3. Formal Elements
• Line
• Shape
• Color
• Value
• Texture
• Mass
• Composition
The artist manipulates all of these visual elements to make
the art look the way it does.
4. Formal Elements
• Line
= A continuous mark
Can be described as thick or
thin, steady or broken, organic
(curved) or geometric (straight),
and much more.
5. Formal Elements
• Shape
= an enclosed space
Can also be described as organic or geometric. Can
be simple or complex, etc.
6. Formal Elements
• Color
We all know what color is, right? Right?
Technically, color consists of:
• hue (red, yellow, blue, etc.)
• intensity (how bright or dull it is)
• and value (lightness or darkness)
Optional fun video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gf33ueRXMzQ
8. Formal Elements
• Texture
= what it would feel like (if you were allowed
to touch it [actual texture])
OR what it looks like it would feel like
(implied texture)
10. Formal Elements
• Composition is the overall arrangement of forms.
One of these has a very organized composition.
The other has a rather busy compositon.
11. Subject vs. Content
• Subject is the literal image depicted.
• Content is the implied message. The
content is dependent on historical context.
12. Example:
The formal elements of
Michelangelo’s David include
organic lines, a lack of color,
and a balanced composition.
The subject is a muscular
young man.
The content is the Biblical
David, but one can’t know that
without the historical context
of Christianity.
13. Historical Context
• The religious, political, and socio-
economic factors that affect the
subject/content and formal elements of
works of art.
• For example, in our study of Renaissance
art, most of the subject matter will be
influenced by the patronage of the
Christian Church.
14. Types of Perspective
Perspective refers to various pictorial devices for creating the illusion
of 3-dimensional depth on a 2-dimensional surface.
AKA: making a flat painting look 3D
Different techniques have been used throughout history.
Read more about intuitive and linear perspective in your textbook.
15. • In this course, you will be asked to analyze the
form, subject/content, and historical context
of various works of art. Your discussion board
assignments will often consist of
comparing/contrasting two works of art in
these terms.
16. Quick P/review of Art History I
…it’s okay if you haven’t taken Art History I. Either way,
here is a quick recap so that we’re all on the same page.
17. Polykleitos, Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer), ca. 450-40
B.C., Classical Greek
Ancient Greek art was all about the
ideal. Instead of portraits of individuals,
Greek artists created ideal
representations of youth, power, and
beauty. This reflected their Humanist
philosophy: their belief that man was
the center of the universe and was
created in the image of the gods.
Polykleitos was the first known artist to
a record an ideal set of proportions for
depicting the human form. This is
called a canon of proportions.
18. Augustus of Primaporta,
early 1st Century CE,
Imperial Roman
Ancient Roman artists, on the other
hand, were very much interested in
individual identity, inspired by ancestor
worship. They created many portraits
of recognizable individuals: still
idealized but more detailed and more
specific.
19. Constantine the Great,
325-36 CE
Marble
8’ 6“
Late Roman
With the rise of Christianity in the late
Roman Empire, there was more
abstraction or distortion of forms. This
reflected Christianity’s emphasis on
things unseen, as opposed to the material
world.
Constantine is considered the first
Christian emperor, and his exaggerated
eyes emphasize his spiritual and
psychological rather than physical traits.
20. Crucifixion with Angels and Mourning
Figures,
outer cover, Lindau Gospels
c. 870-880
Gold, pearls, and gems
Early Medieval
After the fall of the Roman Empire,
the Christian Church became the
dominant religious and cultural
institution in Western Europe. Art
became very abstract, not due to a
lack of skill, but due to a lack of
interest in the human body
(flesh=sin, so let’s leave out the
details of the the flesh).
21. Virgin and Child, France, 1339
Gothic
In the late Medieval or Gothic period,
there is a slightly renewed interest in
naturalistic human forms (observed
from nature), partly due to the
rediscovery of Humanism.
Thomas Aquinas read the works of the
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and
began to advocate rational inquiry as
the basis of faith. This leads to an
interest in the natural world and forms
the foundation of the Renaissance!
22. Giotto di Bondone
Virgin and Child Enthroned
Italy, c. 1310, Tempera and
gold on wood
Gothic
By the beginning of the 14th
century, Giotto experimented with
intuitive perspective to create a
more believable sense of three-
dimensional depth than the
vertical perspective used in earlier
Medieval art.
23. Cimabue (left), c. 1280 vs. Giotto (right), c. 1310
Compare and contrast: which one is more naturalistic? Why?
24. Intuitive perspective is based on the premise
that objects appear smaller as they get
further from the viewer. Therefore, a straight,
horizontal line may appear vertical as it
recedes into the distance.
Giotto uses this concept to more clearly
define the space around the Virgin. Notice
the vertical lines of the throne. Notice how
the angels actually overlap a little bit.
25. Unit 1 will be all about the Renaissance.
You will discover that Renaissance artists
combined Christian doctrine with Classical
Greek and Roman Humanism.
