1. Emphasis and Focal Point

2. How can an artist attract a viewer’s attention?

3. One device an artist can employ is emphasis or focal point.

4. An element that is emphasized can attract attention and lure the viewer. Paul Klee, The Goldfish

5. Emphasis plays up. It is used to draw our attention to an area or focal point. Position, contrast, size and color intensity are strategies used to create emphasis.

6. The counterpart to emphasis is subordination. Subordination plays down. It is areas of neutral or less interest that help to keep the attention on the area of emphasis.

7. Paul Klee, The Goldfish The gold fish is the focal point.

8. Paul Klee, The Goldfish It is the brightest and it is directly in the center. The gold fish is the focal point.

9. Paul Klee, The Goldfish Which is bordered in black. The gold fish is the focal point. It is the brightest and it is directly in the center.

10. Paul Klee, The Goldfish Which is bordered in black. The gold fish is the focal point. Which is encircled in blue. It is the brightest and it is directly in the center.

11. Paul Klee, The Goldfish Which is bordered in black. The gold fish is the focal point. Which is encircled in blue. Even the fish tails are pointing toward the center. It is the brightest and it is directly in the center.

12. Paul Klee, The Goldfish Which is bordered in black. The gold fish is the focal point. Which is encircled in blue. Even the fish tails are pointing toward the center. This is the concept of focal point. It is the brightest and it is directly in the center.

13. What are the different ways to achieve emphasis?

14. One method is emphasis by contrast.

15. Emphasis by Contrast- focal point becomes clear when one element is different from the others, providing contrast.

16. Andy Goldsworthy, Sycamore Leaf, 1980-81 Contrast

17. James Ensor, Old Lady with Masks, 1889 Contrast

18. Walker Evans, Kitchen Corner in Floyd Burrough’s Home, 1936 Contrast

19. Another way to achieve contrast is by isolation.

20. Emphasis by Isolation- this is a variation of emphasis by contrast, because by isolating an element you are simultaneously providing contrast.

21. Thomas Eakins, The Agnew Clinic (detail) Isolation

22. Rene Magritte Isolation

23. Sometimes the placement of an element will create emphasis.

24. Emphasis by Placement- this can be achieved by directional forces, which are paths for the eye to follow provided by implied or actual lines and determine the underlying energy and basic structure of a work, as well as placing the element directly in the center.

25. Rembrant van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1642 Placement

26. Rembrant van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1642

27. Placement Rembrant van Rijn, The Nightwatch, 1642

28. Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled Outake from the Kitchen Table, 1990 Placement

29. Carrie Mae Weems, Untitled Outake from the Kitchen Table, 1990

30. But does a design really need a focal point?

31. NO

32. When artists choose to emphasize the entire surface of a composition rather than individual elements, there is absence of a definitive focal point. Sometimes there’s an absence...

33. Absence Jasper Johns, Grey Alphabet, 1956

34. Lee Krasner Absence

35. Andy Warhol, 100 Soup Cans

36. What is the focal point? What strategies did the artist use? Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul, 1600

37. What is the focal point? What strategies did the artist use? Anish Kapoor, Door, 1991 (pg. 59)