Order 2316287: art appreciation

Art Appreciation Joe Clark

Space “Space is the indefinable, general receptacle of all things - the seemingly empty space around us” Frank and Preble

Space is best defined by the things that surround it. Example: Ever try to find a seat in a crowded movie theatre? We know an empty seat when we see one because it’s the one without a butt in it. That space has been defined by all the other butts around. That space is empty but tells a powerful story.

It says I can sit down now.

Making things look real on a flat surface can sometimes be a tough problem for an artist to solve. On the flat two-dimensional picture plane of a drawing or painting, space is an illusion. Artists often use different visual elements to imply depth and space.

For example: This wall painting from the tomb of Nebamen, shows Egyptian workers preparing pottery. The Egyptian artist implied space by organizing subject elements according to specific rules. In Egyptian paintings, objects and people are stacked on lines one atop another. This line designates ground. This allowed the replication of repeated elements without the possible confusion of overlapping too many images.

Pietro Perugino Keys to the Kingdom Fresco c. 1481–1482

Now compare the Egyptian method of stacking to this Renaissance painting. Notice how the artist has a more natural way of implying space through his use of scale, overlap, lines and color.

Space (continued) Clarity was vital to the Egyptian artist. To achieve this, certain rules dictated how the subject matter could be portrayed on a two-dimensional surface.

In paintings like this on the right, Pond in a Garden, the artist painted the pond square with the picture plane as if viewed from above. Geese, fish, and surrounding trees were then painted at a profile and turned on an axis to ensure the viewer’s understanding of the scene. Have you ever noticed that you only see an Egyptian figure at a profile to

the viewer? Click here to learn why.

Compare the ancient Egyptian’s use of space to this detail of a drawing by Diego Rivera. His depiction of a working motor factory is full of overlapping figures. Every inch of the surface is utilized to create a visually crowded and frantic space. Diego was willing to compromise clarity in order to enhance his content of a busy factory.

Notice the contrast of elements in this Egyptian wall painting depicting a victorious Pharaoh in battle.

Viewing from right to left, notice how organized and stacked the Egyptian army is compared to the chaotic piles of the enemy.

Space (continued) Because the picture plane is limited by its dimensions, (horizontal and vertical measurements,) the artist decides how best to utilize the space given.

Example: To the left is The Oxbow, a painting by Thomas Cole. It would have been impossible for the artist to capture the entire river on one canvas. The viewer understands that the river, mountains and clouds continue beyond the unseen area of the picture plane. This is called denying the picture plane.

Division of Space How you divide space on the picture plane can make or break the content of what you are trying to visually say.

Example: Let’s say you’re an ad designer working on a project for a new anti-depressant pill. Which

of the images on the right best describes how the client will feel after taking the medicine?

Putting the empty space in the right place is so important! A. B.

Implied Depth Italian Renaissance painters, not satisfied with traditional methods of implying spatial depth on their canvases, developed a form of linear

perspective to depict the way objects really appear in a natural environment.

Isometric Perspective Lines moving into the distance do not converge but stay parallel. This form of perspective is used today by architects and engineers.

Linear perspective allows the artist to place the viewer at a specific vantage point.

Objects and the space between objects appears smaller when seen in the distance. Parallel lines seem to converge as they recede into the distance. This point of convergence is called the vanishing point.

The vanishing point is always on the horizon. The horizon line is always eye level to the viewer. An artist can alter the viewer's vantage point by simply raising or lowering the horizon line.

One Point Perspective

Implied Depth (continued)

The vanishing point is always on the horizon. The horizon line is always eye level to the viewer.

The most famous example of linear perspective is Leonardo de Vinci’s The Last Supper.

For Leonardo, the use of linear perspective allowed him to place proportional figures in a realistic space. But even more important, he utilized the technique to center the viewer’s Attention on the painting’s focal point, Jesus.

In the diagram to the right, notice how the horizon line and vanishing point cross the eyes of Christ. This allows all receding lines to converge on the focal point.

Vanishing Point Vanishing Point

A drawing has two-point perspective when it contains two vanishing points on the horizon line. In an illustration, these vanishing points can be placed on opposite sides along the horizon. In the example above two-point perspective is used to draw the same cube as in the one-point example. The difference is now the corner of a house is closest to the viewer. Seen from this corner instead of a wall, notice how one wall of a house recedes towards one vanishing point while the other wall recedes towards the opposite vanishing point. Also notice the viewer's vantage point. The horizon line is high in the composition, so the viewer is looking down on to the cube.

Two-Point Perspective

Horizon Line

Two-point perspective. Can you locate the horizon line?

Ed Ruscha Standard Station, 1966

Raphael The School of Athens fresco,1509-1511

One-point perspective. Except for one object. Can you spot the only item in two-point?

Implied Depth (continued) Have you ever been driving in Colorado and noticed that the mountains in the distance are a different color than the mountain you’re on?

This phenomenon is called atmospheric perspective. The air that separates you and those distant objects acts as a filter, visually diminishing the color. This makes the object appear lighter in color and less sharp in detail. In the painting above, Asher Brown Durand's Kindred Spirits, notice how the artist has masterfully captured this observable fact. The painting to the right, Happy Accidents of the Swing by Jean- Honore Fragonard, painted in the Rococo style captures a couple in a playfully lush garden with bright, vibrant color in the foreground and softer, lighter hues in the background.

Asher Brown Durand Kindred Spirits oil on canvas 1849

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Happy Accidents of the Swing, 1767-68 (detail)

Vocabulary Click on the word to return to its original page. Picture Plane – The actual space of each picture’s surface.

Picture Plane Denial – The illusion that the subject matter goes beyond the confines of the picture plane. The opposite of this is Picture Plane Assertion, which is the overt awareness that the image ends when the picture’s surface ends.

Perspective – Refers to any means of representing three-dimensional objects in space on a two-dimensional surface.

Vantage Point – The visual position in which a viewer is specifically placed in relation to the subjects on a picture plane. Example: The viewer’s vantage point can be altered by raising or lowering the horizon line.

Atmospheric Perspective – The illusion of depth is created by changing color, value, and detail. Also called Aerial perspective.

The vanishing point is always on the horizon. The horizon line is always eye level to the viewer.

A.

B.

C.

Egyptian Rules for Illustrating the Human Figure This object is the Palette of Narmer.

It’s an early Egyptian relic which perfectly demonstrates established rules the artists of Egypt adhered to for over three thousand years.

Those are:

A. The most important figure is always largest in the composition. (This is called hierarchy of scale, and we’ll discuss that later.)

B. Everything is turned in 90 degree increments. The head is profiled, the torso is turned to face the viewer, and the waist and legs are returned to a profile.

C. The figure can only be portrayed three ways: Facing forward Profiled Or from above (this was usually reserved for the dishonorable – note the dead enemy soldiers with their heads between their legs)

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Palette of King Narmer