{"id":62,"date":"2015-04-10T18:35:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T18:35:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/masteryart1x6xmaster\/?post_type=chapter&p=62"},"modified":"2024-05-23T21:51:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T21:51:11","slug":"oer-1-8","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/mcc-artappreciation\/chapter\/oer-1-8\/","title":{"raw":"Reading: Artistic Principles","rendered":"Reading: Artistic Principles"},"content":{"raw":"

Art As Visual Input<\/h2>\r\nVisual art manifests itself through media, ideas, themes and sheer creative imagination. Yet all of these rely on basic structural principles that, like the elements we\u2019ve been studying, combine to give voice to artistic expression. Incorporating the principles into your artistic vocabulary not only allows you to objectively describe artworks you may not understand, but contributes in the search for their meaning.\r\n\r\nThe first way to think about a principle is that it is something that can be repeatedly and dependably done with elements to produce some sort of visual effect in a composition.\r\n\r\nThe principles are based on sensory responses to visual input: elements APPEAR to have visual weight, movement, etc.\u00a0 The principles help govern what might occur when particular elements are arranged in a particular way.\u00a0 Using a chemistry analogy, the principles are the ways the elements \u201cstick together\u201d to make a \u201cchemical\u201d (in our case, an image). Principles can be confusing.\u00a0 There\u00a0are at least two very different but correct ways of thinking about principles.\u00a0 On the one hand, a principle can be used to describe an operational cause and effect such as \"bright things come forward and dull things recede\".\u00a0 On the other hand, a principle can describe a high quality standard to strive for such as \"unity is better than chaos\" or \"variation beats boredom\" in a work of art.\u00a0 So, the word \"principle\" can be used for very different purposes.\r\n\r\nAnother way to think about a principle is that it is a way to express a value judgment about a composition.\u00a0 Any list of these effects may not be comprehensive, but there are some that are more commonly used (unity, balance, etc).\u00a0When we say a painting has unity we are making a value judgment.\u00a0 Too much unity<\/em> without variety<\/em> is boring and too much variation without unity is chaotic.\r\n\r\nThe principles of design help you to carefully plan and organize the elements of art so that you will hold interest and command attention.\u00a0 This is sometimes referred to as visual impact.<\/em>\r\n\r\nIn any work of art there is a thought process for the arrangement and use of the elements of design.\u00a0 The artist who works with the principles of good composition will create a more interesting piece; it will be arranged to show a pleasing rhythm and movement.\u00a0 The center of interest will be strong and the viewer will not look away, instead, they will be drawn into the work.\u00a0 A good knowledge of composition is essential in producing good artwork.\u00a0 Some artists today like to bend or ignore these rules and by doing so are experimenting with different forms of expression.\u00a0 The following page explore important principles in composition.\r\n

Visual Balance<\/h2>\r\nAll works of art possess some form of visual balance \u2013 a sense of weighted clarity created in a composition. The artist arranges balance to set the dynamics of a composition. A really good example is in the work<\/a>\u00a0of Piet Mondrian, whose revolutionary paintings of the early twentieth\u00a0century used non-objective balance instead of realistic subject matter to generate the visual power in his work. In the examples below you can see that where the white rectangle is placed makes a big difference in how the entire picture plane is activated.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"288\"]\"Six Image by Christopher Gildow. Used with permission.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe example on the top left is weighted toward the top, and the diagonal orientation of the white shape gives\u00a0the whole area a sense of movement. The top middle example is weighted more toward the bottom, but still maintains a sense that the white shape is floating. On the top right, the white shape is nearly off the picture plane altogether, leaving most of the remaining area visually empty. This arrangement works if you want to convey\u00a0a feeling of loftiness or simply direct the viewer\u2019s eyes to the top of the composition. The lower left example is perhaps the least dynamic: the white shape is resting at the bottom, mimicking the horizontal bottom edge of the ground. The overall sense here is restful, heavy and without any dynamic character. The bottom middle composition is weighted decidedly toward the bottom right corner, but again, the diagonal orientation of the white shape leaves some sense of movement. Lastly, the lower right example places the white shape directly in the middle on a horizontal axis. This is visually the most stable, but lacks any sense of movement. Refer to these six diagrams when you are determining the visual weight of specific artworks.\r\n\r\nThere are three basic forms of visual balance:\r\n