Photography and Sculpture

PHOTOGRAPHY

WALKER EVANS

Walker Evans focused on the the classic pictorial documents of America and Captured American 's Visual Reality.  He captured this Moment in Time in 1935 at Joe's Auto Graveyard, Pennsylvania.
Evan's recorded everyday life, but is best known for his work with the Farm Security Administration, documenting the effects of the Great Depression.  I own a Model A, so I love this photograph.

HENRI CARTIER BRESSON

 

 Henri Cartier-Bresson is often called "the father of photojournalism" for his photos of famous events and people from the 1930s to the 1970s. He became internationally famous as a camera artist whose specialty was capturing significant moments of human interaction.  His uncanny ability to capture life on the run made his work synonymous with “the decisive moment” and the title of his first major book.   In this 1933 photo SPANISH MOROCCO (Asilah),  he captures children playing on the beach with seaweed.

JERRY UELSMANN"S

Jerry Uelsmann is considered one of the forefathers of composite imagery and a master of darkroom composite techniques.  Using several enlargers in the darkroom, Uelsmann perfected the technique of printing images from multiple negatives to create surreal landscapes that interweave images of trees, rocks, water and human figures in new and unexpected ways as in his 1975 Untitled print Cloud Room. The artist refers not allow room for literal interpretation of his work, but rather leave the interpretation to the subject by presenting altered realities using his photography and darkroom manipulation. He uses black and white prints and is computer free.

SCULPTURE

 ROBERT ARNESON

Arneson's sculptures epitomized the 1960s and 1970s Bay Area Funk art movement, a California style of Pop-Art focusing on absurd images of everyday objects.  He transformed ceramics into a major contemporary medium.  His observation of human behavior and American culture was that men and women have an obsession with female breasts, which inspired this 1964 glazed stoneware called Breast Trophy. This piece is in the "The Smithsonian" and he drew cartoons in high school. 

JAMES TURELL

 An American artist primarily concerned with light and space, his work involves explorations in light and space that speak to viewers without words, impacting the eye, body, and mind with the force of a spiritual awakening. An example of his work is the 1985 print, Untitled from the portfolio Deep Sky showing his use of light and space.  The Roden Crater in Arizona is his greatest accomplishment, where he is turning a natural cinder volcanic crater into a massive naked-eye observatory.

ANDY GOLDSWORTHY

 Andy Goldsworthy is an environmental sculptor who uses natural surroundings to create an art form. He explores and experiments with various natural materiel such as leaves, grasses, stones, wood, sand, clay, ice, and snow. In is 1985 stones titled Broken pebbles, he uses color and shape to get beneath the surface to understand the eternal energy.  He uses photography to preserve many of his images.

Principles of Design

Asymmetrical Balance

Asymmetrical balance is when balance is achieved in a composition when neither side reflects or mirrors the other. The asymmetrical balance is balance that does not weigh equally on both sides, as in James Mcneil Whistler's 1872 oil painting, Nocturne in Blue & Gold:  Old Battersea Bridge.  The bridge pile is slightly left of the center and is balanced with the smaller boat and figure.



Repetition/Rhythm

When the same element or shape is repeated over and over again in a composition a visual rhythm results.

Contrast/Variety

Contrast is the opposition or juxtaposition of different forms, lines, or colors in a work of art to intensify each element's properties and produce a more dynamic expressivenessas as in Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1874 oil painting "La Loge" The Theater Box, where he contrasts the difference between white and black.

Visual Movement

Visual movement is the the direction or flow in artwork or the path that our eyes follow when we look at a work of art.  This also refers to an implied motion the arrangement of elements in an image that create a sense of motion by using lines, shapes, forms, and textures that cause the eye to move over the work.  In Henry Matisse 1909 painting Dance 1, the women seem to be dancing in a circle, starting with the left direction switching to the right direction.

Scale and Proportion

Proportion is the relationship of parts to each other and a whole work, scale is the relative size of an object compared with the others of its kind or setting. The relative size of elements against each other can attract attention to a focal point. When elements are designed larger than life, scale is being used to show drama and amusement, as in Rene Magritte 1952 painting Personal Values. 

Emphasis

Emphasis is the principle of creating a centered interest in an art work, often achieved by color contrast and by lines.  The artist makes part of the work stand out, in order to draw the viewer's eye there first.

Jan Steen placed the emphasis on the youngest daughter of the family in the 1665 oil painting "The Feast of Saint Nicholas."  He painted a golden child, in a golden smock and showing golden locks of hair.

Formal Elements

CROSS HATCHING

Cross Hatching uses two or more sets of fine parallel lines drawn closely together, to create the illusion of shade or texture in a drawing, describing light and shadow.  Multiple layers in varying directions can be used to create textures as in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 drawing called the Fountain in the Hospital Garden at Saint-Rémy where you can see the crosshatching in the fountain bricks.

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is the technique using light and shade to achieve a three-dimensional quality, it's an Italian word meaning light-dark.  In this 1609 oil painting by Peter Paul Ruebens, chiaroscuro is used to highlight the muscles on Samson and the curves on Delilah's chest.

 

Analogous Color

The analogous color scheme uses 3 colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. One color is used as a dominant color while others are used to enrich the scheme.  They are pleasant to the viewer because they are closely related.  Vincent Van Gogh uses Orange, yellow-orange, and yellow in his 1888 oil painting  called Sunflowers.

Primary Colors

Primary colors are red, yellow and blue.  They are the original colors on the color wheel and can not be created by mixing other colors.  In the 1627 painting by Nicolas Poussin red, yellow and blue are the main colors in his painting.

Pattern

pattern is the repetition of an element in artwork and the artist achieves a pattern through the use of colors, lines, or shapes.  There are patterns of colors and lines in Fernand Léger's 1914 painting called the "Exit the Ballets Russes". 

Op Art

Optical painting is when the artist manipulates light, color fields or repeated patterns of lines to produce an optical illusion.  An example of this type of artwork is Frank Stella's 1964 painting Fez (2), where Stella creates the illusion of movement in the lines where the colors meet. 

Visual Elements

Implied Line

 Implied lines can be discontinuous lines that the viewer perceives as being continuous; they can be suggested by series of points, slashes or by the nearby endpoints of series of lines; they can be implied by the movements and glances of the figures in a composition Implied lines are lines that are not necessary drawn in an image, but are lines created by values, colors, or textures  that guide the eye though the piece of artwork.  It can also ber a line that is completed by the viewer, as in this 1990 print by Suzanne Caporael called Seeing Things: Rain.






Visual Overlapping

Edward Hopper uses overlapping in his 1930 watercolor painting the "Methodist Church, Provincetown".  He uses the roof tops of the churches covering each other to give the illusion of depth.  He paints one church top over the other.


Foreshortening

Foreshortening occurs when an object appears compressed when seen from a particular viewpoint, and the effect of perspective causes distortion.
The term foreshortening refers to the artistic effect of shortening lines in a drawing  to create an illusion of depth as in the Peter Paul Rubens painting called Hermit and Sleeping Angelica (1926-1928).  


One Point Linear Perspective 

 

One point linear perspective is when parallel lines converge at a single vanishing point on the horizon.  In Albrecht Durer's woodcut The Adoration of the Magi (1919) the veiwer is given the sense of communicating with the figures because his vanishing point is at their eye levels.



Horizontal/Vertical Compostion

Horizontal lines give a suggested  feeling of rest In Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House(1909) his architectural style uses of strong horizontal elements which stress the relationship of the structure to the land.

 Vertical lines

 Vertical lines communicate a feeling of loftiness and spirituality. Peit Mondrain uses horizonal and vertical lines in their simplest forms.

REPRESENTATIONAL ART

Representational artworks aim to represent actual objects or subjects from reality.  It presents the viewer with recognizable subjects as in this 1881 painting by Pierre-Auguste Renoir titled "Two Sisters".  Representational art is the oldest and largest collections of artwork.






NON-OBJECTIVE ART

Non-objective art has nothing to do with reality and is created for aestheticc reasons.  It is intend to use the elements and principles of art as in this
1950 oil painting by Jackson Pollock titled Autumn Rhythm.  His use of the "pour and drip" methods as well as colors contribute to his unique style.







ABSTRACT ART

Abstract art takes the subjects from reality but presents things in a way that is different from the way they are viewed realistically. It may emphasize on lines, shapes or colors that will transform the subject as in this 1913
collage by George Braque.The artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context.

ICON

Andy Warhol's 1963 Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box gives an example of Iconic Art on a world wide level.The website  notes that hitting the "57" mark on a glass Heinz ketchup bottle makes the ketchup pour out more quickly and easily.




ICONOCLAST

Andy Warhol largest and last 1986 painting of the "The Last Supper" is making a political statement as well as a religious statement. The painting manifests his religious belief, a devote catholic, and his irreverence toward the subject.  He uses commercial logos and repetitions of Christs image to make his point.


IMAGE VS. CONTENT

The 1923 painting by Kazimir Malevich "The Black Square" represents geometric simplicity and is a spirit of sensation which pervades everything.  Malevich described the black square as being equall to a feeling and the white background being equal to the void beyond the feeling.  The objects themselves are meaningless, but it represents the supremacy of pure feeling, infinity and eternity.