The Principles of Design Unity Variety Repetition Rhythm Balance Emphasis/Focal Point Proportion/Scale Composition: The organization of elements in a work, aka, the design. Suggested activity: Have students break into groups and, using the chart, do an analysis of a slide they haven’t seen before. You may want to take them to a gallery to do the analysis.

Unifying Elements Unity: The sense of oneness, of things belonging together and making up a coherent whole. Variety: Differences that provide interest and contrast. These are the two principles that must be present in a work of art. A piece with little or no variety can become boring, causing the viewer to scan quickly. Variety is what holds our attention for longer periods of time. On the other hand, a piece with too much variety can be chaotic or overwhelming. The repetition of shapes, and use of negative space is vital in holding the variety of patterns and colors together in this painting. This African American artist draws on his heritage, the African tradition of body painting and masquerading. He also uses the African aesthetic of intense pattern and geometric abstraction. Ben Jones, Black Face and Arm Unit, 1971.

Balance: Visual Weight Symmetrical Balance: Mirror image of Shapes/Forms on either side of an imaginary axial dividing line. Elements correspond to one another in size, shape, and placement. Symmetrical balance is considered to be the least interesting format for design. Symmetrical balance, however is often used in religious images that emphasize a central, important being. This Japanese sculptor shows the Buddha’s gestures, promising believers tranquility and a path to salvation. A waterfall of stylized draperies and a halo of stylized flames create the variety. The reassuring calm and radiant majesty of this statue are due, in large measure, to the formal order of symmetry. Tori Busshi, Shaka Triad, 623.

Relieved Symmetry: or Approximate Symmetry: Slight differences between axial areas of a work. This painting appears symmetrical on first glance. The value, color and texture differences add visual interest or Variety. This Mexican artist shows two sides of her personality. She felt that her traditional heritage conflicted with her modern European lifestyle. She has snipped the vein the connects her two identities. The Mexican Frida, on the right, holds a tiny portrait of the artist Diego Rivera to whom Kahlo was married. Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas,1939.

Asymmetrical Balance: Two sides that do not correspond to one another in size, shape, and placement. Asymmetrical balance tends to allow the most variety, therefore, it tends to be more interesting. The heaviness or lightness of each form varies depending on its size in relation to other forms around it, its color in relation to other colors around it, and its placement in the composition in relation to other forms. The asymmetrical balance emphasizes the opposition between life and death. The woman he has come for is placed in the center of the painting, a symbolic border between life and death. She is the only waking person, and gestures as if to say, “Me?” What links the two halves of the painting is the gaze that passes between Death and his victim. The figure of Death is so compelling that Klimt consciously balances this visual weight with a myriad of patterns at the lower right of the painting. Gustav Klimt, Death and Life, Before 1911-1915.

Sakai Hoitsu, late 18th-early 19th century. Japanese artists often use dramatic asymmetrical compositions. This slide is an example of economy, resulting in a peaceful, meditative scene. Hoitsu also balances a simple dark form against a larger and more complex area of lighter values. Small pink flowers link the stream with the arcs of grass. The addition of white lilies and orange flowers lead our eye through the composition. On the left a slender, barley visible green plant provides the final counterweight. Isolated, symmetrical and motionless, it subtly commands our attention. Sakai Hoitsu, late 18th-early 19th century.

Emphasis and Subordination Emphasis: The viewer’s attention will be centered more on certain parts of the composition than on others. Focal Point: A specific spot to which one’s attention is directed. Subordination: A less visually interesting area. Emphasis and subordination are complementary concepts. An artist draws our attention to the important elements in a composition and purposefully makes other areas less interesting so that the focal points stand out. Tanner uses size and placement to emphasize the figures in the foreground. It is as if they have combined to form a single mass emphasizing their bond. Additionally, he uses strongly contrasting values to create further emphasis. The directional lines of site create a small focal point of the banjo. Tanner has subordinated the background, blurring the detail and working in a narrow range of light values. Henry Tanner, The Banjo Lesson, 1893.

the composition than on others. Emphasis: The viewer’s attention will be centered more on certain parts of the composition than on others. Focal Point: A specific spot to which one’s attention is directed. This artist arranged a white napkin to create a central focal area and subordinated the rest with earth tones. The napkin is peaked at the center, like a domestic version of Mont Saint-Victoire, the mountain that Cézanne painted so often. The white fruit dish (compotier) and white pitcher flank the peak, lending additional visual weight to the center. Patches of intense color are scattered throughout the fruits. This busy still life is ordered through the white cloth and pyramidal form. Paul Cézanne, Still Life With Compotier, Pitcher and Fruit, 1892-94.

Proportion and Scale Scale: Size in relation to a constant or “normal” size. Proportion: Refers to size relationships between parts of a whole or between two or more items perceived as a unit. Each portion of this figure maintains expected proportions, but the scale is unexpected. This Belgian painter tells us that the world around us might not be as rational and ordered as we like to think. He uses a shift in scale to create a telescoping woman. The sky looks perfectly normal at the horizon. As our eye gazes upward, we realize Magritte has broken the sky into cubes. He has also thrown in a small hot air balloon to equalize a sense of balance. Rene Magritte, Delusions of Grandeur II, 1948.

Benin, A Royal Altar to the Hand, 18th century. Ancient Egyptian artists relied on a squared grid to govern the proportions of their figures. This unfinished fragment gives us a rare insight into their working methods. In a finished work, the grid would no longer be evident. Egyptian artists used the palm of the hand as a basic unit of measure, with each square of the grid representing this unit. For example, a standing figure measures eighteen units (hands) high and six units at the shoulders. Benin, A Royal Altar to the Hand, 18th century.

Proportions of the golden section Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that numerical relationships held the key to beauty, and that perfect human proportions reflected a divine order. Leonardo daVinci was one of many artists fascinated by the ideas of Vetruvius, a Roman architect. Vetruvius’s treatise on architecture related the perfected male form to the perfect geometry of the square and the circle. Leonardo’s figure uses these numerical concepts to depict the proportion of the human figure in movement. Ancient Greeks also formulated the golden section that essentially mimics the proportions of the natural phenomenon of the spiraling outward growth of a shell. The intellectual and mathematical aspects of the resulting rectangle is one of innately pleasing visual proportion. The ratio of the golden rectangle is 1:1.6178. The Greeks applied this to the design of such structures as the Parthenon, which we will study later. Today your printer paper and business cards adhere to this ancient invention. Leonardo daVinci, The Study of Human Proportions According to Vetruvius, c. 1485-90.

Rhythm Visual Rhythm: Depends on the repetition of accented elements, usually shapes. Rhythm is part of our lives: The rhythm of seasons, waves on the shore, and cycles of the moon. It is an integral part of music, dance, poetry, and visual art. A beat in music is the underlying rhythm that unifies the composition. The painting on the left is Mondrian’s tribute to New York, his new home. In Europe he had cultivated an art of tranquility and balance based on the universal language of rectangular forms, horizontal and vertical lines, and primary colors. Broadway Boogie-Woogie portrays the fast, energetic, jazzy essence of New York that inspired the piece. We can almost hear the painting- the quiet percussion of the little squares in single file, the sudden syncopated shouts of the larger rectangles, like car horns or the joyful noise of Boogie-Woogie. While painters, sculptors, and architects create their own rhythms, photographers must capture them. This Soviet photographer captured the open, circular rhythms of seated farm workers to create a picture of communal harmony and collective well-being. He was hired by the Soviet government to document the success of their latest agricultural policies. The resulting photograph does not portray the labor of agriculture, but rather the resulting rewards. Petruscow framed this image so that only part of each seated group is shown, creating a winding path that leads our eyes to the stacked grain in the distance. Peit Mondrian, Broadway Boogie-Woogie, 1942-43.

The Principles of Design Unity Variety Repetition Rhythm Balance Emphasis/Focal Point Proportion/Scale The motif of this painting is connected with the European subject: vanitas, which we studied previously. This particular type of mirror is called psyche in French, named for the Greek goddess. The model is presumed to be his lover. This design, relieved symmetry, divides the composition in two. As in Frida Kahlo’s double self-portrait, the two sides are set in opposition. Warm colors are reflected as cool colors and firm shapes become fluid in reflection. It evokes a mysterious, shadowy realm of uncertainty. The girl’s gestures, almost an embrace, unifies the two halves. Picasso reinforces this gesture with a red striped shaped. Together, gesture and shape set up a pendulum motion, or rhythm. The scale is larger-than-life and the subject is out of proportion, creating a distance between Picasso’s image and reality. The rhythmical curves and repeating circles are only part of the aspects which unify this piece. Another unifying device is the wallpaper, which extends across the entire canvas. Its geometric pattern acts as a foil for the organic curves of the model. Color unifies the composition as well. In spite of the variation, these colors have the same range of intensities and values, with the important exception of the girl herself. Her face is a natural focal point which seems to be almost a source of light. The pale violet portion of her face is depicted in profile, gazing at the mirror. In the yellow portion, she turns her head to look at us, or perhaps the painter for whom she was modeling. Her body is also divided vertically, half clothed, half nude. Picasso gives us an X-Ray view straight through to the womb. Pablo Picasso, Girl Before a Mirror

The Parthenon, Athens Greece

Nike of the Samothrace, Louvre, Paris Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman

Black Figure Pottery, Ancient Greece Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase

Andy Warhol, 10 Marilyns

Jackson Pollock, Number 5