1. Elements of Visual Art

2. ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
• On a half sheet of yellow paper, write a short
paragraph describing the painting in the next
slide. Be as descriptive as you can. Imagine
that you are trying to describe the painting
over the phone. How would you describe it in
such a way that the other person would have
a mental image of the artwork.

3. Vincent van Gogh
The Bedroom at Arles. 1888-89

4. Line
- The path of a moving point, that is, a mark
made by a tool or instrument as it is drawn
across a surface.
- A line is usually made visible by the fact that it
contrasts in value with the surface on which it
is drawn

5. - Linear- artists place great importance on
contours and outline
- Painterly- artists try to hide or even eliminate
the outline of their objects

6. Gentlemen in Conversation
From 25-220 AD (Eastern Han Dynasty)

7. A Corner of the
Moulin de la Galette
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
1892

8. Haystack at Sunset near Giverny
Claude Monet
1891

9. Shape
• An area that stands out from the space next to
or around it due to a defined or implied
boundary, or because of differences of value,
color, and texture
• Shapes may be geometric or biomorphic

10. Carnival Forms 1
Arturo Luz
1956

11. The Dance (first version)
Henri Matisse
1909

12. Value
• The relative degree of light or dark
• The characteristic color determined by relative
light or dark, the quantity of light reflected by
the color

13. Expressive Uses of Value
• Chiaroscuro- the technique of representation
that makes forceful use of contrasting lights
and darks.

14. Titian, The Entombment of Christ, 1559

15. • Tenebrism- use of extreme chiaroscuro

16. Michelangelo Merisi de
Caravaggio,
St. John the Baptist,
c.1604

17. Texture
• The surface character of a material which can
be experienced through touch or the illusion
of touch.
• Texture is produced by natural forces or
through an artist’s manipulation of the art
elements.

18. • Actual textures- rough or grainy textures you
can actually feel
• Implied texture- a painting, drawing , or print
can be made to look like it a textured surface

19. Fur-lined Teacup
Meret Oppenheim
1936

20. Color
• The visual response to the wavelengths of
light identified as red, green, blue, etc.

21. • Hue- is the generic color name – red, blue,
green, and so on.

23. Sunday Afternoon at the Island of La Grande Jatte
Georges Suerat
1884-1886

24. • Value- a wide range of color tones can be
produced by adding black or white to a hue
• Distinguishes between lightness and darkness
of colors

26. • Intensity- refers to the quality of light in a
color. The purer color produces brighter tones.

27. Color Intensity

28. Blue Nude II
Henry Matisse
1952

29. Space
• The interval, or measurable distance, between
points or images
• Mentally conditioned by the environment and
experience of the viewer
• Perception involves the whole pattern of
nerve and brain response to a visual stimulus

30. 2 Major Types of Space
• 1) Decorative space- absence of real depth as
we know it and is confined to the flatness of
the picture plane

31. Henri Matisse,
Nuit de Noël,
1952

32. • 2) Plastic space – the term ‘plastic’ is applied
to imagery other than decorative. Artists base
much of their work on their experiences in the
objective world, and it is a natural conclusion
that they should explore spatial resources

33. a. Shallow space- can be compared to the
feelings one might experience if confined to a
box or a stage.

34. Jacob Lawrence, The Studio, 1977

35. • b. Deep and infinite space- this spatial feeling
is similar to looking through an open window
over a landscape that rolls on and on to
infinity

36. Jacob van Ruisdael, Wheatfields, 1670

37. Linear Perspective