Art

SPACE — distances or areas around, between or within components of a work of art.  Space can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional; negative and/or positive.

Space is the area around us in all three dimensions; up and down/side to side/front to back. It can be defined as no bigger than our body or the infinite space of the universe. In art, an illusion of space is often created through one or more traditional methods. Before listing the methods, there are a few general terms to define that we will use in discussion.

Size — the measurement of an object, or its actual physical size.

Scale — the relationship of size between objects.

If you are 5.5 feet tall, then your size is 5.5 feet. Let’s say you have a friend whose size is 6.0 feet tall. When you stand next to each other and someone compares your two sizes ("Hey, you’re taller than him!), they are comparing the two of you in scale to each other. In this painting by Magritte, we see how the artist manipulates size and scale.

We have a good sense for the size of his subjects. The comb, bar of soap, shaving brush, glass and match all fit comfortably into our hand. We know what their sizes are. Looking at the other objects, we have clear associations with the size of the bed, dresser and rug. Magritte has gone further though, distorting the normal scale relationships between the two groups of objects so they appear unusual — the comb is bigger than the bed, the glass as big as the dresser, etc.. Identifying whether or not size and scale have been manipulated or handled traditionally in an artwork is important to understanding the artist’s ideas.

POSITIVE SPACE Areas of a painting or sculpture which are occupied by forms or images

NEGATIVE SPACE The "empty" areas, where no forms/images are located

Rick Bartow's 2009 pastel & charcoal drawing is a great example of positive & negative space.  Every place he made a mark on the paper is positive; where he didn't add imagery is negative space.

Foreshortening — the illusion of a three-dimensional shape projecting forward on a two-dimensional surface.

This is an artist’s craft, or trick that creates the illusion that a form, often a figure, is sticking out towards the viewer. When you wear 3D glasses in a movie, although the screen is flat, it appears as though the objects/people are sticking out at you. In theory, this illusion is the same as foreshortening. Usually, when looking at the human figure, we expect to see it with arms and legs in a certain proportion to the torso and head. Stick figures that we draw are an excellent example of this — arms out to the sides and legs hanging beneath the torso. When a figure lies down, the proportions change dramatically, and conveying this in a drawing requires the practiced skill of foreshortening.

This skill is clearly evident in The Dead Christ by Mantegna. The image is presented twice here — once as it normally appears and then with the figure of Christ outlined. The outline hardly looks like a human body, but the image is clearly of a figure lying down with feet projecting towards the viewer. This is a foreshortened figure.

Another example is in the work of someone we looked at last week, Caravaggio. In The Conversion of St. Paul, the body of St. Paul is foreshortened dramatically as his body disappears behind the head and arms. Using your finger, lightly trace the outline of the body on the screen to see how different it is from the usual contour of a human figure. In this image even the horse is somewhat foreshortened.

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HOW DO ARTIST'S CREATE THE ILLUSION OF THREE DIMENSIONS (3D) ON A TWO DIMENSIONAL PICTURE PLANE?

There are four primary methods that are used to convey the illusion of 3D space on a 2D picture plane: Linear Perspective, Atmospheric Perspective, Overlapping & Isometric Perspective.

Linear Perspective  — illusion of depth where size represents distance.

 

If you stand on railroad track and look off in the distance, the tracks appear to join at a common point. However, you know that the two rails are parallel to each other and never really meet. In the 1420’s, Brunelleschi was one of the first to "discover" that the illusion of real space could be shown in an artwork through the use of simple formulas that mimic the way our eyes take in information, creating this effect.

In principle, whenever two lines or edges are parallel in nature, they appear to converge at a "vanishing point" in the distance. In the following etching by Canaletto, we stand at one end of St. Mark's square in Venice, Italy, looking in the distance at a tower. The illusion of space is very believable. Now, looking at the second image, you can see how all the parallel edges in the square, the tops of the tents at left and building at right, converge at one vanishing point. This is called "one-point perspective".

In Noon at Midday by Saryan, although she has distorted perspective at the roofline, there is a clear sense of the buildings and street generally recede to a vanishing point.

Most of the time, we see the world around us in "two-point" perspective, an illusion where there are two vanishing points to which all edges/lines recede. If you were to draw the room you are sitting in right now, you’d notice that there are two main sets of parallel lines; the walls to your left and right are parallel as are the walls in front of and behind you. To create the illusion of the room in a drawing, you would have to draw all edges receding to two vanishing points. This effect is evident in the following WWII painting by Eunich where I’v e highlighted the linear perspective in a second version.

When linear perspective is being employed by an artist, objects close to your are large and those further from you are small. It isn’t necessary that there is an obvious effect of lines coming together as in these examples. Linear perspective is occurring on a landscape when a person close to you is large in the picture and one further from you is small. You’ll see this occur in the next slide when we discuss atmospheric perspective.

Atmospheric (or Aerial) Perspective — the illusion of depth based on how we see colors in nature.

  

When standing about 5 miles from downtown Chicago, the buildings look grey and dull and can be hard to see. This occurs because you are looking through 5 miles of pollution and water in the air which distorts the fall of natural light. As you move closer to the buildings, colors become easier to see and edges of buildings are more clearly defined. This effect is easily reproduced using atmospheric perspective. Atmospheric perspective is based on the principle that lighter, cooler, duller colors recede in space, and warmer, richer darker color come forward. This illusion of depth is clearly seen in the following land/seascape by Aivazofsky.

Look at how the mountains in the distance get lighter and hazier, conveying the illusion of distance. Linear perspective occurs here also, evident in how the size of the figures in the foreground is larger in scale to the boat and buildings in the background. To check this, measure the height of the figures and compare them to anything in the background. Size represents distance here, so although this painting relies mostly on atmospheric perspective to create depth, Aivazofsky makes use of a little linear perspective as well.

Isometric perspective = "Iso" means equal and "metric" refers to measure. The illusion of depth is flattened or non-existent. Basically, this would be a flat image (equal measure) with little or no illusion of depth. These images often appear like paper cutouts and can have a very unique visual impact. Other methods used to convey space are eliminated to the point that all visual elements in the image appear to be at an equal distance from the viewer.

In Matisse’s image below, there is no linear or atmospheric perspective, meaning there is no horizon line or vanishing points. The only depth comes from our final method of creating space, overlapping.

Overlapping  — the illusion of space based on one object appearing to be in front of another; most common form of illusionistic space.  In War Horse of Babylon (2005), Jaune Quick-to-See Smith utilizes overlapping to create the illusion of depth on a relatively flat background.  The skulls overlap each other & the horse.