Elements and Principles of Art

Elements of Art

  • Visual atoms or building blocks of matter.

  • Aspects of an artwork that can be isolated.

  • When joined together, they create an artwork.

  • Necessary preconditions for the creation of art.

  • Include: line, shape and form, space, color, and texture.

Line

  • A point moving at an identifiable path.

  • Has length, direction, and width.

  • One-dimensional.

  • Defines artwork parameters (edges) or becomes a substantial component.

Types of Line

  • Horizontal: Left to right. Conveys rest or calm; often found in landscapes.

  • Vertical: Top to bottom. Conveys elevation, height, exaltation, or aspiration for action.

  • Diagonal: Conveys movement and instability.

  • Crooked/Jagged: Reminiscent of violence, conflict, or struggle.

  • Curved: Bend or coil. Alludes to softness, grace, flexibility, or sensuality.

Examples in Art

  • Keith Haring: Executed the public mural “Todos juntos podemos parar el sida” (Together We Can Stop Aids) in Barcelona in 1989.

  • Francisco de Goya’s “Porque esconderlos?” (Why Hide Them): Goya used etching and aquatint to articulate his grotesque political views on the ills of society, war scenes and even dreamlike themes.

  • Theodore Gericault’s “The Raft of Medusa”: Predominantly diagonal orientation of bodies creates movement and tension, depicting the 1816 wreckage of the French government ship Medusa.

Shape and Form

  • Define the space occupied by the object of art.

  • Shape: Two dimensions – height and width.

  • Form: Three dimensions – height, width, and depth.

Categories

  • Geometric: Origin in mathematical propositions; often man-made. Examples: square, triangle, cube, circle, sphere, cone.

  • Organic: Readily occurring in nature; often irregular and asymmetrical. Example: Vase design by Louis Comfort Tiffany using morning glories.

Space

  • Inferred from a sense of depth, whether real or simulated.

  • Real space is three-dimensional (e.g., sculptures).

  • Manifested in two-dimensional artworks through techniques or area use.

  • Positive Space: Heavily used shadow.

  • Negative Space: Identified with white space.

  • Three-Dimensional Space: Stimulated through shading; illusion achieved in two-dimensional work.

Examples in Art

  • Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate (2004)”: Located in Chicago, Illinois. Shaped like a bean. People can pass through the dent in the middle.

Color

  • Enhances artwork appeal.

  • Evokes responses based on memory, emotion, and instinct.

  • A property of light reflected off an object; not intrinsic to the object.

Properties of Color

  • Hue: The dimension of color that gives its name. Subdivided into:

    • Primary Colors: Red, yellow, and blue.

    • Secondary Colors: Green (yellow and blue), orange (red and yellow), violet (blue and red).

    • Tertiary Colors: Six in total, achieved when primary and secondary colors are mixed.

  • Value: Lightness or darkness of color. Used to create depth, solidity, mood, or scene.

    • Light colors: Source of light in composition.

    • Dark colors: Lack or absence of light.

    • Tint: Lighter color than normal value (pink for red).

    • Shade: Darker color than normal (maroon for red).

  • Intensity: Color’s brightness or dullness; strength of color (vivid or muted).

    • Bright or warm colors: Positive energy.

    • Dull or cool colors: Sedate/soothing, seriousness, or calm.

Color Harmonies

  • Monochromatic Harmonies: Use variations of a single hue. Example: Claud Monet's "Houses of Parliament".

  • Complementary Harmonies: Use two colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Example: Cima de Conegliano’s “Three Saints: Roch, Anthony Abbot and Lucy”.

  • Analogous Harmonies: Use two colors beside each other on the color wheel. Example: Edgar Degas’ “Before the Race” (1882-1884).

  • Triadic Harmonies: Use three colors from equidistant sites on the color wheel. Example: Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”.

Texture

  • Can be real or implied; experienced through touch and sight.

  • Renders the art object tactile.

  • Implied in two-dimensional plane (paintings) using techniques or elements of art.

  • Creates a visual quality; one can imagine how the surface feels.

  • Descriptive words: rough/smooth, hard/soft, hairy, leathery, sharp/dull.

  • Surface Texture: Refers to the texture of three-dimensional (Sculpture) art object.

Examples in Art

  • Frans Pourbus the Younger, “Margherita Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua”: Garb adorned in opulent bead and stitch work befitting her rank.

Planes and Perspectives

Picture Plane

  • Actual surface of the painting or drawing; no third dimension exists.

  • Chiaroscuro developed during the Renaissance (15th Century), using light and dark contrasts to make paintings look three-dimensional and more dramatic.

Linear Perspective

  • Changed pictorial representation.

  • Early proponents: Leon Battista Alberti, Paolo Uccello, and Filippo Brunelleschi (early 15th Century).

Types of Perspectives

  • One-Point Perspective: Parallel lines converge at a single vanishing point along the horizon line. Often used for roads, tracks, hallways, or rows of trees.

  • Two-Point Perspective: Uses two vanishing points along the horizon line. Often used for structures like houses or buildings viewed from a corner. Example: Gustav Caillebotte, “Rue de Paris, temps de pluie” (Paris Street in Rainy Weather), 1877.

  • Three-Point Perspective: Viewer looks at a scene from above or below. Uses three vanishing points, each corresponding to an axis of the scene.

Elements of Auditory Arts (Music)

  • Music: Sound organized in a specific time.

  • An implement to cultural activities, answering a specific role or functions in society.

  • Transcend barriers, even differences in language or sound conventions.

Rhythm

  • Element that situates music in time; the pulse of the music.

  • Beat: Basic unit of music.

  • Tempo: Speed of music (beats per second).

  • Meter: Beats organized into a recognizable recurrent pattern.

  • Classical terms for tempo variations:

    • Largo: Slowly and broadly.

    • Andante: Walking pace.

    • Moderato: At moderate speed.

    • Allegro: Fast.

    • Vivace: Lively.

    • Accelerando: Gradually speeding up.

    • Rallentado: Gradually slowing down.

    • Allargando: Getting slower.

    • Rubato: Rhythm is played freely for expressive effect.

Dynamics

  • Loudness or quietness of music.

  • Classical terms:

    • Pianissimo (pp): Very quiet.

    • Piano (p): Quiet.

    • Mezzo-piano (mp): Moderately quiet.

    • Forte (f): Loud.

    • Fortissimo (ff): Very loud.

  • Crescendo: Increase in loudness.

  • Decrescendo/Diminuendo: Decrease in loudness.

Melody

  • Linear (horizontal) presentation of pitch.

  • Read in succession from left to right in musical notation.

  • Pitch: Highness or lowness of musical sound.

Harmony

  • Vertical (when melody is horizontal).

  • Arises when pitches are combined to form chords.

  • Chord: Several notes played simultaneously.

  • Described in terms of “harshness”:

    • Dissonance: Harsh-sounding combination.

    • Consonance: Smooth-sounding combination.

Timbre

  • The color of music.

  • Distinguishes a voice or instrument from another.

  • Dependent on technique; gives a certain tone or characteristic.

Texture

  • Number of melodies, type of layers, and their relatedness.

  • Types:

    • Monophonic: Single melodic line.

    • Polyphonic: Two or more melodic lines.

    • Homophonic: Main melody accompanied by chords.

Principles of Art

  • Provide ways in which elements of art are used, manipulated, interact, and inform the overall composition.

  • Influence the effect achieved by the elements and linkages of other principles.

  • Include: Balance, scale and proportion, emphasis and contrast, unity and variety, harmony, movement, rhythm, and repetition and pattern.

Balance

  • Distribution of visual elements in relation to each other (e.g., distribution of lines and colors).

Forms of Balance

  • Symmetrical: Elements used on one side are reflected to the other; offers the most stable visual sense. Isamu Noguchi, “Cube” Entrance of Marine Midland, Manhattan

  • Asymmetrical: Elements are not the same (or of the same weight) on each side, putting the heaviness on one side.

  • Radial: There is a central point in the composition around which elements and objects are distributed.

Scale and Proportion

  • Scale: Pertains to the size in relation to what is normal for the figure or object in question. Examples: sculptures that exaggerate scale.
    Arturo Luz has created sculpture versions of the paper clip. Claes Oldenberg and Coosje van Bruggen, “Plaintor” (2001)

  • Proportion: Refers to the size of components or objects in relation to one another as a composition or unit. Leonardo da Vinci, “Vitruvian Man” (1490)

Classification of Proportion

  • Natural: Relates to the realistic size of visual elements, especially for figurative artworks; accuracy in relation to the real world.

  • Exaggerated: Refers to unusual size relations of visual elements, deliberately exaggerating the immensity or minuteness of an object.

  • Idealized: Follows canons of perfection; size-relations of elements or objects achieve the most ideal size-relations.

Emphasis and Contrast

  • Emphasis: Allows the attention of the viewer to a focal point(s); accentuating or drawing attention to elements or objects. Achieved through element manipulation or with the assistance of contrast.

  • Contrast: Disparity between the elements that figure into the composition. One object may be made stronger compared to other objects (emphasis). Achieved using elements of art (e.g., use of negative and positive space, complementary colors).

Unity and Variety

  • Unity: Refers to a sense of accord or completeness from the artwork.

  • Variety: Aims to retain interest by allowing patches or areas that both excite and allow the eye to rest.

Harmony

  • Related to unity and variety; elements or objects achieve a sense of flow and interconnectedness.

Movement

  • Direction of the viewing eye as it goes through the artwork, often guided by emphasized areas or elements.

  • Focal points can be lines, edges, shapes, and colors.

Rhythm

  • Created when an element is repeated, creating implied movement.

  • Variety of repetition helps invigorate rhythm.

Repetition and Pattern

  • Repetition: Recurring manner of lines, shapes, colors, and other elements that may appear in an artwork.

  • Pattern: Refers to the image created out of repetition. Conveys predictability, imbuing feelings of security and calmness.

Combined or Hybrid Art

  • Combined Arts: Two or more art forms and styles combined. Examples: dance, theater, installation art, video art, documentary, photography, puppetry, designs.

  • Hybrid Arts: Emerge on the frontiers of science and technology. Driven by expansion of imagination and possibilities through scientific and technological development. Referencing robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, natural telecommunications, information, computer digital sciences, and interface technologies. Disrupt norms in terms of what is considered art.