Elements of Visual Art English III Pre-AP

Line The continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point.

Shape An enclosed space defined and determined by other items such as line, color, value, and texture. –Distinct from form, which has depth –May be described as Definite / amorphous Simple / compound

Color A quality determined by hue, saturation, and value. –Hue: The property or wavelength that gives a color its name. –Saturation: The purity or concentration of a given hue –Value: The relative lightness or darkness of a color.

Perspective The technique artists use to project the illusion of a 3-dimensional world onto 2- dimensional space. Created by use of –Converging/receding lines –Variation of object sizes –Overlapping objects –Height within the picture plane

Proportion The relationship of one part to another or to the whole with respect to size, quantity, or degree. Associated with emphasis

Space Refers to the distance or area between, around, above, below, or within things. Associated modifiers –Two-dimensional / Three-dimensional –Flat / deep –Closed / open –Positive / negative –Actual / ambiguous / illusory

School of Athens Raphael

The Great Migration Panel #18 Jacob Lawrence

The Prison Courtyard Vincent Van Gogh

Street Orator Jacob Lawrence

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon Pablo Picasso

The Great Migration – Panel #52 Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence’s Style Aesthetics –Elemental, flattened shapes –Opaque and highly saturated color –Repeating patterns w/ emphatic breaks –Frequent use of grouping –Frequent use of limited space –Critics: “unsophisticated” and “barbaric” Content –The African-American experience –The plight of the poor –Family values –Manual labor (“builders”)

Technique –Classified as “expressive cubism” or “dynamic cubism” Stresses simultaneity of action or experience (as opposed to simultaneity of being) Influences –African abstraction –Rhythms of jazz and oratory –Mexican muralists Artistic goal –“For me, a painting should have three things: universality, clarity, and strength.”