Space

The space that subject matter takes up in a composition, representing the highlighted figure or form.

Chiaroscuro

An Italian word meaning bright (chiaro) and dark (oscuro), which employs light and dark values to highlight positive space figures by shading negative space darker.

Open Shapes and Forms

Artistic shapes and forms that project invitation and give a sense of wonder to the viewer.

Closed Shapes and Forms

Shapes and forms that project a more solid and self-contained field of perception.