Visual Elements

The Vocabulary of Art

Elizabeth Murray, The Sun and the Moon, 2005. Oil on canvas on wood.

Chapter Four, Part A

The Visual Elements

Line: path of moving point Light: digital & electronic Actual & Implied (contour/ Actual & Implied outline; Value: relative light & dark direction & movement; hatching, Chiaroscuro (light & dark) cross-hatching, stippling) Color: Hue Shape: (2-D) enclosed line Analogous (warm & cool) Actual & Implied Primary Mass/Form: (3-D) depth, height & Secondary width Complementary Figure (positive) & Ground Pointillism: optical mixing (negative) Figure-ground reversal
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Line: Contour and Outline

Line implies direction and movement
Keith Haring, Untitled, 1982. vinyl paint on vinyl tarpaulin. Sarah Sze, Hidden Relief, 2001. Mixed media.

Picasso. Three Male Heads (from Ovids Metamorphoses)1931. etching on copper.

Jasper Johns. Sketch for Two Cups. 1972. Watercolor on paper.

Line: Direction and Movement

Direction
Vertical lines seem assertive, or denote growth & strength. Horizontal lines appear calm. Diagonal lines are the most dramatic and imply action. Eakins, The Biglin Brothers Racing, 1873-74. Oil on canvas.

Implied Line
Direction & Eye Movement
Gricault, The Raft of the Medusa, 1818-19. Oil on canvas.

Eye movement and implied emotion

Shape and Mass

Shape:  An enclosed line; a twodimensional area with identiable boundaries i.e.: circles or squares Mass/Form: A threedimensional area with identiable boundaries i.e.: spheres and cubes
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Figure (positive shape) Ground (negative shape)

Bill Reid, The Raven and the First Men, completed 1983. yellow cedar. Emmi Whitehorse, Chanter, 1991. oil on paper mounted on canvas.

Shape and Mass

Figure-ground reversal: The concept of positive and negative space. In representational work, it is the shape  of the object. In nonrepresentational work, it is the shape that appears dominant or active.
Aztec, circular shield, before 1521. feathers.

Line
Implied Shape & Mass
Shading and Modeling: Create mass Hatching: Closely spaced parallel lines Cross-hatching: Parallel lines intersect like a checkerboard Stippling: Dots spaced close or far apart to suggest darker or lighter areas

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Implied Shape
Raphael, The Madonna of the Meadows, 1505. oil on panel.

Implied Shape

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Light Value and Color

James Turrell, Live Oak Friends Meeting House, 2001. Houston, TX.

Light: Actual light Importance for threedimensional work

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Implied Light
Value Modeling in Two Dimensions
Value: Relative lightness or darkness Chiaroscuro: Means light/dark (contrasts of light and shadow)
Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Saint Anne with Christ Child and John the Baptist. Charcoal & chalk/paper. Charles White, Untitled, 1979. etching.

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Light Value and Color

Color Theory
Color Wheel.

Color wheel: Made up of the colors refracted by Sir Isaac Newtons prism

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Light Value and Color

Color Properties
Color; hue: Pissarro, Palette with a Landscape, c. 1878. oil on palette. Name of the color And/or: Color value and intensity. Value: Relative lightness or darkness Intensity: Relative purity of  a color

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Light Value and Color

Light and Pigment
Color; hue: Name of the color Value: Relative lightness or darkness Intensity: Relative purity of  a color
Color value and intensity. And/or Light & pigment primaries.

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Light Value and Color

Color Harmonies
Color conveys emotions. Monochromatic: Variations of the same hue
Whistler, Nocturne in Blue and Gold, c. 1872-75. oil on canvas.

Complementary: Directly opposite on the color wheel

Inka Essenhigh, In Bed, 2005. o/c.

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Light Value and Color

Color Harmonies
Color conveys emotions. Analogous: Adjacent hues on the color wheel
Diana Cooper, The Site, 2006. mixed media.

Triadic: Three equidistant colors on the color wheel

Piet Mondrian, Trafalgar Square, 1939-43. oil on canvas.

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Paul Gauguin. Tahitian Idyll. 1892. Oil on canvas.

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Paul Gauguin. Self-portrait with Palette. 1893-94. Oil on canvas.

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Light Value and Color

Optical Effects
Afterimage: Simultaneous contrast
Complementary color afterimage.

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Light Value and Color

Optical Effects
Pointillism: Dots of pure color that tend to mix in our eyes to produce the illusion of color mixtures
Detail of slide R Seurat, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884-86. oil on canvas

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Light Value and Color

Emotional Effects
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893. tempura on cardboard.

Emotional responses to color are both cultural and personal.

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Chapter Four, Part A

The Visual Elements

Line: path of moving point Light: digital & electronic Actual & Implied (contour/ Actual & Implied outline; Value: relative light & dark direction & movement; hatching, Chiaroscuro (light & dark) cross-hatching, stippling) Color: Hue Shape: (2-D) enclosed line Analogous (warm & cool) Actual & Implied Primary Mass/Form: (3-D) depth, height & Secondary width Complementary Figure (positive) & Ground Pointillism: optical mixing (negative) Figure-ground reversal
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