Subject FormContent Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa Pablo
Subject + Form=Content Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa Pablo Picasso Woman Subject: The person(s), place(s), or thing(s) depicted in a work of art. Works that have no recognizable subject are referred to as abstract or nonrepresentational. Form: The purely visual information in an art work—value (light and dark), color, shape, line, texture, format (the shape and size of the actual canvas, paper, tapestry, etc. ) and composition, the arrangement of the visual elements Content: The psychological, emotional, and/or intellectual impact of a work of art. Generally the content in a given work results from the combination of subject and form.
Shape, Value, and Color Organic Shapes: Irregular shapes that resemble the freely developed curves found in plants and animals. Geometric Shapes: Shapes that appear related to geometry—triangles, squares, rectangles, circles, or more complex shapes that combine elements of these. Proportion: comparative relation between things or magnitudes as to size, quantity, number, etc. ; ratio. For example, the eye is about 1/5 the width of the face. Value: dark and light. (Colors, as well as grays, black and white have value. ) Value can be used to create variety, patterns, balance or imbalance within a painting, drawing, print, or photograph. Value can also be gradually used to create the illusion of volume and depth within a two-dimensional work by simulating the effects of light and shadow. This technique of gradually blending light and dark areas is called chiaroscuro—literally light-dark. Warm colors: oranges, reds, yellows, those colors associated with the sun or fire. Cool colors: blues, greens, violets, colors associated with water or shade. Color temperature—warmth or coolness is relative; it is affected by color relationships. For example, violet will seem cool next to orange but is relatively warm compared to blue. Bright, Intense, Bold, Pure, or Saturated colors: These refer to colors that are undiluted and by other colors and have bright rather than dull appearance, like colors you might find in a new tube of paint. These are not necessarily primary colors (red, yellow, blue), but could also include oranges, violets and greens. Neutral or Muted colors: In contrast to bright or intense colors, neutrals are mixed with varying amounts of gray and have a dull or toned-down appearance. These could include brown, blue-grays, olive greens, etc. Because these colors can often found in the natural world they are sometimes referred to as earth tones. The more neutral a color is the more it combines warm and cool aspects, and a completely neutral grey balances warm and cool—it is both warm and cool (or neither).
Naturalism Stylization Naturalism: (In a work of art) treatment of forms, (colors, shapes, etc. ) as they appear in nature. Naturalistic works are usually based on close observation, and include precise proportions and lifelike, intricate details. Abstraction Abstract or Nonrepresentational Art: works of visual art that have no recognizable subject. Strictly speaking abstract works represent people or things but are altered or stylized beyond recognition. Nonrepresentational works on the other hand do not represent any object or person and convey meaning purely through the manipulation of form. Nonrepresentational art may be compared to instrumental music; one communicates directly through color, shape, etc. , and the other communicates through rhythm, harmony, melody, and tone color. (Classical sculpture combines naturalism and idealization) (The Virgin Mary) Stylization: Depictions that rely on conventions or change the appearance of things to make them conform to a particular style. For example rendering people, animals, and natural elements in geometric shapes to create patterns and a unified appearance within a painting or tapestry, or sculpture. Stylization may reflect a lack of ability to produce a naturalistic depiction or may be intentionally used for aesthetic or symbolic reasons.
Cycladic Goddess Figures What do depictions of people convey about human virtues and failings? the relationship between humans and the divine? the relationship between humans and nature? gender? How do these ideas vary from age to age and culture to culture
Archaic Greek sculpture: Kouros, Kore’ 659 -490 B. C. E. (influenced by Egyptian and Minoan sculpture) Symmetry— each side is a mirror image of the other
Egyptian and Greek Canons of proportion
Kouroi, however, were never intended to be representations of individuals. One of the best known kouroi is the grave-marker of Kroisos, an Athenian soldier. The inscription on his statue reads: "Stop and show pity beside the marker of Kroisos, dead, whom once in battle's front rank raging Ares destroyed. " The word "marker" (sema) tells us that this is a symbolic representation of Kroisos, not a portrait.
Classical Greek Sculpture: Contrapposto 490 -323 B. C. E asymmetrical balance Praxiteles, Doryphorus (spear bearer R. C. ) Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Cnidos (R. C. )
Classical, Classicism: 1. Pertaining to or designating the style of fine arts, esp. painting and sculpture, developed in Greece during the 5 th and 4 th centuries B. C. E. , chiefly characterized by balanced compositions and naturalistic rendering of anatomical details, spatial movement, and distribution of weight in a figure. “A marriage of idealization and naturalism. ”—Philip E. Bishop Compare Archaic, and Hellenistic. 2. Of or pertaining to a style of literature and art characterized by conformity to established treatments, taste, or critical standards, and by attention to form with the general effect of regularity, simplicity, balance, proportion, and controlled emotion (contrasted with Romanticism). Naturalism: (In a work of art) treatment of forms, (colors, shapes, etc. ) as they might appear in nature including lifelike details and accurate proportional relationships. Idealized, Idealization: The conception of something and depiction of something in its absolute perfection. Michelangelo’s David could be said to be an idealized male figure. Landscape artists, especially in the neoclassical period changed and “perfected” the fields, hills, trees, they saw in order to make those elements conform to their conception of perfect natural order and beauty.
Contrapposto (contra—opposed +posture) “S” curve
Riace Warrior, mid 5 th century B. C. E. Aphrodite Naturalism + idealization , potential energy, confidence, Humanism
Classical Humanism: Classical Sculpture celebrates the human body but even more celebrates the human mind: Greeks proclaimed the nobility of human intelligence and action, believing fiercely in the human ability to understand control the world… ”—Bishop “Human reason is the primary source of truth and order in the world…To protect against uncertainty the Greeks searched for a knowable and unchanging design in the capricious world of experience. ” —Bishop on Greek Rationalism “Numberless wonders, terrible wonders walk the world but none the match for man— The blithe lighthearted race of birds he snares The tribes of savage beasts, the life that swarms the depths—with one fling of his nets woven and coiled tight, he takes them all Man the skilled, the brilliant! And speech and thought, quick as the wind and the mood and mind for law that rules the city— All these he has taught himself And shelter from the arrows of the frost When there’s rough lodging under the cold clear sky And the shafts of lashing rain-Ready resourceful man!” ---Sophocles from Antigone
Venus
Myron, Discobolus (R. C. ) Poseidon? Zeus? , Mid 5 th century B. C. E. Athlete/god : Potential energy, calm, balance, moment before the action, unlimited potential
Hellenistic Sculpture 323 -145 B. C. E. asymmetry—unbalanced Laocoon and his Two Sons, c. 150 B. C. E. Dying Niobid C. 440 B. C. E.
Hellenistic Sculpture 323 -145 B. C. E. diagonal composition, imbalance: creates tension, drama, movement, extreme emotion, hubris(? ) Laocoon and his Two Sons, c. 150 B. C. E. Dying Niobid C. 440 B. C. E.
Winged Nike of Samothrace, 190 B. C. E. Artemis (R. C. ) Hellenistic sculpture: Movement, action, emotion, drama Dying Gaul, (R. C. )
Renaissance: 1400 -1600 Rebirth of Classical Style and Humanism In contrast to medieval Christian view of humans as sinful and depraved, Italian Renaissance thinkers praised the human character as God’s highest creation…[Renaissance] scholars reconciled Christian belief with the moral teachings of the ancients. Renaissance humanists also challenged the medieval notion that the material world contained only temptation and evil, and, instead, glorified the beauty and order in nature [including the human body]. —Bishop Renaissance Medieval (Romanesque) Classical
Original Sin and human nature c. 1200 Medieval …Man was formed of dust, slime, and ashes: what is even more vile, of the filthiest seed. He was conceived from the itch of the flesh, in the heat of passion and the stench of lust; and worse yet with the stain of sin. He was born to toil, dread, and trouble; and more wretched still, was born only to die. He commits depraved acts by which he offends God, his neighbor, and himself; shameful cursed acts by which he defiles his name, his person, and his conscience; and vain acts by which he ignores all things important, useful, and necessary. He will become fuel for those fires which are forever hot an burn forever bright; food for the worm which forever nibbles and digests; a mass of rottenness which will forever stink and reek. --Pope Innocent III, 12 th century According to this viewpoint, humans are incapable of achieving wisdom, happiness or salvation in this life; [blind] faith and prayer are our only hope. Original Sin and human nature c. 1485 Renaissance …Renaissance Humanism has now broadened to mean the age’s glorification of human powers. The human capacity for knowledge and creativity made humans almost the equal of God. The Florentine humanist Pico della Mirandola exalted human freedom in his Oration on the Dignity of Man, in which God says to humanity: We have made you neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with the freedom of choice and with honor, as thought though the maker and molder of yourself, you may fashion yourself in whatever shape you shall prefer. You shall have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish. You shall have the power, out of thy soul’s judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine.
Archaic Greek sculpture: Kouros, Kore’ 659 -490 B. C. E. Classical Greek Sculpture: Contrapposto 490 -323 B. C. E Hellenistic Sculpture 323 -145 B. C. E. asymmetry— asymmetrical balance Symmetry Geometric stylization order, calm, proportion, naturalism + idealization, potential energy, emotional restraint, humanism: classicism, classical asymmetry imbalance tension, movement, drama, emotion, Hubris
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