Art Appreciation Test 3 Vocab

Space Example: Thomas hart Benton, The Wreck of the Ole '97

- Benton used brightness and color to create a sense of distance - we perceive color that is more intense as being closer

Chiaroscuro Example: Paul Cadmus, Male Nude NM32

- Cadmus uses chiaroscuro in his artwork - brown, red, and white chalk on tan-toned paper allows the artist to accentuate the lightest and darkest areas

Mass Example: Marisol (Escobar), Father Damien

- Father Damien was a humanitarian who served a leper colony in Hawaii - steadfast compassion is suggested by the four-square mass - the stout form communicates stability and determination

Open Volume Example: Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter, Ghostwriter

- Helmick uses carefully suspended pieces of metal to create an open volume - when seen as a whole, the shape of a large human head is implied

Implied Depth Techniques Example: Rene Magritte, The Treachery of Images

- Magritte uses value and perspective to imply depth - he wants us to recognize that what appears to be a pipe is not really a pipe: it is an illusion

Subversive Texture Example: Meret Oppenheim, Object

- Oppenheim was a Swiss surrealist - used texture to contradict the conscious logical experiences of viewers - she counts on our tactile memory to conflict with the actual experience

Mass Example: Rachel Whiteread, House

- Whiteread's House suggests great weight and solidity - she filled the interior of a house with concrete before demolishing exterior walls - empty volume of the interior is turned into a memorial of the lives of the people who used to live in it

Relief

- a work in which forms project from a flat surface - designed to be viewed from one side only - a form in the round can be seen from all sides

Chiaroscuro Example: Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew

- chiaroscuro can produce dramatic effects - the intense differences between light and dark places emphasis on Christ's hand - the light also frames Matthew

Relief Example: Imperial Procession, Ara Pacis Augustae

- figures in the foreground are more deeply carved than figures in the background (high relief) - depth of the carvings suggest that some areas are further away - implies a large crowd

Hatching and Cross-Hatching

- hatching consists of a series of straight lines, close to and parallel to each other - cross-hatching is a variant of hatching in which the lines overlap - used to express value and create a greater sense of form and depth

Value Example: Dinesphere

- many triangular flat planes make up this surface - each plane has a difference relative degree of lightness or darkness - value changes often occur gradually

Mass

- mass suggests that something is solid and occupies space - mass can suggest weight but does not necessarily imply heaviness

Open Volume Example: Mickett and Stackhouse, In the Blue (Crest)

- open volume can make a work feel light - the negative space and irregular arrangement make the work seem to float - implies the presence of water

Geometric Form

- regular forms that are readily expressible in words or mathematics: cubes, spheres, cones, pyramids

Relief Example: Naked Aphrodite Crouching at Her Bath

- sculptures in the round can be viewed from all sides - as the viewer moves, their perceptions change

Geometric Form Example: David Smith, Cubi XIX

- smith combines geometric forms in angular relationships - uses cubes, cuboids, and a thick disk - diagonal angles imply movement

Space

- techniques for creating a sense of depth and the illusion of space include: size, overlapping, position - changing brightness and color

Texture

- texture is the tactile sensation when we physically encounter a three-dimensional form - we rely mostly on the impressionists we receive from our hands - looking at a surface, we can imagine its texture based on our past experience

Organic Form Example: Lino Tagliapietra, Batman

- the form of his artwork is lively and organic

Organic Form

- the form of most things in the natural world is organic: irregular and unpredictable - living things change constantly - can be used for expressive effect

Organic Form Example: Roettgen Pieta (Vesperbild)

- the human figure is an organic form - artist carves the bodies of Mary and Jesus as irregular, awkward, and distorted - expresses agony of death and grief

Perspective Example: Asher Brown Durand, Kindred Spirits

- the trees in the foreground are detailed and bright green, but as they recede into the background they become lighter gray and out of focus - lines and shapes also become less distinct in the background

Cross-Hatching Example: Michelangelo, Head of a Satyr

- this artwork is a cross-hatched pen-and-ink drawing - gives the face solidity and depth - by building up layers of brown ink, he overcomes the restrictions created by the line

Relief Example: Stela with Supernatural Scene

- this is an example of bas-relief (low relief) - large figure of a Maya ruler wearing an elaborate costume - all elements of the composition are of equal visual weight

Chiaroscuro

- this method of applying value to a two-dimensional artwork creates the illusion of three dimensions - Italian for "light-dark" - Renaissance artists identified five distinct areas of light and shadow: highlight, light, core shadow, reflected light, and cast shadow

Subversive Texture

- this type of texture contradicts our previous tactile experience - artists use subversive texture to invite viewers to reconsider preconceptions

Perspective

- three common ways to suggest the illusion of depth on two-dimensional surfaces are: atmospheric, isometric, and linear

Form

- two-dimensional object is a shape; a three-dimensional object is called a form - forms have two basic attributes: volume and mass

Implied Depth Techniques

- value - space - perspective

Value

- value refers to lightness and darkness - an artist's use of a value can produce a sense of solidity and influence mood - artists use dark and light values as tools for creating depth

Texture Example: Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate

- viewers of Cloud Gate experience actual texture when they see and touch the work - highly polished, organic form that reflects the city of Chicago - Artist wants the viewer to interact with the sleek sculpture

Volume

- volume is the amount of space occupied by an object - solid objects have volume; so do objects that enclose an empty space

Open Volume

- when artists enclose a space with materials that are not completely solid, they create an open volume