Art 111: Chapter 7

Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas

A Multiplication of Focal Points: An obvious focal point is the infanta Margarita at center, but figures outside of her central group gaze away from the infanta. Their focal point appears to be the King and Queen, who are reflected in the mirror at the opposite end of the room. Name it.

asymmetry

A composition that lacks symmetry can still be balanced if sides possess the same visual weight; this is called __________________________. While there are only a few ways in which a work can appear balanced, but there are no "laws" about how this can be achieved.

postmodernism

A sense that parts can never form a unified whole is commonly called _______________________________. Robert Venturi wrote in Learning from Las Vegas that a collision of styles, signs, and symbols such as those seen on an American "strip" can be seen as a new kind of unity; anything can be put next to anything else.

All art deals with visual weight, the apparent "heaviness" or "lightness" of the shapes and forms arranged in the composition. Actual weight, by contrast, refers to the physical weight in pounds of an artwork's materials. What is asymmetrical balance? How is visual weight balanced in the Taj Mahal? What is radial balance?

Define symmetrical, asymmetrical, and radial balance.

When the same or similar elements are repeated over and over again to make an observable pattern in a composition, a visual rhythm is established. Artists often use this rhythm in order to unify different elements of a work. How does Laylah Ali depict the Greenheads? How does repetition structure meaning in Jacob Lawrence's Barber Shop?

Describe the relationship between pattern, repetition, and rhythm.

Either the royal couple is the actual subject of the painting or they have entered the room to see their daughter being painted; or, in fact, their images are a double portrait rather than themselves reflected in the mirror.

Diego Velázquez's is considered a multiplication of focal points. The painting depicts a work-in-progress, although it is unclear what that work is. Explain the focal points.

Scale refers to the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original object that it represents or in relation to the objects around it. Proportion, by contrast, refers to the relationship between the parts of an object and the whole. How does Kara Walker manipulate scale in her sculpture A Subtlety? What is the canon? How does Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres most obviously violate it? What proportional relationships define the Parthenon?

Differentiate between scale and proportion.

Leonardo da Vinci's Study of Human Proportion: The Vitruvian Man

Embodies all the qualities of design. Symmetry, proportion, and ratio derive from the perfection of the human figure. The figure's limbs fit perfectly within their frame. In the creative process, even such "rules" as created here are meant to be broken so that artists can discover new ways to express themselves. What is this called and who drew it?

Artists employ emphasis in order to draw the viewer's attention to one area of the work. This area is the focal point of the composition. What is the focal point of a radially balanced artwork? How does Anna Vallayer-Coster create emphasis in Still Life with Lobster? How does Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas employ multiple focal points? What is an afocal composition?

Explain the relationship between emphasis and focal point.

the Rasin Building in Prague

In contrast, this building seems to teeter in its playfulness. It is nicknamed "Fred and Ginger" for its seemingly dancing frame. However, both parts of the building balance each other out like a dialogue. What is it called and where is it located?

afocal

It is also possible to make a work that is ______________, or without a single point of focus.

The central axis of the composition shows a woman weighing her jewelry with scales; behind her is a painting in which Christ weighs all souls during the Last Judgment.

Johannes Vermeer's Woman Holding a Balance contains several references to balance, yet retains asymmetry of subject matter. Explain two references to balance in the picture.

It symbolizes that such a horrifying act can inevitably happen again, though the place could be anywhere.

Layla Ali's Greenheads series features brown-skinned, gender-neutral "Others" that appear at once alien and familiar. In this piece, three nearly identical Greenheads have been hanged in front of a fourth victim. What does the piece symbolize?

the Divine Light.

Light in Georges de La Tour's Joseph the Carpenter draws attention away from Joseph and to the brightly lit face of Christ. What is symbolized?

Lucas Samaras's Room No. 2 i

Name this 8-by-8-foot space lined entirely with mirrors. Only two visitors are allowed inside simultaneously. Viewer and work become inseparable; the viewer enables the work, yet loses their individuality.

Auguste Rodin's The Three Shades

Name this piece and the artist

kente

Patterned _____________________ cloths from Ghana's Ewe and Asante societies contained patterns that designated social prestige. African sculptor El Anatsui used _____________cloths as inspiration for his pieces, which are made from discarded aluminum caps and seals rather than strips of cloth.

Still Life with Lobster

Strong contrasts of light and color can create a focal point easily. This painting uses complementary colors with the focal lobster in red and everything else in green. Name it

absolute symmetry.

Symmetrical representations recall Leonardo's Study. When each side is exactly the same, it is called what

Taj Maha

The ____________l is one of the most symmetrically balanced buildings in the world. Each facade is identical with openings that give the building a sense of weightlessness.

media

The materials that artists use to create their works are called?

Polyclitus' Doryphoros

This Greek sculptor described "perfect" proportions of the human body in a text called The Canon. Both the text and the original statue were lost, but both proclaim that each part of the body is a common fraction of the figure's height. Name the artist and statue.

The Greek Parthenon

This landmark possesses proportions on the facade in a ratio based on the algebraic formula x = 2y + 1. The ratio of the length of the top step of the platform (or stylobate) to its width is 9:4. Which is the building called?

Childe Hassam's Boston Common at Twilight

This painting features a central axis left of the middle, where a woman and her daughters feed birds at the edge of a tree-lined expanse of Boston Common. Tension between light and dark as well as the open Common and the street reinforce asymmetrical balance. Name the artist and the painting.

Frida Kahlo's Las Dos Fridas

This painting is symmetrically balanced. A Frida dressed in native Tehuana costume is connected to the mirrored Frida rejected by Diego Rivera by a vein, which the rejected Frida cuts off with surgical scissors. What is it called?

Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa

This painting shows views of Mount Fuji which subvert the knowledge of how large the mountain is. It shows two boats in a tumultuous wave in the foreground, visually diminishing the importance of Fuji in the distance. Who is the artist and what is the painting called?

balance

This refers to even distribution of weight in a composition. In works, it can be symmetrical, asymmetrical, or radial.

Auguste Rodin's The Gates of Hell

This sculpture was based on Dante's Inferno and features nearly 200 figures. At the top, a grouping of figures called The Three Shades is actually the same figure cast three times and arranged in a semicircle. Name the artist and the piece.

Enguerrand Quarton's Coronation of the Virgin

This work is a composition featuring small details at its edges with a cruciform shape dominating the whole. Father and Son flank Mary with near-perfect symmetry. What is it called?

An object "closer" to us is larger, while one that recesses in to the background appears smaller.

Walker's work is a large, exaggerated homage to carved sugar centerpieces that would have decorated the tables of the upper classes through history. Artists can manipulate scale through the relative scale of objects. Explain how scale is used here.

Comparing Do-Ho Suh's Public Figures and Kara Walker's Subtlety, both artists have manipulated the scale of the object depicted. Do-Ho Suh's work shows the people carrying the pediment in a diminished scale. The expected figure atop the pedestal is purposely absent.

What is this called and how does it compare to Kara Walk's Subtlety?

bilateral symmetry.

When there are minor discrepancies but the overall effect is symmetrical, it is called ?

Julie Mehretu's Mura

Who is the artist? What is the name of this is "large-scale" at 80 feet long and 23 feet high painting?. When looking at a textbook or screen reproduction, it is important to consider the actual size of the work.

Pattern

___________ is the systematic repetitive use of the same motif or design and it can be used as a decorative tool. The Lindisfarne Gospels, particularly the Cross page, features pre-Christian pagan motifs woven into Christian imagery. Beasts were drawn in "animal style" with intricate, ribbonlike traceries.

Repetition

_____________- can imply monotony, but if certain elements are used repeatedly, they can create a visual rhythm. Jacob Lawrence establishes rhythm in Barber Shop through the repetition of both shape and color. Each diamond-shaped client wears a different colored apron; the color is repeated again elsewhere in the work.In Barber Shop, Lawrence kept his figures consistent, yet unique. If every subject or figure were the same, there would be no need to discuss the unity of diversity that makes a work "complete." Generally, variety must coexist with unity in order for the work to succeed.

Louise Lawler's Pollock and Tureen

___________________________ brings seemingly contradictory objects in a state of opposition and tension. The Pollock painting is transformed into a decorative object that seems as marketable and empty of its original meaning when placed by the tureen

Elizabeth Murray's Just in Time

____________________________ appears at first to be abstract, but reveals a teacup split in half. Its ordinary subject matter is monumentalized by a height of 9 feet. Animal forms and pop lyrics also inspire interpretations. The work is rich in meaning, each fragment unifying the whole.

The Villa La Rotonda by Andrea Palladio

also features radial balance. The central domed rotunda is flanked by four symmetrical reception rooms. Name it.

focal point

an area to which the artist draws the viewer's attention the most.

scale

describes the dimensions of an art object in relation to the original object or objects around it.

Claude Monet's The Railroad Bridge, Argenteuil

employs line in a number of ways. Opposition is apparent in the two diagonals as well as opposing directional lines of the train and boat. What appears to be a simple landscape of a newly-built bridge is fraught with complexities. Who is the artist and what is the name of the piece?

radial balance

everything radiates outward from a central point. The "rose window" above the south portal of Chartres Cathedral is an example.

proportion

refers to the relationship between parts of an object and the whole. Ingres's Mme. Rivière appears at first to be natural, but upon closer inspection, her arm has been elongated to accommodate the curve of the frame.

visual weight

the apparent "heaviness" or "lightness" of the forms in the composition; All art deals in this type of weight

actual weight

the physical weight of materials in pounds.