chapter 3 Notes: Elements of Art — Line, Shape, Mass, Space, Time, Motion, Light, Color, and Texture

3.1 Line
  • Line is a long, narrow mark usually made by drawing with a tool or brush; it is a primary means of recording ideas, observations, and feelings and can express our individuality (e.g., signatures).
  • Lines can be active or static, aggressive or passive, sensual or mechanical; they indicate directions, boundaries, definitions of shapes/spaces, imply volumes or masses, and suggest motion or emotion.
  • Edges are often perceived as lines; lines can be seen as edges of objects or spaces, and we sometimes “draw with our eyes,” turning edges into lines.
  • In New York Movie (Edward Hopper, 19391939), line is used to define the joints between theater and lobby spaces and where the lobby floor meets the wall; lines help separate spaces and contribute to the sense of depth.
  • In Anthony McCall's You and I (horizontal #3), lines exist as light paths projected into space; viewers interrupt and alter the lines by moving through the space, effectively helping to draw the lines.
  • Line as path of action: lines in space can trace the energy left by moving points.
  • Line qualities shown in a line-variations diagram demonstrate how lines can convey mood and motion (e.g., curving vs angular lines).
  • Examples of line in various works:
    • Kabuki actor (Japanese prints): curvy lines suggest slow, rhythmic motion.
    • Torii Kiyotada's actor: angular lines express swift, violent motion.
    • Gego, Reticularia: lines extended into space via stainless steel wire, density varying in every direction.
    • Fred Sandback: black yarn arranged in open rectangles; lines in space create a restrained, orderly pattern; rectangles alternate between two orientations, producing a stately procession.
    • Kiki Smith, Ginser: etched lines on metal plate, one line for each hair; fur suggested by lines with minimal shading.
    • Implied lines in Andrea de Gionli (Tobit burying the dead): multiple implied lines form geometric shapes and triangles, guiding the eye and organizing space.
  • Implied line: lines suggested by alignment of points or sight lines rather than drawn explicitly; can form underlying structures (e.g., triangles formed by Tobit, dog sight line, and figures above).
  • Implied lines contribute to the figure-ground relationships by guiding perception of positive (figures) and negative (ground) shapes.
3.2 Shape
  • Shape vs mass vs form: Shape is the area within the outline of an object or figure (2D or 3D); mass refers to the physical bulk with height, width, and depth; form is sometimes used interchangeably with mass.
  • When a shape is enclosed by lines or color, it becomes recognizable as a figure against a ground (background). The figure-ground relationship is fundamental to perception.
  • Two general categories of shapes:
    • Geometric shapes: circles, triangles, squares; precise and regular; often made with tools like rulers or a compass. Examples include shapes in Kyotada's actor.
    • Organic shapes: irregular, curving, or rounded; appear more relaxed and informal; e.g., shapes in the Japanese print Woman Dancer.
  • Biomorphic is a related term for shapes based on natural forms.
  • When a shape appears on the picture plane, it creates a second dominant shape (the figure) against background (ground).
  • Paul D’Agostino’s The Rarely Glimpsed Junk Fish demonstrates positive vs negative shapes: a black, three-dimensional fish sculpture on a wall (positive shape) with its surrounding white background; the fish’s mouth and tail read as recognizable features; a negative space around the sculpture and a handwritten storyline occupy other negative shapes on the page.
  • In drawing, the fish can emerge from blank spaces, revealing that shape can also be read as negative space.
3.3 Mass
  • Two-dimensional mass is called a shape; three-dimensional mass has height, width, and depth and encloses volume.
  • When mass encloses space, the space is a volume; the term form is sometimes used synonymously with mass.
  • Three-dimensional mass is central in sculpture and architecture.
  • Examples:
    • Paul D’Agostino’s rarely glimpsed junk fish (3D mass): a fish shape formed in synthetic clay and painted black; placed on a wire-supported base to be read as a positive form.
    • Botero’s bronze horse (Mexico): a large, inflated mass, with bulky legs and neck; a closed form that sits firmly and interacts little with surrounding space; conveys monumental, static mass.
    • Alberto Giacometti’s Man Pointing: a slender, open form; little solid mass; engages space around it; suggests fragility and temporal impermanence; open form interacts with surroundings and appears to be in motion or movement, despite small mass.
  • Mass in two dimensions: Paula Modersohn-Becker’s Mother and Child fills the picture plane; shading suggests bulging flesh; uses composition and value to imply mass within a flat plane.
3.4 Space
  • Space is the indefinable receptacle of all things; organizing space is a key creative consideration for artists.
  • Space in three dimensions:
    • Space is experienced as volume and enclosed spaces; architecture can manipulate space to alter psychological experience.
    • Cesar Pelli’s North Terminal at Reagan National Airport: large windows frame views of runways and the Potomac; interior space is divided into modular units, giving a domestic, human-scale feel; domes create spaces designed on the scale of people, not big machinery.
    • Doug Wheeler’s infinity environment installations: an interior space divided by a membrane, revealing an annex that appears of infinite dimensions; carefully controlled lighting and construction create a slowly shifting effect toward near darkness over ~3232 minutes (a 32-minute period).
  • Space in two dimensions:
    • In drawings, prints, photographs, and paintings, the picture plane is defined by edges; depth is implied, not physically present.
    • Early Egyptian painting: Pool in the Garden shows implied depth by non-overlapping side-view and top-view combinations; depth is not realistic or dramatic.
    • Cezanne’s Still Life with Apples: depth is suggested through overlapping, vertical placement, horizon line at ends of the table; apples and lemons occupy different spatial planes; patches of parallel brushwork on background and tabletop flatten overall space, inviting viewers to read spaces as surface.
    • Linear perspective: a system for depicting three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface; developed in 15th-century Italy; differs across cultures and intentions (Japanese prints, Egyptian murals). Atmospheric perspective (a nonlinear depth cue) uses color desaturation and reduced detail with distance; Escher-Brown-Durand Kindred Spirits uses atmospheric perspective to convey vast wilderness with dramatic foreground detail and illuminated figures.
    • Traditional Chinese landscape painting (e.g., Poet on a Mountaintop): perspective is across the landscape rather than into depth; washes of ink and color convey near and far mountains; landscapes emphasize symbolic rather than realistic space.
  • The overall goal in space depiction is to balance reality vs illusion, and to convey depth and movement within a static image.
3.5 Time and Motion
  • Time is the fourth dimension; our experience of time is tied to movement in space, and vice versa.
  • Time in art can be perceived in media like film, video, and some sculpture; time can be shown, slowed, accelerated, or rearranged.
  • Time in traditional cultures and narratives:
    • Cyclic time in Aztec culture (calendar stone) with a sun god at the center and four compartments representing previous worlds; the circle embodies cyclical time.
    • Linear time in Judeo-Christian tradition; Seseta’s painting “Meeting of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul” shows key moments along Saint Anthony’s journey; the road implies forward movement through time.
    • Comics typically present linear time from left to right and top to bottom, but can manipulate time through panels. The early strip Crazy Cat shows a narrative—moving through time via frames.
  • Time in modern media:
    • Film and television can manipulate past, present, and future; events can be slowed down or sped up; time can be compressed, expanded, reversed, or rerun.
    • Christian Marclure’s 2010 work The Clock (not explicitly in original) is referenced: a film-based piece lasting 2424 hours, assembled from scenes of clocks and watches to portray real-time passage.
    • Contemporary music videos juxtapose rapid, jump-cut moments that disrupt clock time.
  • Implied motion (illusion of movement):
    • Dancing Krishna (Hindu god) depicted with dynamic pose using sculpture in bronze, showing kinetic energy and balance with moving parts.
    • Futurist visual art (e.g., Umberto Boccioni) depicted motion and speed; drawings of racing cyclists emphasize speed via curved lines and color dabs to suggest blurring and movement.
    • Jenny Holzer’s Untitled installation uses light boards with programmed intervals along a spiral ramp; the words appear to move down the ramp due to programmed timing, creating implied motion through perceptual flow and media bombardment.
  • Actual motion (kinetic art):
    • Before motors, artists used wind and water to create movement (fountains, banners, kites, flags).
    • Alexander Calder’s mobiles rely on air currents to move gently; mobiles are a key early kinetic art example, transforming viewer motion into reaction in space.
  • Key takeaway: Time and motion can be conveyed as (a) duration (real-time or simulated time), (b) implied movement (viewer interaction or implied lines), or (c) actual motion (kinetic sculpture).
3.6 Light
  • Light is the energy that makes objects visible; sunlight contains all colors of the visible spectrum, though perceived as white.
  • Light properties:
    • Direction, intensity, and color of light affect how surfaces appear.
    • Light can be directed, reflected, refracted, diffracted, or diffused, altering perception of mass and form.
  • Seeing light:
    • How light falls on a subject dramatically changes perception; a change in light direction can alter the perception of sculpture (e.g., Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial): initial constant natural light may appear as frightened; adding overhead spotlights creates a different, more decisive impression.
  • Value (tone):
    • Value ranges from white to black; subtle shifts indicate surface direction, curvature, and mass.
    • In a value diagram, perception of value is relational; a gray bar may read as lighter or darker depending on the adjacent background.
    • Chiaroscuro (from chiaro = light, oscuro = dark) is shading from light to dark to create the illusion of mass on a flat surface; Francois Bonven’s self-portrait (in a dark room with a single light source) demonstrates chiaroscuro through gradual shading from light to dark on the face.
  • Light as a medium in contemporary art:
    • Some artists use artificial light as the medium itself, exploiting pure, intense colors emitted by light.
    • Paul Chan’s Seven Lights: a series using a digital projector to cast light at various angles; the projection creates an evolving field of light that appears to have tangible objects moving or falling within the lit space; each work lasts 1414 minutes, with a display of changing shadows and forms.
  • Practical implications: lighting design can define form, mood, and spatial perception; artists use light to manipulate perception, create atmosphere, and communicate concepts beyond the visible object.
3.7 Color
  • Color study objective: Describe the physical properties and relationships of color.
  • Color properties to consider:
    • Hue: the color family (red, blue, yellow, etc.).
    • Value: lightness or darkness of a color.
    • Saturation (intensity): vividness or dullness of color.
    • Temperature: perceived warmth or coolness of a color (e.g., warm reds/yellows vs cool blues/greens).
    • Context and lighting can alter perceived color: a deep blue uniform against pale walls demonstrates color relationships and mood.
  • Color relationships and mood:
    • Color contrast (complementary colors) and proximity influence readability, emphasis, and emotion in a composition.
    • The Hopper example (deep blue uniform against pale walls) illustrates how color interacts with light to create mood and emphasis within a scene.
  • Color as a component of light and material:
    • In modern and contemporary artworks, color interacts with value and texture to enhance perception of mass, space, and atmosphere.
3.8 Texture
  • Texture enhances expressive quality by suggesting touch, surface quality, and material presence.
  • Hopper’s New York Movie (1939) used visual texture to convey material differences and tactile impressions:
    • The red velvet theater seats appear textured and lush; the contrast with smooth plaster walls and carved wood column emphasizes material variety.
    • The theater’s dark, rich textures contrast with pale lobby walls, enhancing depth and atmosphere.
  • Texture also interacts with light and color, influencing perceived mass and mood; rough vs smooth surfaces catch light differently, altering value and color perception.
  • Texture contributes to the overall expressive quality of a work by adding sensory dimensions beyond line, shape, mass, and space.
Connections and cross-cutting ideas
  • Not all visual elements are essential in every work; artists emphasize different elements to achieve specific expressive goals.
  • Line, shape, mass, space, time, motion, light, color, and texture are the core visual elements introduced in this chapter and are used in varied combinations across works to convey meaning, mood, and narrative.
  • The relationships between these elements (e.g., line defining shape, mass shaping space, light revealing mass, and texture modifying perception) are central to analyzing and understanding art.
  • Examples across media (two-dimensional works, sculpture, architecture, installation, and time-based media) illustrate how artists manipulate these elements to render space, convey time, imply motion, and evoke response from the viewer.
  • Cultural and historical contexts influence the treatment of space and time (linear vs cyclical time; Western linear perspective vs other traditions; kinetic art as an explicit exploration of motion).

Illustrative references and figures mentioned in the content (for study context):

  • Edward Hopper, New York Movie (1939): movie theater and lobby spaces; lighting from overhead lamps; blue uniform vs pale walls; textures of seats, walls, and column.
  • Anthony McCall, You and I (horizontal #3): viewers generate lines through movement; lines projected into space.
  • Gego, Reticularia; Fred Sandback, black yarn installations; Kiki Smith, Ginser etching; Paul D’Agostino, The Rarely Glimpsed Junk Fish.
  • Cesar Pelli, North Terminal, Reagan National Airport; Doug Wheeler, Infinity Environment.
  • Cezanne, Still Life with Apples; Pool in the Garden (Egyptian example); Leonardo/Escher, Durand, Kindred Spirits (atmospheric perspective).
  • Franç̧ois Bonven (self-portrait in black chalk) and chiaroscuro process.
  • Paul Chan, Seven Lights; Jenny Holzer, Spiral Ramp installation (light boards and interval timing).
  • Alexander Calder, mobiles; Futurist dynamism studies (Humberto Boccioni); Dancing Krishna (bronze sculpture).
  • Aztec calendar stone; Saint Anthony and Saint Paul narrative by Seseta; Crazy Cat comic strip; The Clock (Christian Marclure) reference to real-time clock imagery.
  • Traditional Chinese landscape painting (Poet on a Mountaintop by Shen Zhou).

Note: Some spellings and attributions in the provided transcript appear inconsistent (e.g., artist names and titles). When studying, cross-check names and dates with a reliable art history source to ensure accuracy in your notes and exams.