1. Informal & Formal Balance Art II, Art Talk ch. 9
created by Zoe Williams
October 2007
Informal & Formal
Balance

2. Bilaterally symmetrical
Formal Balance
Bilaterally symmetrical
Official
Balanced
Stable
Serious
Predictable
Government building, Moscow, Russia

3. Informal Balance Asymmetrical Casual Unbalanced Unstable Playful
Unpredictable
Disney Hall, Los Angeles, California, Frank Gehry

4. Informal Balance has no central axis
and no symmetry.
In an image with informal balance,
objects on one side may appear heavier
than objects on the other side.

5. Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (1888-1978)
He was known for long shadows and informal balance.
Informal balance here makes the viewer wonder what is happening in the scene.
Melancholy & Mystery of a Street, 1913
Nostalgia of the Infinite, 1911

6. Kneeling Child
Diego Rivera, Mexican artist
( )
known for formal balance
and depicting everyday activities.
Using formal balance
Makes the people
in his paintings
seem serious
and important
instead of
casual and
ordinary.
El Vendedor de Alcatraces
Man Carrying Calla Lilies

7. Both bilateral symmetry and approximate symmetry
have formal balance
Bilateral symmetry
and approximate bilateral symmetry

8. QUIZ TIME…
You may use your notes!

9. Which architect created this building? Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Gehry
Frank N. Stein
2. What kind of
forms do you see,
organic or geometric?
Guggenheim Art Museum, Bilbao, Spain

10. 3. Which type of balance does this painting have
3. Which type of balance does this painting have? informal balance formal balance approximate balance

11. 4. You are an architect designing a new bank
4. You are an architect designing a new bank. The bank should appear safe and stable. Which type of balance should you choose for the building?

12. 5. You are an architect creating a new modern art museum
5. You are an architect creating a new modern art museum. Which type of balance should you choose to show that the museum is fun and modern?

13. 6. This painting
by Leonardo da Vinci
shows which type
of balance?
7. Explain how you know it has this type of balance.

14. 8. Leonardo da Vinci is from the same country as artist Giorgio de Chirico. Which country is that? Mexico Greece Italy

15. 9. This painting
is approximately symmetrical.
Which kind
of balance
does it have?

16. 10. Which artist created. this painting. Giorgio de Chirico
10. Which artist created this painting? Giorgio de Chirico Diego Rivera Leonardo da Vinci

17. 11. What is this artist’s heritage? Italian Dutch Mexican

18. Answers:
Frank Gehry
2. organic
3. informal balance
4. formal balance
5. informal balance
6. informal balance
7. There is no central axis. The tree, child, and lamb make the right side heavier than the left.
8. Italy
9. formal balance
10. Diego Rivera
11. Mexican