{"id":1349,"date":"2022-10-24T22:27:20","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1021earlycivilizations\/chapter\/__unknown__-53\/"},"modified":"2025-03-21T16:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T16:23:11","slug":"__unknown__-53","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ccconline.org\/ppschum1021earlycivilizations\/chapter\/__unknown__-53\/","title":{"raw":"12.1 Basic Elements of Art","rendered":"12.1 Basic Elements of Art"},"content":{"raw":"
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BASIC ELEMENTS OF ART<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

EXPRESSIVE CONTENT:<\/h2>\r\n

The expressive content of a work of art is its total emotional and intellectual effect based on the relationship of the five following aspects of analysis to one another.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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  1. \r\n
      \r\n \t
    1. Subject matter<\/li>\r\n \t
    2. Organization of basic elements<\/strong><\/li>\r\n \t
    3. Historical events and concerns<\/li>\r\n \t
    4. Associated values<\/li>\r\n \t
    5. Viewer's reaction<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

      SUBJECT MATTER<\/strong>:<\/h2>\r\n

      This is also called Iconography<\/strong>. A statue of a young nude male will have a different meaning in different cultures, for example, Apollo in Classical Greece, David in the Renaissance. Subject matter also includes the symbolic meaning<\/strong> of the subject; for example, David was not merely the ancient king of Israel in Renaissance art, but was also a symbol of political freedom against tyranny.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

      BASIC ELEMENTS<\/strong>:<\/h2>\r\n

      The basic elements that an artist employs to create a work of art include color, light and shadow, line, texture of the medium, space and perspective and shape. The relationships of those elements to one another and to the work of art as a whole determine the formal organization of that work. The Basic Elements include:<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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      1. \r\n
          \r\n \t
        1. Color<\/li>\r\n \t
        2. Light and shadow<\/li>\r\n \t
        3. Line<\/li>\r\n \t
        4. Shape and form<\/li>\r\n \t
        5. Medium<\/li>\r\n \t
        6. Texture<\/li>\r\n \t
        7. Space<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

          1. COLOR<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          Paintings may be monochromatic or polychromatic. A painting is termed monochromatic<\/strong> when colors derive from one primary color. A polychromatic\u00a0<\/strong>painting includes several contrasting colors. In paintings, color can define form and organize space. It can direct the eye from one place to another by shifting the emphasis from one color mass to another. It can add to the sense of motion by expanding and contracting space, when dark colors are used to suggest contraction and light colors expansion. Chiaroscuro<\/strong> is the graduation of lights and darks to create three-dimensional forms.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1335\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"An 12.1 Jan Van Eyck, Ghent Altarpiece, 1432, Oil on wood. Saint Bavo Cathedral. Wikimedia<\/a>.1<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n\"An\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

          Monochromatic, polychromatic and chiaroscuro techniques may be observed in Jan Van Eyck\u2019s Ghent Altarpiece. <\/em>The front, or cover, is painted in monochrome<\/strong> colors to resemble Gothic statues. When the cover is opened, we can see the bright polychromatic<\/strong> colors of the inside of the polyptych. The chiaroscuro<\/strong> shading of light and dark values is easily observed on the robes of the figures.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          2. LIGHT and SHADOW<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          Light and shadow can create volume or three- dimensional forms and space. They can also create a sense of movement and often suggest naturalism or dramatic realism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          3. LINE<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          A line is an identifiable path created by a point moving in space. It is one-dimensional and can vary in width, direction, and length. Lines often define the edges of a form. Lines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, curved and straight. Lines may vary in thickness, clarity, smoothness, and direction. They lead your eye around the composition and can communicate information through their character and direction<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1336\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"200\"]\"A 12.2 Obelisk at Luxor, Egypt,\u00a0 Wikimedia<\/a>.2<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Vertical<\/strong> lines are perpendicular to the earth; they suggest strength and draw the eye upward. In the Obelisk of Rameses II<\/em> at Luxor in Thebes vertical lines suggest spirituality, rising beyond human reach toward the heavens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1337\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"A 12.3 Jan Vermeer, oil on canvas, 1660, Jan Arkensteijn, Wikimedia<\/a>.3<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Horizontal<\/strong> lines suggest a feeling of rest or repose because objects parallel to the earth are at rest. In A View of Delft,<\/em> by Vermeer horizontal lines also imply a continuation of the landscape beyond the picture plane to the left and right.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1338\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"A 12.4 Giotto, Lamentation, fresco, 1304-1306, Chapel of Scrovengni all'Arena. Wikimedia<\/a>.4<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Because diagonal<\/strong> objects are neither vertical nor horizontal, they are either about to fall or are already in motion; therefore, diagonal lines often suggest dynamism or movement. The rock cliff in Giotto\u2019s Piet\u00e0<\/em> serves to move the viewer\u2019s eye toward the figure of Christ at the base of the cliff.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1339\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"235\"]\"Naked 12.5 Allegory of Lust, Angelo Bronzino, 1540, oil on panel. Wikimedia<\/a>.5<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Soft, shallow curves<\/strong> recall the curves of the human body and often have a pleasing, sensual quality and a softening effect. Confusion may be created by a mixture of various types of line and direction. Bronzino\u2019s Allegory of Venus <\/em>includes both sensuous body curves as well as the inconsistency of a mixture of lines.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          4. SHAPE and FORM<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          Define objects in space. Shapes<\/strong> have two dimensions\u2014height and width\u2014and are usually defined by lines. Forms<\/strong> exist in three dimensions: height, width, and depth. The shape of an object may be defined by color, line, texture, or medium.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1340\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"196\"]\"A 12.6 Cycladic Early Bronze II, Athens, Wikimedia<\/a>.6<\/a> <\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Artists seeking perfection often build their designs on various geometric<\/strong> shapes -- triangle, pyramid, circle, cylinder \u2013 on mathematical proportions. We see an example of this in the Cycladic <\/em>Bronze age <\/em>sculpture from Athens. <\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1341\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"195\"]\"Sculpture 12.7 Aphrodite of Cnidus, Praxitiles, Wikimedia<\/a>.7<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Artists influenced by naturalism, humanism, or individualism usually base their designs on natural<\/strong> (organic<\/strong>) forms such as the human weight-shift pose or contrapposto. Praxitiles\u2019 Aphrodite of Knidos <\/em>demonstrates both an organic form as well as the contrapposto position.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          5. MEDIUM<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          \u00a0All works of visual art are made of some material -- metal, marble, glass, fiber, and wood, oil or water based paints applied to paper, canvas, or wood.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          6. TEXTURE <\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          Is the surface quality of an object that we sense through touch. All objects have a physical texture. In a two-dimensional work of art, texture gives a visual sense of how an object depicted would feel in real life if touched: hard, soft, rough, smooth, hairy, leathery, sharp, etc. In three-dimensional works, artists use actual texture to add a tactile quality to the work. The texture of a work of art is either inherent in the medium or developed from it by the artist's technique. In painting, brushstrokes, either blended or painterly, affect texture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1342\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"290\"]\"A 12.8 Life of Saint James, furrier, Wikimedia<\/a>.8<\/a><\/sup>[\/caption]\r\n

          Ambulatory, Chartres Cathedral, a stained glass window showing the texture contrast of the fur and other clothing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

          7. <\/strong>SPACE<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n

          Real space is three-dimensional. Space in a work of art refers to a feeling of depth or three dimensions. The perfect illusion of three-dimensional space in a two-dimensional work of art is something that many artists labored to achieve.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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          Several techniques may be used to achieve a feeling of three-dimensional space<\/strong>. These include<\/p>\r\n\r\n