MODULE 1:

THE BEGGENING OF HISTORY

The history of art focuses on

objects made by humans in
visual form for aesthetic
purposes. Visual art can be
classified in diverse ways, such
as separating fine arts from
applied arts; inclusively focusing
on human creativity; or focusing
on different media such as
architecture, sculpture, painting,
film, photography, and graphic
arts. In recent years,
technological advances have led
to video art, computer art, performance art, animation, television, and
videogames.

The history of art is often told as a chronology of masterpieces created

during each civilization. It can thus be framed as a story of high culture,
epitomized by the Wonders of the World. On the other hand, vernacular art
expressions can also be integrated into art historical narratives, referred to
as folk arts or craft. The more closely that an art historian engages with
these latter forms of low culture, the more likely it is that they will identify
their work as examining visual culture or material culture, or as
contributing to fields related to art history, such as anthropology or
archaeology. In the latter cases,
art objects may be referred to as
archeological artifacts.

Prehistory
Engraved shells created by
Homo erectus dating as far back
as 500,000 years ago have been
found, although experts
disagree on whether these
engravings can be properly
classified as ‘art’. A number of
claims of Neanderthal art, adornment, and structures have been made,
dating from around 130,000 before present and suggesting that
Neanderthals may have been capable of symbolic thought,but none of these
claims are widely accepted.
 Paleolithic
The oldest secure human art
that has been found dates to
the Late Stone Age during the
Upper Paleolithic, possibly from
around 70,000 BC but with
certainty from around 40,000
BC, when the first creative
works were made from shell,
stone, and paint by Homo
sapiens, using symbolic
thought. During the Upper
Paleolithic (50,000–10,000 BC),
humans practiced hunting and
gathering and lived in caves,
where cave painting was
developed. During the Neolithic
period (10,000–3,000 BC), the
production of handicrafts
commenced.

The appearance of creative capacity within these early societies exemplifies

an evolutionarily selective advantage for artistic individuals. Since survival
is not contingent on the production of art, art-producing individuals
demonstrated agency over their environments in that they had spare time to
create once their
essential duties,
like hunting and
gathering were
completed. These
preliminary artists
were rare and
"highly gifted"
within their
communities.
They indicated
advancements in
cognition and
understanding of
symbolism.

However, the
earliest human
artifacts showing evidence of workmanship with an artistic purpose are the
subject of some debate. It is clear that such workmanship existed by 40,000
years ago in the Upper Paleolithic era, although it is quite possible that it
began earlier.
The artistic manifestations of the Upper-Paleolithic reached their peak in the
Magdalenian period (±15,000–8,000 BC). This surge in creative outpourings
is known as the "Upper Paleolithic Revolution" or the "Creative Explosion".
Surviving art from this period includes small carvings in stone or bone and
cave painting. The first traces of human-made objects appeared in southern
Africa, the Western Mediterranean, Central and Eastern Europe (Adriatic
Sea), Siberia (Baikal Lake), India and Australia. These first traces are
generally worked stone (flint, obsidian), wood or bone tools. To paint in red,
iron oxide was used. Color, pattern, and visual likeness were components of
Paleolithic art. Patterns used included zig-zag, criss cross, and parallel lines.

Cave paintings have been found in the

Franco-Cantabrian region. There are
pictures that are abstract as well as pictures
that are naturalistic. Cave paintings were
symbolically representative of activities that
required learned participants – they were
used as teaching tools and showcase an
increased need for communication and
specialized skills for early humans. Animals
were painted in the caves of Altamira, Trois
Frères, Chauvet and Lascaux. Sculpture is
represented by the so-called Venus figurines,
feminine figures which may have been used
in fertility cults, such as the Venus of
Willendorf. There is a theory that these
figures may have been made by women as
expressions of their own body. Other
representative works of this period are the
Man from Brno and Venus of Brassempouy.

A function of Paleolithic art was magical, being used in rituals. Paleolithic

artists were particular people, respected in the community because their
artworks were linked with religious beliefs. In this way, artifacts were
symbols of certain deities or spirits.
ART APPRECIATION

NAME:
ACTIVITY:
Direction: On your yellow paper. Answer the following question
with a maximum of 6 sentences. Write it in a paragraph form. (20 points
each)
1.  What is the earliest type of art produced by Stone Age Man?
2. What is the earliest known work of art?
3. What can you see the art work of the beginning history?

Module 2:
Introductions
WHAT IS ART?

  Panorama of a section of A Thousand Li of Mountains and Rivers, by Wang Ximeng (Links to an

external site.) from the 12th-century Song Dynasty
This image is in the public domain
How would you define ‘art’? For many people art is a specific thing; a painting,
sculpture or photograph, a dance, a poem or a play. It is all of these things, and
more.  They are mediums of artistic expression. Webster’s New Collegiate
dictionary defines art as “The conscious use of skill and creative imagination
especially in the production of aesthetic objects.”  Yet art is much more than a
medium, or words on a page. It is the expression of our experience. Joseph
Brodsky hints at a definition of art in his poem “New Life”:

“Ultimately, one’s unbound 

curiosity about these empty zones, 
about these objectless vistas, 

is what art seems to be all about.”Art is uniquely human and tied directly to
culture. It takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. It asks questions about who
we are, what we value, the meaning of beauty and the human condition. As an
expressive medium it allows us to experience sublime joy, deep sorrow, confusion
and clarity. It tests our strengths, vulnerabilities and resolve. It gives voice to ideas
and feelings, connects us to the past, reflects the present and anticipates the future.
Along these lines, art history, combined with anthropology and literature, are three
main sources in observing, recording and interpreting our human past. Visual art is a
rich and complex subject whose definition is in flux as the culture around it changes.
Because of this, how we define art is in essence a question of agreement. In this
respect, we can look again to the dictionary’s definition for an understanding of
exactly what to look for when we proclaim something as ‘art’.

FORM & CONTENT

Two basic considerations we need to be acquainted with are form: the physical
and visible characteristics inherent in works of art, and content: the meaning we
derive from them. Formal distinctions include a work’s size, medium (painting,
drawing, sculpture or other kind of work) and descriptions of compositional elements
such as the lines, shapes and colors involved. Issues of content include any visual
clues that provide an understanding of what the art tells us. Sometimes an artwork’s
content is vague or hidden and needs more information than is present in the work
itself. Ultimately these two terms are roped together in the climb to understand what
art has to offer us. As we examine art from different time periods, styles and cultures,
the issues of form and content will apply to all of them.  We’ll explore form and
content further in Modules 3 and 4.
Aesthetics is the philosophical argument about the nature of beauty. It’s an idea
central to any exploration of art.  Aesthetics deals with notions of taste, cultural
conventions – ideas of art being ‘good’ and ‘bad’ based on specific cultural
information and beliefs and the judgments we make based on our perceptions.

ARTISTIC ROLES
Visual artists and the works they produce perform specific roles. These roles vary
between cultures. We can examine some general areas to see the diversity they
offer – and perhaps come up with some new ones of our own.
Description
A traditional role of visual art is to describe our self and our surroundings. Some of
the earliest artworks discovered (Links to an external site.) are drawings and
paintings of humans and wild animals on walls deep within prehistoric caves. One
particular image is a hand (Links to an external site.) print: a universal symbol of
human communication.
Portraits
Portraits, landscapes and still life are common examples of description. Portraits
capture the accuracy of physical characteristics but the very best also transfer a
sense of an individual’s unique personality. For thousands of years this role was
reserved for images of those in positions of power, influence and authority. The
portrait not only signifies who they are, but also solidifies class structure by
presenting only the highest-ranking members of a society. The portrait bust of
Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, dated to around 1300 BCE, exemplifies beauty and royalty.
 Egyptian, Bust of Nefertiti, painted sandstone, c. 1370 BCE, Neues Museum, Berlin.
Licensed under Creative Commons and GNU.

The full-length Imperial Portrait of Chinese Emperor Xianfeng below not only shows

realism in the likeness of the emperor, it exalts in the patterns and colors of his robe
and the throne behind him.

Imperial Portrait of Emperor Xianfeng, China, c. 1855. Palace Museum, Bejing.

Licensed under Creative Commons.

 Landscapes
Landscapes – by themselves – give us detailed information about our natural and
human made surroundings; things like location, architecture, time of day, year or
season plus other physical information such as geological elements and the plants
and animals within a particular region.

Albrecht Durer, Young Hare, c. 1505, gouache and watercolor on paper. Albertina Museum, Vienna.
Image in the public domain.

Scientific Illustration
 Out of this striving for accuracy and documentation developed the art of scientific
illustration. The traditional mediums of painting and drawing are still used to record
much of the world around us. Linda Berkley’s Merino Ram uses a layered approach
to record in great detail the physical anatomy of the head of the great sheep.
Merino Ram, composite drawing, colored pencil, acrylic on Canson paper, 2009. Linda Berkley,
Illustrator.
               Used by permission of the artist

Enhancing our World

Enhancing the world of our everyday lives is another role art plays. This role is
more utilitarian than others. It includes textiles and product
design, decorative (Links to an external site.) embellishments to the items (Links to
an external site.) we use everyday and all the aesthetic considerations that create a
more comfortable, expressive environment
 Narratives: How Artists Tell Their Stories
Artists can combine representation with more complex elements and situational
compositions to bring a narrative component into art. Using subject matter – the
objects and figures that inhabit a work of art -- as a vehicle for communicating stories
and other cultural expressions is another traditional function of visual art.
The narrative tradition is strong in many cultures throughout the world. They become
a means to perpetuate knowledge, morals and ethics, and can signify historical
contexts within specific cultures. Narrative takes many forms; the spoken or written
word, music, dance and visual art are the mediums most often used. Many times one
is used in conjunction with another.

Man Drinking at a Water Cooler in the Street Car Terminal, Russell Lee, Oklahoma City, 1939.
Photo from the National Archives and in the public domain

Spirit, Myth and Fantasy

Tied to the idea of narrative, another artistic role is the exploration of other worlds
beyond our physical one. This world is in many ways richer than our own and
includes the world of spirit, myth, fantasy and the imagination; areas particularly
suited for the visual artist. We can see how art gives a rich and varied treatment to
these ideas. Artist Michael Spafford has spent his career presenting classical
Greek myths (Links to an external site.) through painting, drawing and printmaking.
His spare, abstract style uses high contrast images to strong dramatic effect.
A Smiling Figure (Links to an external site.) from ancient Mexico portrays a god of
dance, music and joy. A third example, Hieronymus Bosch’s painting the Temptation
of Saint Anthony (Links to an external site.), gives the subject matter both spiritual
and bizarre significance in the way they are presented.  His creative imagination
takes the subject of temptation and raises it to the realm of the fantastic. There is an
entire module devoted to the idea of the other world later in this course.

ARTISTIC CATEGORIES
Visual arts are generally divided into categories that make distinctions based on the
context of the work. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ would not fall into
the same category as, say, a graphic poster for a rock concert. Some artworks can
be placed in more than one category. Here are the main categories:

Fine Art

 This category includes drawings, paintings, sculptures, photographs and, in the last
decade, new media that are in museum collections and sold through commercial art
galleries. Fine art has a distinction of being some of the finest examples of our
human artistic heritage. Here is where you will find Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona
Lisa (below), also ancient sculpture, such as the Gandhara figure from India (also
below), and stunning ceramics (Links to an external site.) from different cultures and
time periods.

 Mona Lisa, Leonardo Da Vincic. 1503-19. Oil on poplar. 30” x 21”. The Louvre, Paris
Image licensed through Creative Commons

Stucco Ganhara figure, India, 4 –5  century CE. Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
th th

Licensed through GNU

Popular Culture

This category contains the many products and images we are exposed to every day.
In the industrialized world, this includes posters, graffiti, advertising, popular music,
television and digital imagery, magazines, books and movies (as distinguished
from film, which we’ll examine in a different context later in the course). Also included
are cars, celebrity status and all the ideas and attitudes that help define the
contemporary period of a particular culture.          
 Street handbills. Image by Christopher Gildow
Licensed through Creative Commons

 Public Mural, Seattle. Image by Christopher Gildow

Licensed through Creative Commons

Craft
Craft is a category of art that shows a high degree of skilled workmanship in its
production. Craft works are normally associated with utilitarian purposes, but can be
aesthetic works in themselves, often highly decorated. The Mexican ceramic vessel
below is an example. Handmade furniture and glassware, fine metalworking and
leather goods are other examples of craft.

Ceramic bowl, Mexico. Date unknown. Painted clay. Anahuacalli Museum, Mexico City.
Licensed through GNU and Creative Commons.

Style
The search for truth is not exclusive to representational art. From viewing many of
the examples so far you can see how individual artists use different styles to
communicate their ideas. Style refers to a particular kind of appearance in works of
art. It’s a characteristic of an individual artist or a collective relationship based on an
idea, culture or artistic movement. Following is a list and description of the most
common styles in art:

Naturalistic style uses recognizable images with a high level of accuracy in their

depiction. Naturalism also includes the idealized object: one that is modified to
achieve a kind of perfection within the bounds of aesthetics and form.  William
Sydney Mount’s painting The Bone Player (Links to an external site.) gives accuracy
in its representation and a sense of character to the figure, from his ragged-edged
hat to the button missing from his vest. Mount treats the musician’s portrait with a
sensitive hand, more idealized by his handsome features and soft smile. Note: click
the image for a larger view.

Abstract style is based on a recognizable object but which is then manipulated by

distortion, scale issues or other artistic devices. Abstraction can be created by
exaggerating form, simplifying shapes or the use of strong colors. Let’s look at three
landscapes below with varying degrees of abstraction in them to see how this style
can be so effective. In the first one, Marsden Hartley uses abstraction to give the
spare “Landscape, New Mexico” a sense of energy. Through the rounded forms and
gesture in treatment we can discern hills, clouds, a road and some trees or bushes.

  Landscape, New Mexico, Marsden Hartley, about 1916. Pastel on paper. The Brooklyn Museum,
New York.
Image in the public domain
 (Links to an external site.)
Georgia O’Keeffe’s Birch and Pine Trees -- Pink (Links to an external site.) employs
abstraction to turn the painting into a tree-filled landscape dominated by a spray of
orange paint suggesting a branch of birch leaves at the top left. Vasily
Kandinsky’s Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2 (Links to an external site.) goes
further into abstraction, releasing color from its descriptive function and vastly
simplifying forms. The rendering of a town at the lower left is reduced to blocky areas
of paint and a black triangular shape of hill in the background. In all three of these,
the artists manipulate and distort the ‘real’ landscape as a vehicle for emotion.

It’s important to note the definition of ‘abstract’ is relative to cultural perspective. That
is, different cultures develop traditional forms and styles of art they understand within
the context of their own culture (see ‘Cultural Styles’ below), and which are difficult
for other cultures to understand. So what may be ‘abstract’ to one could be more
‘realistic’ in style to another. For example, the Roman bust of Sappho below looks
very real from a western European aesthetic perspective. Under the same
perspective, the African mask would be called ‘abstract’.

Roman bust of Sappho.  Capitoline Museum, Rome.

Image in the public domain.

African mask photo by Cezary.

Image in the public domain.

Yet to the African culture that produced the mask it would appear more realistic. In
addition, the African mask shares some formal attributes with the Tlingit ‘Groundhog
Mask’ (below under ‘Cultural styles’) from Canada’s west coast. It’s very possible
these two cultures would see the Roman bust as the ‘abstract’ one. So it’s important
that we understand artworks from cultures other than our own in the context in which
they were originally created.

Non-objective imagery has no relation to the ‘real’ world – that is – the work of art is
based solely upon itself. In this way the non-objective style is completely different
than abstract, and it’s important to make the distinction between the two. This style
rose from the modern art movement in Europe, Russia and the United States during
the first half of the 20th century. Pergusa Three (Links to an external site.) by
American artist Frank Stella uses organic and geometric shapes and strong color set
against a heavy black background to create a vivid image.  More than with other
styles, issues of content are associated with a non-objective work’s formal structure. 
Cultural styles refer to distinctive characteristics in artworks throughout a particular
society or culture. Some main elements of cultural styles are recurring motifs (Links
to an external site.), created in the same way by many artists.  Cultural styles are
formed over hundreds or even thousands of years and help define cultural identity.
We can find evidence of this by comparing two masks; one from Alaska and the
other from Canada. The  Yup'ik (Links to an external site.) dance mask from Alaska
is quite stylized with oval and rounded forms divided by wide bands in strong relief.
The painted areas outline or follow shapes. Carved objects are attached to the mask
and give an upward movement to the whole artwork while the face itself carries an
animated expression.

 Ground Hog Mask,Tlingit, c. 19  century. Carved and painted wood, animal hair.
th

Collection the Burke Museum, University of Washington, Seattle. Used by permission.

Celtic art from Great Britain and Ireland shows a cultural style that’s been identified
for thousands of years. Its highly refined organic motifs include spirals, plant forms
and zoomorphism (Links to an external site.). Intricate and decorative, the Celtic
style adapted to include early book illustration. The Book of Kells is considered the
pinnacle of this cultural style. 

 Page from the Book of Kells, around 800 CE. Trinity College, Dublin.
Image in the public domain.

IDEAS OF PERCEPTION & VISUAL AWARENESS

 Images from media and the environment around us – dominate our perception.
Our eyes literally navigate us through a visual landscape all our lives, and we all
make decisions based on how and what we see.  Separating the subjective and
objective ways we see helps us become more visually aware of our surroundings.
Scientifically, the process of seeing is the result of light passing through the lens in
our eye, then concentrating it on the retina at the back of the eye. The retina has
nerve cells that act like sponges, soaking up the information and sending it to the
visual cortex of our brain. Here the light is converted to an image that we can
perceive – the ‘truth’ – as we understand it to be. We are exposed to so much visual
information every day, especially with the advent of mass media, that it’s hard to
process all of it into specific meaning. Being visually aware is more complicated than
just the physical act of seeing because our perceptions are influenced by exterior
factors, including our own prejudices, desires and ideas about what the ‘truth’ really
is. Moreover, cultural ties to perception are many.

Standing Bather with Raised Arms (Links to an external site.), 1930, Aristide Maillol,
Marble
Photo by Flickr User: zebrawatcher
License through Creative Commons

 (Links to an external site.)Touchdown Jesus (Links to an external site.), Monroe,

Ohio
Photo by Flickr User: danieljohnsonjr
License through Creative Commons
Art is a resource for questioning our perceptions about how objects and ideas
present themselves. The Belgian artist Rene Magritte (Links to an external
site.) used his easel as a soapbox to confront the viewer with confounding visual
information. Click the hyperlink to watch a short video where Magritte considers
language and perception (Links to an external site.).

As was mentioned at the beginning of this module, there is a difference

between looking and seeing. To look is to glance back and forth, aware of surface
qualities in the things that come into our line of sight. To see is more about
comprehending. After all, when we say “I see” we really mean that we understand.
Seeing goes beyond appearances. It’s when we stop to contemplate what we see –
the view of the mountain mentioned above, a portrait or simple visual composition
that catches our eye – that we make reference to an aesthetic perception.

They provide a context; a historical background, religious function or other cultural

significance to the art we are looking at. We ask others for information about it, or
find it ourselves, to help understand the meaning. In a museum or gallery it may be
wall text that provides this link, or a source text, website or someone knowledgeable
about the art.

Art Appreciation

Name:

Activity:
Give a short description of the work:

● Is it realistic, abstract or non-objective?

● What does it depict? What colors are used?
● What category does it fall under?
● What artistic role does it play?
● What style and category does each work belong to?
● Do these similarities have ties to a common meaning between all of them, or do you think the
meaning for each work is separate from the others? Why or why not?
 Module 3:

The Process of Art

THE ARTISTIC PROCESS
 How many times have you looked at a work of art and wondered “how did
they do that”? Some think of the artist as a solitary being, misunderstood by
society, toiling away in the studio to create a masterpiece, and yes,
there is something fantastic about a singular creative act becoming a work of art.
The reality is that artists rely on a support network that includes family, friends,
peers, industries, business and, in essence, the whole society they live in. For
example, an artist may need only a piece of paper and pencil to create an
extraordinary drawing (Links to an external site.), but depends on a supplier in
order to acquire those two simple tools. Whole industries surround art making,
and artists rely on many different materials in order to realize their work, from the
pencil and paper mentioned above to the painter’s canvas, paints and brushes,
the sculptor’s wood, stone and tools and the photographer’s film, digital camera
and software or chemicals used to manipulate an image.

From the Kusama exhibition, part of Fairchild's 2009 Knight Arts Challenge
project to expose new audiences to contemporary art by exhibiting large-scale
outdoor sculpture on its grounds. Date: 28 November 2009, 05:27
Source: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Author: Knight Foundation
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Generic license.
After the artwork is finished there are other support networks in place to help
exhibit, market, move, store and comment on it. Commercial art galleries are a
relatively recent innovation, springing up in Europe and America during the
Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century.
Museums have a different role in the world of visual art. Their primary function is
in the form of a cultural repository – a place for viewing, researching and
conserving the very best examples of artistic cultural heritage. Museums contain
collections that can reflect a particular culture or that of many, giving all of us the
chance to see some of the great art (Links to an external site.) humanity has to
offer.
THE INDIVIDUAL ARTIST
Inasmuch as we have seen art as a community or collaborative effort, many
artists work alone in studios, dedicated to the singular idea of creating art through
their own expressive means and vision. In the creative process itself there are
usually many steps between an initial idea and the finished work of art.
 Alfred J. Casson, 1943, Ontario Society of Artists, Black and White Photography
This Canadian (Links to an external site.) work is in the public domain (Links to an
external site.) in Canada because its copyright has expired
Artists will use sketches and preliminary drawings to get a more accurate image of
what they want the finished work to look like. Even then they’ll create more complex
trial pieces before they ultimately decide on how it will look. View and read about
some of the sketches (Links to an external site.) for Picasso’s
masterpiece Guernica (Links to an external site.) from 1937 to see how the process
unfolds. Artists many times will make different versions (Links to an external site.) of
an artwork, each time giving it a slightly different look.

Fulcrum, Richard Serra, 1987

Source: en:User:Solipsist (Links to an external site.) (Andrew Dunn)
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
Generic license
Some artists don’t actually make their own works. They hire people with specialized
skills to do it for them under the artist’s direction. Fabricators and technicians are
needed when a work of art’s size (Links to an external site.), weight or other
limitations make it impossible for the artist to create it alone. For example, the size of
the sculpture Fulcrum (see above) by Richard Serra necessitates additional staff be
employed in the creative process. Glass artist Dale Chihuly employs many assistants
to create and install his glass forms (Links to an external site.).
 Glass art by Dale Chihuly at an extensive exhibition in Kew Gardens, London, in
2005
Date: 16 July 2005, Author: Patche99z
 (Links to an external site.)This work is in the public domain
ARTISTIC TRAINING METHODS & CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
 For centuries craftsmen have formed associations that preserve and teach the
‘secrets’ of their trade to apprentices in order to perpetuate the knowledge and skill
of their craft. In general, the training of artists has historically meant working as an
apprentice with an established artist. The Middle Ages in Europe saw the formation
of guilds that included goldsmiths, glassmakers, stonemasons, medical practitioners
and artists, and were generally supported by a king or the state, with local
representatives overseeing the quality of their production. In many traditional
cultures, apprenticeship is still how the artist learns their craft, skills and expressions
specific to that culture. Some nations actually choose which artists have learned their
skill to such a degree that they are allowed and encouraged to teach others. An
example would be artists considered National Treasures (Links to an external
site.) in Japan. In the developed nations, where education is more available and
considered more important that experience, art schools have developed. The model
for these schools is the French Royal Academy founded by Louis XIV in the
17th century. In the 19th century, the Victorians first introduced art to the grade
schools, thinking that teaching the work of the masters would increase morality and
that teaching hand-eye coordination would make better employees for the Industrial
Revolution.

Artist "Bill" Schultz often conducted outdoor classes for his students, taking
advantage of the local scenery.
Date: 29 January 2011, Author: Ed62624 (Links to an external site.)
This photograph is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike
3.0Unported license.
What is required to become an artist? Skill is one of the hallmarks that we often
value in a work of art. Becoming skilled means a continual repetition of a craft or
procedure until it becomes second nature. Talent is certainly another consideration,
but talent alone does not necessarily produce good art. Like any endeavor,
becoming an artist takes determination, patience, skill, a strong mental attitude and
years of practice.
Creativity is another element necessary to become an artist. What
exactly is creativity? It’s linked to imagination and the ability to transcend traditional
ways of thinking, with an exaggerated use of alternatives, ideas and techniques to
invent new forms and avenues of expression. The music composer Leo
Ornstein (Links to an external site.) described creativity this way:
 “Once you’ve heard what you’ve created you can’t explain how it’s done. But you
look at it and say ‘there’s the evidence’”.
Creativity is used in traditional (Links to an external site.) art forms as well as more
innovative ones. It’s what an artist uses to take something ordinary and make it
extraordinary. Creativity can be a double-edged sword in that it’s one thing that
artists are most criticized for, especially in the arena of buying and selling art. In
general the buying public tends to want things they recognize, rather than artwork
that challenges or requires thinking. This dichotomy is illustrated by a poem by
English writer Robert Graves, “Epitaph on an Unfortunate Artist”:
He found a formula for drawing comic rabbits
This formula for drawing comic rabbits paid,
So in the end he could not change the tragic habits
This formula for drawing comic rabbits made.
The ability to give visual expression is really what art is all about. It can range from
creating pieces just for beauty’s sake (aesthetics) or for social, political or spiritual
meaning. To fully appreciate the artist and their voice we need to consider that if we
value expression we must value a multitude of voices, some of which contradict our
own values and ideas. The artistic process culminates in a form of human
expression that reaches all of us at some level.
ART AS A SOCIAL ACTIVITY
 Some of the grandest works of art are made not by a single person but by many
people. Pyramids in Egypt and Mexico are massive structures, built by hundreds of
laborers under the direction of designers and engineers. Egyptian pyramids are
tombs for individual royalty, while those in Mexico function as spiritual altars
dedicated to gods or celestial (Links to an external site.) . They are typically placed
at a prominent site and give definition to the surrounding landscape.
.
 The Sequence, Arne Quinze, 2008. Wood. Installed at the Flemish Parliament
Building, Brussels.
This photograph has been released into the public domain.
Public art projects can be subject to controversy. It’s not easy for everyone to agree
on what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘bad’ art, or at least what is appropriate for a public
space. The issue takes on a more complex perspective when public money is
involved in its funding. One example involves Richard Serra’s sculpture Tilted
Arc (Links to an external site.) from 1981.

Art Appreciation

Name:
 Activity:
View at least five short videos from ART21 (Links to an external site.). You
can search for artist’s names by alphabet at the top middle of Art: 21’s
homepage. Watch how they work and what they say about their process.
Then place one artist in each of the following categories:

Artist most concerned with the process of making the work.

Artist most concerned with creativity in the idea for their art or the work
itself.
Artist most concerned with materials
Who surprised you the most?
List the artists you viewed.

Module 4:

Artistic Elements
THE POINT
A point is the visual element upon which all others are based. It can be defined
as a singularity in space or, in geometric terms, the area where two coordinates
meet. When an artist marks a simple point on a surface, (also referred to as
the ground), they immediately create a figure-ground relationship. That is,
they divide the work between its surface and anything added to it. Our eyes
differentiate between the two, and their arrangement has everything to do with
how we see a final composition. The point itself can be used as a way to create
forms. 

Georges Seurat, La Parade de Cirque, detail, 1887-89.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an external site.)
 
DEFINITIONS & QUALITIES OF LINE
Essentially, when you put two or more points together you create a line. A line
can be lyrically defined as a point in motion. There are many different types of
lines, all characterized by their length being greater than their width. Lines can be
static or dynamic depending on how the artist chooses to use them. They help
determine the motion, direction and energy in a work of art. We see line all
around us in our daily lives; telephone wires, tree branches, jet contrails and
winding roads are just a few examples..

Photo by Chris Kotsiopoulos

Used by permission
In Chris Kotsiopoulos’s digital image of a lightning storm we can see many
different lines. Certainly the jagged, meandering lines of the lightning itself
dominate the image, followed by the straight lines of the light standards, the
pillars holding up the overpass on the right and the guard rails attached to its
side. There are more subtle lines too, like the gently arced line at the top of the
image and the shadows cast by the poles and the standing figure in the middle. 
Lines are even implied by falling water droplets in the foreground.
Diego Velazquez’s ‘Las Meninas’ from 1656, ostensibly a portrait of the Infanta
Margarita, the daughter of King Philip IV and Queen Mariana of Spain, offers a
sumptuous amount of artistic genius; its shear size (almost ten feet square),
painterly style of naturalism, lighting effects and the enigmatic figures placed
throughout the canvas –including the artist himself – is one of the great paintings
in western art history. Let’s examine it (below) to uncover how Velazquez uses
basic elements and principles of art to achieve such a masterpiece.

 
Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas, 1656, oil on canvas, 125.2” x 108.7”
Prado, Madrid. Licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an external site.)
Actual lines are those that are physically present. The edge of the wooden
stretcher bar at the left of ‘Las Meninas’ is an actual line, as are the picture
frames in the background, and the linear decorative elements on the some of the
figure’s dresses. How many other actual lines can you find in the painting?
Implied lines are those created by visually connecting two or more areas
together. The space between the Infanta Margarita – the blonde central figure in
the composition – and the ‘meninas’, or maids of honor, to the left and right of
her, are implied lines..

 
 Laocoon Group, Roman copy of Greek original, Vatican Museum, Rome.
Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen and licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an
external site.)
Straight or classic lines provide structure to a composition. They can be
oriented to the horizontal, vertical or diagonal axis of a surface. Straight lines are
by nature visually stable, while still giving direction to a composition. In the ‘Las
Meninas’, you can see them in the canvas supports on the left, the wall supports
and doorways on the right, and in the background in matrices on the wall spaces
between the framed pictures. Moreover, the small horizontal lines created in the
stair edges in the background help anchor the entire visual design of the painting.

Straight lines, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
Expressive lines are curved, adding an organic, more dynamic character to a
work of art. Expressive lines are often rounded and follow undetermined paths. In
‘Las Meninas’ you can see them in the aprons on the girls’ dresses and in the
dog’s folded hind leg and coat pattern. Look again at the Laocoon to see
expressive lines in the figures’ flailing limbs and the sinuous form of the snakes.
Indeed, the sculpture seems to be made up of nothing but expressive lines,
shapes and forms.

Organic lines, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
There are other kinds of line that encompass the characteristics of those above
yet, taken together, help create additional artistic elements and richer, more
varied compositions. Refer to the images and examples below to become familiar
with these types of line.
Outline or contour line is the simplest of these. They create a path around the
edge of a shape. In fact, outlines define shapes.
 Outline, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
Cross contour lines follow paths across a shape to delineate differences in
surface features. They give flat shapes a sense of form (the illusion of three
dimensions), and can also be used to create shading.

Cross Contour, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
Hatch lines are repeated at short intervals in generally one direction. They give
shading and visual texture to the surface of an object.

Hatch, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
Cross-hatch lines provide additional tone and texture. They can be oriented in
any direction. Multiple layers of cross-hatch lines can give rich and varied
shading to objects by manipulating the pressure of the drawing tool to create a
large range of values.
 Cross Hatch, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
 
Line quality is that sense of character embedded in the way a line presents
itself. Certain lines have qualities that distinguish them from others. Hard-edged,
jagged lines have a staccato visual movement while organic, flowing lines create
a more comfortable feeling. Meandering lines can be either geometric or
expressive, and you can see in the examples how their indeterminate paths
animate a surface to different degrees.

  
 
A Line, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License (Links to an
external site.)
 
Although line as a visual element generally plays a supporting role in visual art, there
are wonderful examples in which line carries a strong cultural significance as the
primary subject matter.
Calligraphic lines use quickness and gesture, more akin to paint strokes, to imbue
an artwork with a fluid, lyrical character. To see this unique line quality, view the work
of Chinese poet and artist Dong Qichang (Links to an external site.)’s ‘Du Fu’s
Poem’, dating from the Ming dynasty (1555-
 SHAPES: POSITIVE, NEGATIVE & PLANAR ISSUES
A shape is defined as an enclosed area in two dimensions. By definition shapes are
always implied and flat in nature. They can be created in many ways, the simplest by
enclosing an area with an outline. They can also be made by surrounding an area
with other shapes or the placement of different textures next to each other – for
instance, the shape of an island surrounded by water. Because they are more
complex than lines, shapes do much of the heavy lifting in arranging compositions.
The abstract examples below give us an idea of how shapes are made.

Shapes, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
Referring back to Velazquez’s ‘Las Meninas’, it is fundamentally an
arrangement of shapes; organic and hard-edged, light, dark and mid-toned,
that solidifies the composition within the larger shape of the canvas. Looking
at it this way, we can view any work of art, whether two or three-dimensional,
realistic, abstract or non-objective, in terms of shapes alone.
 Positive / Negative Shapes and Figure / Ground Relationships
Shapes animate figure-ground relationships. We visually determine positive shapes
(the figure) and negative shapes (the ground).. Your hand is the positive shape, and
the space around it becomes the negative shape. The shape formed by the black
outline becomes positive because it’s enclosed. The area around it is negative. The
same visual arrangement goes with the gray circle and the purple square. But
identifying positive and negative shapes can get tricky in a more complex
composition. Which would you say is the positive shape? What about the red circles
surrounding the gray star shape? Remember that a positive shape is one that is
distinguished from the background. In ‘Las Meninas’ the figures become the positive
shapes because they are lit dramatically and hold our attention against the dark
background. The negative shapes are the empty spaces around, and sometimes
permeating through the work itself. The Laocoon is a good example of this. A
modern work that uses shapes to a dramatic effect is Alberto Giacometti’s ‘Reclining
Woman Who Dreams’ from 1929. In an abstract style the artist weaves positive and
negative shapes together, the result is a dreamy (Links to an external site.), floating
sensation radiating from the sculpture. 
Plane
A plane is defined as any surface area in space. In two-dimensional art, the picture
plane is the flat surface an image is created upon; a piece of paper, stretched
canvas, wood panel, etc. A shape’s orientation within the picture plane creates a
visually implied plane, inferring direction and depth in relation to the viewer. The
graphic below shows three examples.

Shape Planes, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License

Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Peter Breughel the Elder, 1558
Musee des Beaux-arts, Brussels
Licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an external site.)
 

MASS
 Mass, or form, refers to a shape or three-dimensional volume that has or gives the
illusion of having weight, density or bulk. Notice the distinction between two and
three- dimensional objects: a shape is by definition flat, but takes on the illusion of
mass through shading with the elements of value or color. In three dimensions a
mass is an actual object that takes up space.
 Eugene Delaplanche, Eve after the Fall, 1869. Marble, Musee d’Orsay, Paris
Photo by Rama and licensed under 

Creative Commons (Links to an external site.)

Form and space, whether actual or implied, are markers for how we perceive
reality. How objects relate to each other and the space around them provide the
evidence for the visual order in our world. The artist’s creative manipulation of these
elements determines the stylistic qualities in a work of art that, in the end, always
contains the subjective fingerprint of the artist’s idea of the real.

SPACE
Space is the empty area surrounding real or implied objects. Humans categorize
space: there is outer space, that limitless void we enter beyond our sky; inner space,
which resides in people’s minds and imaginations, and personal space, the important
but intangible area that surrounds each individual and which is violated if someone
else gets too close. Pictorial space is flat, and the digital realm resides in
The innovation of linear perspective, an implied geometric pictorial construct dating
from 15th century Europe, affords us the accurate illusion of three-dimensional space
on a flat surface, and appears to recede into the distance through the use of
a horizon line and vanishing points. See how perspective is set up in the
schematic examples below:

 
One Point Perspective, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
One-point perspective occurs when the receding lines appear to converge at a
single point on the horizon and used when the flat front of an object is facing the
viewer. Note: Perspective can be used to show the relative size and recession into
space of any object, but is most effective with hard-edged three-dimensional objects
such as buildings.
 Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1498. Fresco
Santa Maria della Grazie. Licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an external
site.)
Two-point perspective occurs when the vertical edge of a cube is facing the
viewer, exposing two sides that recede into the distance, one to each vanishing
point.

  
Two Point Perspective, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
View Gustave Caillebotte’s 'Paris Street, Rainy Weather' (Links to an external site.)‘
from 1877 to see how two-point perspective is used to give an accurate view to an
urban scene.  The artist’s composition, however, is more complex than just his use
of perspective. The figures are deliberately placed to direct the viewer’s eye from the
front right of the picture to the building’s front edge on the left, which, like a ship’s
bow, acts as a cleaver to plunge both sides toward the horizon. In the midst of this
visual recession a lamp post stands firmly in the middle to arrest our gaze from going
right out the back of the painting. Caillebotte includes the little metal arm at the top
right of the post to direct us again along a horizontal path, now keeping us from
traveling off the top of the canvas. As relatively spare as the left side of the work is,
the artist crams the right side with hard-edged and organic shapes and forms in a
complex play of positive and negative space.
Three-point perspective is used when an artist wants to project a “bird’s eye view”,
that is, when the projection lines recede to two points on the horizon and a third
either far above or below the horizon line. In this case the parallel lines that make up
the sides of an object are not parallel to the edge of the ground the artist is working
on (paper, canvas, etc).
 Three-point perspective (with vanishing points above and below the horizon line
shown at the same time).
Design by Shazz, licensed under Creative Commons (Links to an external site.)
The perspective system is a cultural convention well suited to a traditional western
European idea of the ‘truth’, that is, an accurate, clear rendition of observed reality.
Even after the invention of linear perspective, many cultures traditionally use a flatter
pictorial space, relying on overlapped shapes or size differences in forms to indicate
this same truth of observation. Examine the miniature painting of the ‘Third Court of
the Topkapi Palace’ from 14th century Turkey to contrast its pictorial space with that
of linear perspective. It’s composed from a number of different vantage points (as
opposed to vanishing points), all very flat to the picture plane. While the overall
image is seen from above, the figures and trees appear as cutouts, seeming to float
in mid air. Notice the towers on the far left and right are sideways to the picture
plane. As ‘incorrect’ as it looks, the painting gives a detailed description of the
landscape and structures on the palace grounds.

Third Court of the Topkapi Palace, from the Hunername, 1548

Ottoman miniature paintingTopkapi Museum, Instanbul.
Used under Creative Commons (Links to an external site.) license
 After nearly five hundred years using linear perspective, western ideas about how
space is depicted accurately in two dimensions went through a revolution at the
beginning of the 20th century. A young Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso (Links to an
external site.), moved to Paris, then western culture’s capital of art, and largely
reinvented pictorial space with the invention of Cubism (Links to an external site.),
ushered in dramatically by his painting Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (Links to an
external site.) in 1907. He was influenced in part by the chiseled forms, angular
surfaces and disproportion of African sculpture (refer back to the ‘Male Figure’ from
Cameroon) and mask-like faces of early Iberian artworks
You can see the radical changes cubism made in George Braque’s landscape ‘La
Roche Guyon’ from 1909. The trees, houses, castle and surrounding rocks comprise
almost a single complex form, stair-stepping up the canvas to mimic the distant hill at
the top, all of it struggling upwards and leaning to the right within a shallow pictorial
space.

George Braque ‘Castle at La Roche Guyon’ 1909 Oil on canvas

Stedelijk van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Licensed through GNU (Links to an external site.) and Creative Common (Links to
an external site.)
As the cubist style developed, its forms became even flatter. Juan Gris’s ‘The
Sunblind’ from 1914 splays the still life it represents across the canvas.  Collage
elements like newspaper reinforce pictorial flatness.

Juan Gris, The Sunblind, 1914, Gouache, collage, chalk and charcoal on canvas.
Tate Gallery, London
Image licensed under GNU Free Documentation License (Links to an external site.)
It’s not so difficult to understand the importance of this new idea of space when
placed in the context of comparable advances in science surrounding the turn of the
19th century. The Wright Brothers took to the air with powered flight in 1903, the
same year Marie Curie won the first of two Nobel prizes for her pioneering work in
radiation. Sigmund Freud’s new ideas on the inner spaces of the mind and its effect
on behavior were published in 1902, and Albert Einstien’s calculations on relativity,
the idea that space and time are intertwined, first appeared in 1905. Each of these
discoveries added to human understanding and realligned the way we look at
ourselves and our world. Indeed, Picasso, speaking of his struggle to define cubism,
said “Even Einstien did not know it either! The condition of discovery is outside
ourselves; but the terrifying thing is that despite all this, we can only find what we
know” (from Picasso on Art, A Selection of Views by Dore Ashton, (Souchere, 1960,
page 15).
Three-dimensional space doesn’t undergo this fundemental transformation. It
remains a visual tug between positive and negative spaces. Sculptors influenced by
cubism do, however, develop new forms to fill this space; abstract and non-objective
works that chanllenge us to see them on their own terms. Constantin Brancusi, a
Romanian sculptor living in Paris, became a leading artist to champion the new
forms of modern art. His sculpture ‘Bird in Space (Links to an external site.)’ is an
elegant example of how abstraction and formal arrangement combine to symbolize
the new movement. The photograph of Brancusi’s studio below gives further
evidence of sculpture’s debt to cubism and the struggle ‘to go around the object, to
give it plastic expression’.

Edward Steichen, Brancusi’s studio, 1920. Metropolitan Museum, New York

This photograph is in the public domain.
Now that we’ve established line, shape, spatial relationships and mass, we can turn
our attention to surface qualities and their importance in works of art. Value (or tone),
color and texture are the elements used to do this. 

VALUE
Valueis the relative lightness or darkness of a shape in relation to another. The value
scale, bounded on one end by pure white and on the other by black, and in between
a series of progressively darker shades of grey, gives an artist the tools to make
these transformations. The value scale below shows the standard variations in
tones. Values near the lighter end of the spectrum are termed high-keyed, those on
the darker end are low-keyed.

Val
ue Scale, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License 
In two dimensions, the use of value gives a shape the illusion of mass and
lends an entire composition a sense of light and shadow. The two examples
below show the effect value has on changing a shape to a form.
 3D Form, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License

 
This same technique brings to life what begins as a simple line drawing of a
young man’s head in Michelangelo’s Head of a Youth and a Right
Hand  (Links to an external site.) from 1508. Shading is created with line (refer
to our discussion of line earlier in this module) or tones created with a pencil.
Artists vary the tones by the amount of resistance they use between the pencil
and the paper they’re drawing on. A drawing pencil’s leads vary in hardness,
each one giving a different tone than another. Washes of ink or color create
values determined by the amount of water the medium is dissolved into.
 The use of high contrast, placing lighter areas of value against much darker
ones, creates a dramatic effect, while low contrast gives more subtle results.
These differences in effect are evident in ‘Guiditta and Oloferne’ by the Italian
painter Caravaggio, and Robert Adams’ photograph Untitled, Denver (Links to
an external site.) from 1970-74. Caravaggio uses a high contrast palette to an
already dramatic scene to increase the visual tension for the viewer, while
Adams deliberately makes use of low contrast to underscore the drabness of
the landscape surrounding the figure on the bicycle.

Caravaggio, Guiditta Decapitates Oloferne, 1598, oil on canvas

National Gallery of Italian Art, Rome
This work is in the public domain
 COLOR
Color is the most complex artistic element because of the combinations and
variations inherent in its use.  Humans respond to color combinations differently, and
artists study and use color in part to give desired direction to their work.
Color is fundamental to many forms of art. Its relevance, use and function in a given
work depend on the medium of that work. While some concepts dealing with color
are broadly applicable across media, others are not.
The full spectrum of colors is contained in white light. Humans perceive colors from
the light reflected off objects. A red object, for example, looks red because it reflects
the red part of the spectrum. It would be a different color under a different light. Color
theory first appeared in the 17th century when English mathematician and scientist
Sir Isaac Newton discovered that white light could be divided into a spectrum by
passing it through a prism.
The study of color in art and design often starts with color theory. Color theory splits
up colors into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
The basic tool used is a color wheel, developed by Isaac Newton in 1666. A more
complex model known as the color tree (Links to an external site.), created by Albert
Munsell, shows the spectrum made up of sets of tints and shades on connected
planes.
There are a number of approaches to organizing colors into meaningful
relationships. Most systems differ in structure only.
 Traditional Model
Traditional color theory is a qualitative attempt to organize colors and their
relationships. It is based on Newton's color wheel, and continues to be the most
common system used by artists.

Blue Yellow Red Color Wheel

Released under the GNU Free Documentation License (Links to an external site.)
Traditional color theory uses the same principles as subtractive color mixing (see
below) but prefers different primary colors.
 The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. You find them equidistant from
each other on the color wheel. These are the "elemental" colors; not produced by
mixing any other colors, and all other colors are derived from some combination
of these three.
 The secondary colors are orange (mix of red and yellow), green (mix of blue
and yellow), and violet (mix of blue and red).
 The tertiary colors are obtained by mixing one primary color and one
secondary color. Depending on amount of color used, different hues can be
obtained such as red-orange or yellow-green. Neutral colors (browns and grays)
can be mixed using the three primary colors together.
 White and black lie outside of these categories. They are used to lighten or
darken a color. A lighter color (made by adding white to it) is called a tint, while a
darker color (made by adding black) is called a shade.

Color Mixing
A more quantifiable approach to color theory is to think about color as the result of
light reflecting off a surface. Understood in this way, color can be represented as a
ratio of amounts of primary color mixed together.
Additive color theory is used when different colored lights are being projected on
top of each other. Projected media produce color by projecting light onto a reflective
surface. Where subtractive mixing creates the impression of color by selectively
absorbing part of the spectrum, additive mixing produces color by selective
projection of part of the spectrum. Common applications of additive color theory are
theater lighting and television screens. RGB color is based on additive color theory.

 The primary colors are red, blue, and green.

 The secondary colors are yellow (mix of red and green), cyan (mix of blue and
green), and magenta (mix of blue and red).
 The tertiary colors are obtained by mixing the above colors at different
intensities.

White is created by the confluence of the three primary colors, while black
represents the absence of all color. The lightness or darkness of a color is
determined by the intensity/density of its various parts. For instance: a middle-toned
gray could be produced by projecting a red, a blue and a green light at the same
point with 50% intensity.
 Additive Color Representation
This image is in the public domain.
The primaries are red, green and blue. White is the confluence of all the primary
colors; black is the absence of color.
 
Subtractive color theory ("process color") is used when a single light source is
being reflected by different colors laid one on top of the other. Color is produced
when parts of the external light source's spectrum are absorbed by the material and
not reflected back to the viewer's eye. For example, a painter brushes blue paint
onto a canvas. The chemical composition of the paint allows all of the colors in the
spectrum to be absorbed except blue, which is reflected from the paint’s surface. 
Subtractive color works as the reverse of additive color theory. Common applications
of subtractive color theory are used in the visual arts, color printing and processing
photographic positives and negatives. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue.

 The secondary colors are orange, green and violet.

 The tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary with a secondary color.

·       Black is mixed using the three primary colors, while white represents the
absence of all colors. Note: because of impurities in subtractive color, a true black is
impossible to create through the mixture of primaries. Because of this the result is
closer to brown. Similar to additive color theory, lightness and darkness of a color is
determined by its intensity and density.
 Subtractive Color Mixing
Released under the GNU Free Documentation License (Links to an external site.)
The primaries are blue, yellow and red
Color Attributes

There are many attributes to color. Each one has an effect on how we perceive it.

 Hue refers to color itself, but also to the variations of a color.

 Value (as discussed previously)refers to the relative lightness or darkness of
one color next to another. The value of a color can make a difference in how it is
perceived. A color on a dark background will appear lighter, while that same
color on a light background will appear darker.
 Tone refers to the gradation or subtle changes made to a color when it’s
mixed with a gray created by adding two complements (see Complementary
Color below). You can see various color tones by looking at the color tree
mentioned in the paragraph above.
 Saturation refers to the purity and intensity of a color. The primaries are the
most intense and pure, but diminish as they are mixed to form other colors. The
creation of tints and shades also diminish a color’s saturation. Two colors work
strongest together when they share the same intensity. This is
called equiluminance (Links to an external site.).

Color Interactions
Beyond creating a mixing hierarchy, color theory also provides tools for
understanding how colors work together.
Monochrome
The simplest color interaction is monochrome. This is the use of variations of a
single hue. The advantage of using a monochromatic color scheme is that you get a
high level of unity throughout the artwork because all the tones relate to one another.
See this in Mark Tansey’s 'Derrida Queries de Man' from 1990.
Analogous Color
Analogous colors are similar to one another. As their name implies, analogous colors
can be found next to one another on any 12-part color wheel:

Analogous Color, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
You can see the effect of analogous colors in Paul Cezanne’s oil painting ‘Auvers
Panoromic View (Links to an external site.)’.
Color Temperature
Colors are perceived to have temperatures associated with them. The color wheel
is divided into warm and cool colors. Warm colors range from yellow to red, while
cool colors range from yellow-green to violet.  You can achieve complex results
using just a few colors when you pair them in warm and cool sets.

Warm cool color, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
 
Complementary Colors
Complementary colors are found directly opposite one another on a color wheel.
Here are some examples:

 purple and yellow

 green and red
 orange and blue

Complementary Color, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License
Blue and orange are complements. When placed near each other, complements
create a visual tension. This color scheme is desirable when a dramatic effect is
needed using only two colors. The painting Untitled (Links to an external site.) by
Keith Haring is an example. You can click the painting to create a larger image.
A split complementary color scheme uses one color plus the two colors on each
side of the first color’s complement on the color wheel.  Like the use of
complements, a split complement creates visual tension but includes the variety of a
third color.
 Split Complementary Color, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License 
Color Subtraction refers to a visual phenomenon where the appearance of one
color will lessen its presence in a nearby color. For instance, orange (red + yellow)
on a red background will appear more like yellow. Don’t confuse color subtraction
with the subtractive color system mentioned earlier in this module. Color subtraction
uses specific hues within a color scheme for a certain visual effect.
Simultaneous Contrast
Neutrals on a colored background will appear tinted toward that color's complement,
because the eye attempts to create a balance. (Grey on a red background will
appear more greenish, for example.) In other words, the color will shift away from the
surrounding color. Also, non-dominant colors will appear tinted towards the
complement of the dominant color.

Simultaneous Contrast, 11 July 2012, Creator: Oliver Harrison

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License

TEXTURE
Texture is the tactilesense we get from the surface of a shape or volume. Smooth,
rough, velvety and prickly are examples of texture. Texture comes in two forms:
 Actual: the real surface qualities we perceive by running a hand over an
object
  Visual: an implied sense of texture created by the artist through the
manipulation of their materials.

An artwork can include many different visual textures and still feel smooth to the
touch. Robert Rauschenberg’s mixed media print Skyway (Links to an external
site.) includes rough and smooth visual textures that add layers of perception and
animate the work, drawing attention to specific areas within it. A self-portrait by
Vincent van Gogh below swirls with actual textures created with brushstrokes loaded
with paint. The artist fixes his gaze sternly at the viewer, his spiky red beard and
flowing hair rendered so texturally you want to reach out and touch them.

Self Portrait, Vincent van Gogh, 1889, oil on canvas Musee d'Orsay, Paris.

Photograph by Flickr user clairity (Links to an external site.) (Sharon Moilerus)
Photo shared via Creative Commons License
Joan Stuart Ross’s mixed media work On the Spokes (below) incorporates both
actual and visual textures. A strong radial composition is enhanced with over one
hundred raised paper blocks containing bits of images and text. The surface in relief
provides actual texture while our eyes are treated to a complex array of visual
textures created by staccato rhythms of colors and patterns.
 Joan Stuart Ross, On The Spokes, 2009, mixed media.
Used with permission of the artist.
Photographs can hold lots of examples of visual texture. A grainy film exposure adds
to this effect. Louis Daguerre’s early photograph of his studio below shows many
objects with textures jumbled across the smooth photographic paper. These, along
with the strong contrast in dark and light tones, enrich the photograph with a sense
of drama not necessarily inherent to the objects themselves.

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre, Still Life in the Artist’s Studio, 1837

Photograph is in the public domain

Art Appreciation

Name:

Activity:
LINE
How important is line to this work?
Does the line have movement or direction?
Does the line create value, texture, shapes, or space?
Is there implied line? Where? How?
What visual effect does the line have? (Does it make the work “feel” a certain way?)
SHAPE
How important is shape to this work?
How are the shapes created? Line, color, value, texture?
Do the shapes have mass or not? (Weight or form?)
Do the shapes convey a sense of space, or not?
What visual effect do the shapes have in this work?
VALUE
How important is value and light to this work?
How much variation in value is in this work?
Are the values high contrast, or low contrast?
What function do the values play?
How does light function in this work: from value or color?
What effect does light and value have to this work?
COLOR
How important is color to this work?
What colors are present? Name them.
Describe the overall color scheme?
How are the colors distributed? (Which colors are where?)
Are the transitions blended, or hard edged?
Does the work use color for specific effects? How? What effect?
What emotional effect do the colors have on this work?
SURFACE/TEXTURE
What importance does surface and texture play in this work?
What kind of surface does this work have?
Are any textures a actual or an illusion?
Does the texture define areas or is it overall?

SPACE
How important is space to this work?
Is this work a “window” or a “painting”?
Is the work visually flat or the illusion of three dimensions?
Is space defined or ambiguous?
How is the space of the picture plane and the picture frame used?
What effect does the space of this work have?
BALANCE
Is there a sense of equilibrium or stability to the composition?
Is the balance symmetrical, radial, allover pattern or asymmetrical?
Describe the visual “weight” of the various elements.
Is there a sense of tension or calmness to the composition?
How is the picture plane used to create balance?
How successful is the balance in the work?
UNITY
 Does the whole predominate over the parts?
What is the visual hierarchy of the piece?
Is the unity visual or intellectual?
How is unity achieved: proximity, repetition, continuation, theme and variation?
How successful is the overall unity of the work?
ANALYSIS
What emotional or sensory role do the elements and composition play in this work?
Which of the elements are most important to this work?
How does the subject relate to this analysis?
What is your personal response to this work?