Principles of Design Some Background graphic: John Adams’s Eldorado

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN REPETITION VARIATION CONTRAST Some REPETITION VARIATION CONTRAST BALANCE – symmetry/asymmetry EMPHASIS - accent ECONOMY PROPORTION SCALE

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Rhyme in poetry The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon, The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers, For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn. William Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much with Us” (1807)

Alliteration & assonance in poetry TO THE STONE-CUTTERS  Stone-cutters fighting time with marble, you foredefeated Challengers of oblivion Eat cynical earnings, knowing rock splits, records fall down, The square-limbed Roman letters Scale in the thaws, wear in the rain. The poet as well Builds his monument mockingly; For man will be blotted out, the blithe earth die, the brave sun Die blind and blacken to the heart: Yet stones have stood for a thousand years, and pained thoughts found The honey of peace in old poems. Robinson Jeffers, 1924

Andy Warhol, Orange Disaster No. 5, 1963

Eadweard Muybridge, photographer

Some repetition in music PHILIP GLASS EINSTEIN ON THE BEACH (an opera)

Monet Poplars . . .

Monet Poplars . . .

Monet Poplars . . .

Charles Demuth, The Figure 5 in Gold, 1928

Cimabue, Madonna Enthroned, 1280-90 Note color oppositions and alternation in Angel wings TEXTBOOK p. 185

VARIATION: the alliance between repetition and surprise The extensive poem, moreover, satisfies another two-fold requirement, one that is closely related to the rule of variety within unity: repetition and surprise. Repetition is a cardinal principal in poetry. Meter and its accents, rhyme, the epithets in Homer and other poets, phrases and incidents that recur like musical motifs and serve as signs to emphasize continuity. At the other extreme are breaks, changes, inventions - in a word, the unexpected. What we call development is merely the alliance between repetition and surprise, recurrence and invention, continuity and interruption. Octavio Paz, “Telling and Singing” in The Other Voice

The Four Evangelists, from the Gospel Book of Charlemagne, early 9th century TEXTBOOK p. 135

dancers

CAILLEBOTTE, Gustave Paris: A Rainy D ay, 1877, Oil on canvas, 83 1/2 x 108 3/4"

CONTRAST

Martin Munkacsi Black Boys on the Shore of Lake Tanganyika (1931) photograph Martin Munkacsi's "Black Boys on the Shore of Lake Tanganyika," the 1931 photograph that first inspired Mr. Cartier-Bresson to become a photographer.

Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace (detail) Japan, Kamakura period, second half of the 13th Century Handscroll; ink and color on paper 16 1/4 x 275 1/2 in.

David Hockney, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1971

Contrasts & Oppositions in Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist Diagonal/horizontal Straight/curved lines Air/water/Earth fire? Natural/artificial Clothed/(nearly) naked Tint/shade (light/shadow) colors What is the psychological relationship between the two men? Which of them is the “artist” in the title? Is it two sides of one person, the “artist”?

Degas Waiting 1882

Contrasts in Degas’s Waiting (1882, pastel) WHITE – BLACK COLOR – NO COLOR OPEN – CLOSED YOUNG – OLD PERFORMER – SUPPORTER BUSY – EMPTY INWARD GAZE – OUTWARD GAZE

organizational contrast – just variation? TWO GIRLS FISHING John Singer Sargent, 1912 (American, b.1856, d.1925) 22 x 28 1/4 in. (55.9 x 71.8 cm) 

organizational contrast A and Not A EMOTIONAL CONTRAST A in tension with Not A A in conflict and struggle with Not A A completed by Not A A united with Not A A in harmony with Not A

Broad, plain areas contrast with tangle of fingers This painting is an outstanding example of the abstract elegance characteristic of Rogier's late portraits. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, her air of self-conscious dignity suggests that she is a member of the nobility. Her costume and severly plucked eyebrows and hairline are typical of those favored by highly placed ladies of the Burgundian court. The stylish costume does not distract attention from the sitter. The dress, with its dark bands of fur, almost merges with the background. The spreading headdress frames and focuses attention upon her face. Light falls with exquisite beauty along the creases of the sheer veiling over her head, and gentle shadows mark her fine bone structure. In contrast to the spareness of execution in most of the painting, the gold filigree of her belt buckle is rendered with meticulous precision. The scarlet belt serves as a foil to set off her delicately clasped hands. Rogier excelled as a portrait painter because he so vividly presented the character of the persons he portrayed. The downcast eyes, the firmly set lips, and the tense fingers reflect this woman's mental concentration. Rogier juxtaposed the strong sensation of the sitter's acute mental activity to his rigid control of the composition and the formality of her costume and pose, presenting the viewer with an image of passionate austerity. http://www.nga.gov/ Rogier van der Weyden Netherlandish, 1399/1400 - 1464 Portrait of a Lady, c. 1460 oil on panel, painted surface: 34 x 25.5 cm (13 3/8 x 10 1/16 in.) panel: 37 x 27 cm (14 1/16 x 10 5/8 in.)

NGA Winslow Homer American, 1836 - 1910 Right and Left, 1909 oil on canvas, 71.8 x 122.9 cm (28 1/4 x 48 3/8 in.)

White-on-white, but what animal nature lurks? James McNeill Whistler American, 1834 - 1903 Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl 1862 oil on canvas, 213 x 107.9 cm (83 7/8 x 42 1/2 in.) When Whistler submitted The White Girl to the Paris Salon in 1863, the tradition-bound jury refused to show the work. Napoleon III invited avant-garde artists who had been denied official space to show their paintings in a "Salon des Refusés," an exhibition that triggered enormous controversy. Whistler's work met with severe public derision, but a number of artists and critics praised his entry. In the Gazette des Beax-Arts, Paul Manz referred to it as a "symphony in white," noting a musical correlation to Whistler's paintings that the artist himself would address in the early 1870s, when he retitled a number of works "Nocturne," "Arrangement," "Harmony," and "Symphony." Whistler used variations of white pigment to create interesting spatial and formal relationships. By limiting his palette, minimizing tonal contrast, and sharply skewing the perspective in a manner reminiscent of Oriental art, he flattened forms and emphasized their abstract patterns. This dramatic compositional approach reflects the influence of Japanese prints, which were becoming well-known in Paris as international trade increased. Clearly, Whistler was far more interested in creating an abstract design than in capturing an exact likeness of the model, his mistress Joanna Heffernan. His radical espousal of a purely aesthetic orientation and the creation of "art for art's sake" became a virtual rallying cry of modernism. NGA

Appropriate clothes? NGA John Singer Sargent American, 1856 - 1925 Nonchaloir (Repose), 1911 oil on canvas, 63.8 x 76.2 cm (25 1/8 x 30 in.)

Stately, stable figure – on skates! Gilbert Stuart American, 1755 - 1828 The Skater (Portrait of William Grant), 1782 oil on canvas, 245.5 x 147.4 cm (96 1/4 x 58 in.) In 1775, Gilbert Stuart set sail for London where Benjamin West welcomed the destitute young man into his home. The Skater marks the end of his five-year apprenticeship to West. Stuart's first effort at full-length portraiture, its originality brought the artist so much notice at the 1782 Royal Academy exhibition that he soon set up his own studio. The unorthodox motif of skating -- indeed, any presentation of vigorous movement at all -- had absolutely no precedent in Britain's "Grand Manner" tradition of life-size society portraiture. The painter recalled that when William Grant, from Congalton near Edinburgh, arrived to have his picture painted, the Scottish sitter remarked that, "on account of the excessive coldness of the weather . . . the day was better suited for skating than sitting for one's portrait." Thus artist and sitter went off to skate on the Serpentine River in Hyde Park. When he returned to West's studio with Grant, Stuart conceived the idea of portraying his subject on ice skates in a winter landscape, with the twin towers of Westminster Abbey far in the distance. In this innovative design, Grant glides effortlessly forward with arms crossed over his chest in typical eighteenth-century skating form. Except for his folded arms, the figure's stance derives from an ancient Roman statue, the Apollo Belvedere, a cast of which stood in the corner of West's studio. NGA Stately, stable figure – on skates!

BALANCE BALANCE asymmetry symmetry E Q U I L I B R I U M

Leonardo da Vinci, Proportions of the Human Figure (“Vitruvian Man”) TEXTBOOK p. 192 Leonardo da Vinci, Proportions of the Human Figure (“Vitruvian Man”)

Shiva, bronze temple sculpture, Chola Era (9th-13th C.), South India

Durer Dancing Peasants 1514 BALANCE

Master of the Saint Lucy Legend Bruges, active c. 1480 - c Master of the Saint Lucy Legend Bruges, active c. 1480 - c. 1510 Mary, Queen of Heaven, c. 1485/1500 oil on panel, painted surface: 199.2 x 161.8 cm (78 7/16 x 63 3/4 in.) This unusually large panel painting depicts three facets of Marian iconography: the Virgin's corporeal assumption, the Immaculate Conception -- the crescent moon and the radiance behind her identify Mary as the Woman of the Apocalyse, mentioned in Revelation 12:I -- and the Coronation of the Virgin. The painting is of great interest to musicologists in that it depicts Renaissance instruments with great accuracy and also reflects contemporary performance practices in the arrangement of the music-making angels. At the top, a full orchestra plays before the three figures of the Trinity. The ensemble around the Virgin is a mixed consort composed of "loud" instruments (trumpets and shawms) and "soft" instruments (vielle, lute, and harp). Two of the singing angels hold books bearing legible lyrics and notations. This music, which is the source of the painting's title, has been identified as derived from a setting of the Marian antiphon, Ave Regina Caelorum, by Walter Frye (d. 1474/1475), an English composer whose works were popular on the Continent, particularly at the Burgundian court. Historians refer to the artist as the Master of the Saint Lucy Legend because his principal work, an alterpiece dated 1480, depicts episodes from the life of that saint. His style is characterized in both paintings by oval faces that are restrained in expression, the use of extraordinarily intense color, and a tendency to over-emphasize elaborate textures. nga

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas, 1939

Alfred Sisley, The Chemin de By through Woods at Roches-Courtaut, St Alfred Sisley, The Chemin de By through Woods at Roches-Courtaut, St. Martin's Summer, 1880

Assymetical balance?

Assymetical balance?

H. H. Richardson 1880-1883 Crane Memorial Public Library Quincy, Massachusetts

Assymetical balance in music? A concerto sets a soloist or small group of soloists “against” an orchestra

EMPHASIS accent

David Hockney, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1971

Andy Warhol, Orange Disaster No. 5, 1963 not a good example of EMPHASIS Andy Warhol, Orange Disaster No. 5, 1963

ECONOMY limitation of a composition to a few essential elements; usually a voluntary constraint that is part of the creative process SPECIFIC TO AN INDIVIDUAL WORK, NOT THE GENRE , TYPE OR MEDIUM Examples in music: deriving everything from a single theme (musical idea), limiting the number of pitches, type of instrument, etc. Steve Reich, Music for Pieces of Wood, Clapping Music, or other pieces DC Meckler, Bliss (1999) Morton Feldman, Three Voices (1982)

ECONOMY – very little suggests a lot Picasso, Femme

Picasso, Guernica, 1937 p. 410

PROPORTION PROPORTION PROPORTION

Leonardo: The Last Supper, 1498

Diego Rivera, The Flower Carrier, 1935, 48x48 in.

Joseph Mallord William Turner British, 1775–1851 Joseph Mallord William Turner British, 1775–1851. Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), 1840 Oil on canvas, 35 3/4 x 48 1/4 in.

Shahn, Ben, Vacant Lot, 1939 Watercolor and gouache on paper mounted on plywood panel, 19 x 23 in

Carlo Crivelli Venetian, c Carlo Crivelli Venetian, c. 1430/1435 - 1495 Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor, 1470 tempera on panel, painted surface: 125.3 x 50.7 cm (49 5/16 x 19 15/16 in.) including unpainted margins: 129.5 x 54.4 cm (51 x 21 7/16 in.) "Remember me, 0 Mother of God. 0 Queen of Heaven, rejoice." These words, taken from an Easter psalm sung in the Virgin's honor, appear on the golden arch at the top of Carlo Crivelli's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donor. The donor, the Albanian ecclesiastic Prenta di Giorgio, kneels in prayer near the Virgin's crown. Crivelli's painting originally constituted the central section of a polyptych in the parish church at Porto San Giorgio, near Fermi. The crisp, sculptural forms reflect Crivelli's probable training in the humanist center of Padua. Yet the manner in which Crivelli's figures are modeled in light and shade also expresses a broader Renaissance concern with direct observation of nature. Crivelli's very personal, almost metallic style must in large part be explained by the events of his life. He was born in Venice where the Gothic tradition lingered well into the fifteenth century. After spending some time in Padua, he settled in the Marches on the Adriatic, and there remained relatively unaffected by new trends. http://www.nga.gov/ donor

Proportion in music A matter of time, usually lots of time. Example: 3 Beethoven string quartets (Op 59, 1, 2 & 3). Each in 4 movements. No. 1 – BIG 1st mvt No. 2 – nervous 1st mvt, BIG 2nd mvt No. 3 – BIG finale (4th mvt)

SCALE SCALE - the size of a work compared to the environment: miniature, human, monumental. The term can also apply to musical works, although it has an entirely different meaning than “musical scale.” (“A symphony is a large-scale musical work when compared to a song.”)

Claes Oldenburg, Knife Ship I, 1985 Vinyl-covered wood, steel, and aluminum with motors, dimensions variable, maximum height 31 feet 8 inches x 40 feet 5 inches x 31 feet 6 inches.

Miniature Leaf from Futuh al-Haramain (Description of the Two Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina), mid-16th century; Ottoman, 8x5 in.

a bit bigger . . .

Some examples of time scales in music Less than a minute - Miniatures – Chopin, Webern, Schoenberg Pop songs – 3-6 minutes Early symphonies – 25-35 minutes Later symphonies – 45 min - 1 hr Longest – Mahler – 1 ½ hrs Short opera – 2 hours Average opera – 3-4 hours (including intermissions) Long opera – 5 hours Longest traditional opera – Wagner’s RING – 18 hours

Robert Motherwell, Elegy for the Spanish Revolution No. 34, 1953-54

Georgia O’Keefe on scale & flowers: Nobody sees a flower—really—it is so small—we haven’t time—and to see it takes time, like to have a friend takes time. . . . So I said to myself—I’ll paint what I see—what the flower is to me—but I’ll paint it big. . . . I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.

Geogia O'Keeffe American, 1887–1986, White Rose with Larkspur, No Geogia O'Keeffe American, 1887–1986, White Rose with Larkspur, No. 2, 1927, Oil on canvas; 40 x 30 in.

Geogia O'Keeffe Jimson Weed 70x84 in Scale has to do with the size of the work itself

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN REPETITION VARIATION CONTRAST Some REPETITION VARIATION CONTRAST BALANCE – symmetry/asymmetry EMPHASIS - accent ECONOMY PROPORTION SCALE

NGA George Bellows American, 1882 - 1925 Both Members of This Club, 1909 oil on canvas, 115 x 160.5 cm (45 1/4 x 63 1/8 in.)