A introductory focus on the principles of art and design, specifically unity, variety, balance, and proportion. Based on the Thames & Hudson "Gateways to Art" (2012) textbook by DeWitte, Larmann, and Shields.

1. Art Appreciation
Professor Paige Prater
T, R, 9:30-10:50AM

2. 10 ELEMENTS of Art:
1. Color
2. Form
3. Line
4. Mass
5. Shape
6. Space
7. Texture
8. Time/Motion
9. Value
10. Volume

3. 10 PRINCIPLES of Art:
1. Unity
2. Variety
3. Balance
4. Emphasis
5. Focal Point
6. Pattern
7. Proportion
8. Rhythm
9. Scale
10. Contrast

4. Unity: order, wholeness, harmony in a design
• Compositional – overall design
• Conceptual – idea behind the work
• Gestalt – ALL aspects ordered
VS
MONOTONY or
CHAOS

5. Unity
Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” from
Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, 1826–33 (printed later). Print, color
woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

6. Unity: 3 examples of COMPOSITIONAL unity

7. Unity: Conceptual
Romare Bearden, The Dove, 1964. Cut-and-pasted printed papers, gouache,
pencil, and colored pencil on board, 13⅜ x 18¾”. MOMA, New York

8. Unity: Gestalt
• Whole greater than
sum of its
parts…concept,
composition,
creation…
Vishnu Dreaming the
Universe, c. 450–500
CE. Relief panel.
Temple of Vishnu,
Deogarh, Uttar
Pradesh, India

9. Variety: visual diversity in one
composition
• Ideas
• Elements: shapes, values
• materials

10. Variety: materials
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram, 1955–9. Mixed media with taxidermy goat,
rubber tire, and tennis ball, 42 x 63¼ x 64½”.
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

11. Balance: distribution of elements
(unified or varied) within a work
• Symmetrical
• Asymmetrical
• Radial

12. Balance: Symmetrical
Ritual container from Gui, China, Shang Dynasty, 1600–1100
BCE. Bronze, 6¼ x 10¾”. University of Hong Kong Museum

13. Balance: Asymmetrical
• Uneven distribution of value and
shape
• Visual“heaviness” of the
right side counteracted by
placing one shape lower on the
left
Muqi, Six Persimmons, Southern Song
Dynasty, c. 1250. Ryoko-in, Dailoxu-ji,
Kyoto, Japan

14. Balance: Radial
• Equidistance
from a single
point
Amitayas mandala created by the
monks of Drepung Loseling
Monastery, Tibet

15. Rehash
• Unity, variety, and balance are central principles
that artists use to create visual impact
• Unity gives a work a certain oneness or cohesion
• Variety is expressed in contrast and difference
• Created by the use of different kinds of lines,
shapes, patterns, colors, or textures
• Balance is imposed on a work when the artist
achieves an appropriate combination of unity and
variety

16. SCALE
• relative to our own size
– MONUMENTAL
– HUMAN SCALE
– SMALL SIZE

17. Scale: MONUMENTAL

18. Scale: HUMAN SCALE
Damien Hirst, Mother and Child (Divided), 1993

19. Scale: SMALL SIZE
http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/revealed-a-bookthe-size-of-a-ladybug/278427/

20. SCALE: Unexpected…
Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943. Oil on canvas, 16⅛ x 24”. Tate,
London

21. PROPORTION:
• Relationships between sizes of parts
• Aids expression and description (and
NATURALISM)
• Egypt
• Greece>Rome>Renaissance
– Golden Section
– Golden Mean
– Fibonacci Sequence

22. Proportion: Egyptian cubit

23. Proportion: Golden Section, etc.

24. Proportion: Greece
Poseidon (or Zeus), c. 460–450 BCE. Bronze, 6’10½” high. National
Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

26. Proportion: Golden Rectangle
• Golden Rectangles is a technique based on
nesting inside each other a succession of
rectangles based on the 1:1.618 proportions
of the Golden Section
• The shorter side of the outer rectangle
becomes the longer side of the smaller
rectangle inside it, and so on
• =elegant spiral shape

27. Proportion: Golden Rectangle

29. Proportion: Golden Rectangle
Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858. Combination albumen print.

30. Proportion: Golden Rectangle

31. Proportion: Renaissance

32. Proportion: School of Athens
• Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his
pursuit of perfection
• Magnificent scale = sense of importance
• Parts of each figure are harmonious in relation
to each other and portray an idealized form
• Double emphasis on the center brings our
attention to the opposing gestures of two
famous Greek philosophers, Plato and
Aristotle