Focus Activity:

Compare and Contrast

Critique the 2 works of art; identify similarities, differences, color, shape, & overall design.

Which do you prefer and why?

Piet Mondrian, (Dutch) 1872-1944, BoogieSidra, 6th grade, Cut Paper Woogie, 1942-43. Oil on canvas, 50 x 50" (127 Collage x 127 cm) . The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Shape

Shape: When a line crosses itself or intersects with other lines to enclose a space it creates a shape. Shape is two-dimensional it has height and width but no depth.

A shape is formed when a line encloses an area

Shapes can vary endlessly and can direct eye movement.

Simple shapes are remembered and understood more easily than complex shapes

Categories of Shapes:
Geometric Shapes-Circles, Squares, rectangles and triangles. We see them in architecture and manufactured items. Organic Shapes-Leaf, seashells, flowers. We see them in nature and with characteristics that are free flowing, informal and irregular. Positive Shapes-In a drawing or painting positive shapes are the solid forms in a design such as a bowl of fruit. In a sculpture it is the solid form of the sculpture. Negative Shapes-In a drawing it is the space around the positive shape or the shape around the bowl of fruit. In sculpture it is the empty shape around and between the sculptures.

Categories of shapes cont..

Static Shape-Shapes that appears stable and resting.
Dynamic Shape-Shapes that appears moving and active.

Geometric Shapes / Rectilinear Shapes

Organic Shapes / Curvilinear Shapes

Piet Mondrian, (Dutch) 1872-1944, BoogieWoogie, 1942-43. Oil on canvas, 50 x 50" (127 x 127 cm) . The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Geometric?.Organic?

Sidra, 6th grade, Cut Paper Collage

The shapes of the objects that you create or place in your images are positive shapes. The spaces around these shapes are the negative spaces. It is just as important to be attentive to the negative space as the positive shapes.

Positive Shapes (in black) vs. Negative Shapes (in white) A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

Notice how the negative shapes are just are interesting as the black positive shapes of the smoke.

Artist Unknown, Mexico, Jaguar Mask, 1998, Wood, paint, leather and boar's hair and teeth

Byzantine period. It was usually a portrait of a saint or the Virgin Mary.

How has the use of shapes in art progressed over time?

Louise Nevelson (American, born Russia), 1900-1988, Sky Cathedral, 1958 wood, painted black, 115 x 135 x 20", Albright-Knox Art Gallery, NY

"Three Musicians" by Pablo Picasso, 1921, Oil, 80"x74", Philadelphia Museum of Art

Marathon" by Mango Hoff, collage, 54"x54"

"Sheep on the Job" by Will Bullas, watercolor, 30"x30"

"Interruption Series/Red Kimono" by B.J. White, Acrylic, 45"x54"