This document provides an overview of how artists represent three-dimensional space on two-dimensional surfaces. It discusses techniques like linear perspective that convey depth as well as modern experiments that challenge realistic representation. Key points include how Japanese prints combined close and distant views, Matisse's flattened space in "Harmony in Red", and Cézanne's lack of depth in "Mme. Cézanne in a Red Armchair". The document examines these topics through examples of artworks and analyses of artistic techniques for shaping space.

1. WORLD OF ARTWORLD OF ART
CHAPTER
EIGHTH EDITION
World of Art, Eighth Edition
Henry M. Sayre
Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
All rights reserved.
Shape and Space
4

2. Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
1. Differentiate between shape and mass.
2. Describe how three-dimensional space
is represented on a flat surface using
perspective.
3. Explain why modern artists have
challenged the means of representing
three dimensions on two-dimensional
surfaces.

3. IntroductionIntroduction
1 of 21 of 2
• Shape is a two-dimensional area.
 Julie Mehretu's Berliner Plätze features
layers of place, space, and time that
emerge from the flat shape of the
canvas.
• Perspective is a system that allows
the picture plane to function as a
convincing window into its subject.

4. Julie Mehretu, Berliner Plätze.
2008–09. Ink and acrylic on canvas, 10 × 14'. Commissioned by Deutsche Bank AG in
consultation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the Deutsche Guggenheim,
Berlin.
© Julie Mehretu, courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery. [Fig. 4-1]

5. IntroductionIntroduction
2 of 22 of 2
• The Deutsche Bank and Guggenheim
Museum commissioned a group of
works known as Grey Area, meant to
display ambiguous spaces.
• Space has become an increasingly
contested issue, especially in an age
where the Internet and cyberspace
dominate our daily lives.

6. Shape and MassShape and Mass
1 of 21 of 2
• Ellsworth Kelly's Three Panels: Orange,
Dark Gray, Green applies the shapes to
the gallery wall as though it were the
canvas.
 The wall became the ground in the
figure–ground relation.
 Shapes between figures are known as
negative shapes, and the figures
themselves are positive shapes.

7. Ellsworth Kelly, Three Panels: Orange, Dark Gray, Green.
1986. Oil on canvas, overall 9' 8" × 34' 4-1/2 in. Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Gift of Douglas S. Cramer Foundation, 776 © 2015 Ellsworth Kelly. [Fig. 4-2]

8. Rubin vase [Fig. 4-3]

9. Shape and MassShape and Mass
2 of 22 of 2
• A mass is a solid that occupies three-
dimensional volume.
 It can be measured with height, width,
and depth.
 For example, a circle is a shape but a
sphere has mass.
• Martin Puryear's Self appears to
possess weight and density, but is
lightweight and made from wood.

10. Martin Puryear, Self.
1978. Polychromed red cedar and mahogany, 5' 9" × 4' × 25". Joslyn Art Museum,
Omaha.
Museum purchase in memory of Elinor Ashton, 1980.63. © Martin Puryear. [Fig. 3-4]

11. Martin Puryear, Untitled IV.
2002. Soft-ground and spitbite etching with drypoint and Chine-collé Gampi, 8-5/8 × 6-
7/8". Paulson Bott Press, San Francisco.
© Martin Puryear. [Fig. 4-5]

12. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
1 of 21 of 2
• From Two to Three Dimensions:
Umberto Boccioni's Development of a
Bottle in Space
 Marinetti's Futurist movement called
for the beauty of speed.
 Umberto Boccioni asserted that no
object exists in space by itself, and is
rather coexistent with its surroundings.

13. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
2 of 22 of 2
• From Two to Three Dimensions:
Umberto Boccioni's Development of a
Bottle in Space
 A drawing of a glass bottle resting on a
table renders the bottle and glass in
volumetric spirals.
 The three-dimensional bronze version
lures viewers from all sides.
• Further versions explored form and color.

14. Umberto Boccioni, Table + Bottle + House.
1912. Pencil on paper, 13-1/8 × 9-3/8". Civico Gabinetto dei Desegni, Castello Sforzesco, Milan.
© Comune di Milano. All rights reserved. [Fig. 4-6]

15. Umberto Boccioni, Development of a Bottle in Space.
1913. Bronze, 15-1/2 ×23-3/4 × 15-1/2". Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Bequest of Lydia Winston Malbin, 1990.38.© 2015. Image copyright Metropolitan
Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 4-7]

16. Negative SpaceNegative Space
1 of 21 of 2
• Standing vertical masses in Barbara
Hepworth's Two Figures have negative
spaces carved into them.
 The left-hand figure especially seems to
represent anatomical features.
• The Feast-making spoon represents the
generosity of the hospitable wunkirle
woman in the Dan people of Liberia, its
belly "pregnant with rice."

17. Barbara Hepworth, Two Figures.
1947–48. Elmwood and white paint, 38 × 17". Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum,
University of Minnesota.
Gift of John Rood Sculpture Collection. © Bowness. [Fig. 4-8]

18. Feast-making spoon (Wunkirmian). Liberia/IvoryCoast.
Wood, Height 18-1⁄8". Private collection.
Photo © Heini Schneebeli/Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 4-9]

19. Negative SpaceNegative Space
2 of 22 of 2
• In architecture, buildings surround and
frame empty space.
• The 125-foot tall nave of the Reims
Cathedral in France elicits a sense of
awe, particularly with the way that light
fills the space.
• Olafur Eliasson's installation Suney
featured a gallery bisected with a
yellow sheet of Mylar.

20. Nave, Reims Cathedral, France.
Begun 1211; nave ca. 1220. View to the west.
© Art Archive/Alamy. [Fig. 4-10]

21. Olafur Eliasson, Suney.
1995.
Courtesy of the artist, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, and Neugerriemschneider,
Berlin. [Fig. 4-11]

22. Representing Three-DimensionalRepresenting Three-Dimensional
Space in Two DimensionsSpace in Two Dimensions
• Stebe DiBenedetto creates the illusion
of deep space in Deliverance.
 Overlapping images, such as the
helicopter atop a landing pad, imply that
one object is in front of the other in
space.
• A shadow provides another visual cue.
 Finer lines on the landing pad draw the
viewer inward.

23. Linear PerspectiveLinear Perspective
1 of 41 of 4
• One-point linear perspective relies
on a single point, or vanishing point,
on the viewer's horizon to represent
parallel receding lines.
• When the vanishing point is directly
across from the vantage point (where
viewer is positioned), the recession is
frontal; if it is to one side or the other,
it is diagonal.

24. Steve DiBenedetto, Deliverance.
2003. Colored pencil and acrylic paint on paper, 30-1/8 × 22".
© Steve DiBenedetto, courtesy of David Nolan Gallery, New York, Collection of Morris
Orden, New York. [Fig. 4-12]

25. One-point linear perspective.
Left: frontal recession, street level. Right: diagonal recession, elevated position. [Fig. 4-
13]

26. Linear PerspectiveLinear Perspective
2 of 42 of 4
• Duccio's Maestà Altarpiece contains
large panels as well as smaller
compositions, such as the Annunciation
of the Death of the Virgin.
 The piece, despite Duccio's attempt to
create a realistic space via intuition,
does not succeed in having a single
vanishing point.

27. Perspective analysis of Duccio, Annunciation of the Death of the Virgin, from the Maestà
Altarpiece.
1308–11. Tempera on panel, 16-3/8 × 21-1/4". Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena.
Canali Photobank, Milan, Italy. [Fig. 4-14]

28. Linear PerspectiveLinear Perspective
3 of 43 of 4
• Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper
employs convincing perspective.
 The vanishing point is located behind
Jesus, thus drawing all attention to him.

29. Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper.
ca. 1495–98. Mural (oil and tempera on plaster), 15' 1-1/8" × 28' 10-1/2". Refectory,
Monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan.
© Studio Fotografico Quattrone, Florence. [Fig. 4-15]

30. Perspective analysis of Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Supper.
ca. 1495–98.
© Studio Fotografico Quattrone, Florence. [Fig. 4-16]

31. Linear PerspectiveLinear Perspective
4 of 44 of 4
• Two-point linear perspective results
in a more dynamic composition.
• Gustave Caillebotte's Place de l'Europe
on a Rainy Day depicts an intersection
of five streets through a series of
vanishing points.
 The canvas is divided into four equal
rectangles formed by the vertical line of
the lamppost and the horizon line.

32. Two-point linear perspective. [Fig. 4-17]

33. Gustave Caillebotte, Place de l'Europe on a Rainy Day.
1876–77. Oil on canvas, 6' 11-1/2" × 9' 3/4". he Art Institute of Chicago.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1964.336. Photo © 2015 Art Institute of
Chicago. All Rights Reserved. [Fig. 4-18]

34. Line analysis of Gustave Caillebotte, Place de l'Europe on a Rainy Day.
1876–77.
Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection, 1964.336. Photo © 2015 Art Institute of
Chicago. All Rights Reserved. [Fig. 4-19]

35. Distortions of Space and ForeshorteningDistortions of Space and Foreshortening
1 of 31 of 3
• Photographs and media with
perspective depict space as "real"
because it is a monocular, or one-eyed,
point of view.
• The stereoscope was invented in the
nineteenth century to imitate binocular
vision.
 From close up, the difference is more
discernable.

36. Distortions of Space and ForeshorteningDistortions of Space and Foreshortening
2 of 32 of 3
• Man with Big Shoes was created with a
stereoscopic view.
• Drawing to life a perspective such as
that in Dürer's Draftsman Drawing a
Female Nude would result in a figure
whose lower body would be too large in
comparison to her head.

37. Photographer unknown, Man with Big Shoes.
ca. 1890. Stereograph.
Courtesy of Library of Congress. [Fig. 4-20]

38. Draftsman Drawing a Female Nude.
1538. Woodcut, second edition, 3 × 8-1/2". One of 138 woodcuts and diagrams in
Underweysung der Messung, mit dem Zirkel und Richtscheyt (Teaching of Measurement
with Compass and Ruler). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Horatio Greenough Curtis Fund, 35.53. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. [Fig. 4-21]

39. Distortions of Space and ForeshorteningDistortions of Space and Foreshortening
3 of 33 of 3
• Mantegna's The Dead Christ applies
foreshortening, adjusting the
dimensions of closer extremities to
make up for the distortion created by
the point of view.

40. Andrea Mantegna, The Dead Christ.
ca. 1480. Tempera on canvas. 26 × 30". Brera Gallery, Milan.
DEA/G. CIGOLINI/De Agostini/Getty Images. [Fig. 4-22]

41. The Near and the FarThe Near and the Far
1 of 21 of 2
• Japanese prints that flooded European
markets after 1853 combined close-up
views of nearby objects with views of
distant landscapes.
• Utagawa Hiroshige's Moon Pine, Ueno
contains a large gap between the pine
in the foreground and the city behind.
 This particular tree was named for its
looping round branch.

42. Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando), Moon Pine, Ueno, No. 89 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo.
1856. Woodblock print, 14-3/16 × 9-1/4". The Brooklyn Museum.
Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.89. [Fig. 4-23]

43. The Near and the FarThe Near and the Far
2 of 22 of 2
• Flattening of the distance between near
and far became a lasting trend.
• Janine Antoni appears to walk along the
horizon in Touch, a video work
featuring the artist walking on a
tightrope.
 The horizon line can never truly be
reached, yet it is a place that has been
contemplated through culture over time.

44. Janine Antoni, Touch.
2002. Color video, sound (projection), 9 min. 36 sec. loop.
Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. [Fig. 4-24]

45. Modern Experiments and NewModern Experiments and New
DimensionsDimensions
• Modern artists utilize linear perspective
and foreshortening to capture complex
conditions of contemporary culture.
 For them, disorienting and chaotic
exemplify the modern.
 Perspective seems to impose false
order.

46. Experiments in PhotographicExperiments in Photographic
SpaceSpace
• Paul Strand's Abstraction, Porch
Shadows was an unmanipulated
photograph with no fully discernable
objects.
• His later photograph, Geometric
Backyards, New York, took further
advantage of the abstraction of walls,
pavement, and hanging sheets.
 The overhead viewpoint was novel.

47. Paul Strand, Abstraction, Porch Shadows.
1916. Silver platinum print, 12-15/15 × 9-1/8".
© Aperture Foundation Inc., Paul Strand Archive. [Fig. 4-25]

48. Paul Strand, Geometric Backyards, New York.
1917. Platinum print. 10 × 13-1/8".
© Aperture Foundation Inc., Paul Strand Archive [Fig. 4-26]

49. Experiments with Space in PaintingExperiments with Space in Painting
1 of 31 of 3
• Painters explored the act of imagination
that led to a painting rather than the
realistic depiction of subject matter.
• Harmony in Red (The Red Room) by
Matisse shows a flattened space with
unified color and design.
 Tree trunks within the frame of the
window or painting mimic the winding
designs on the wall and table.

50. Henri Matisse, Harmony in Red (The Red Room).
1908–09. Oil on canvas, 5' 10-7/8" × 7' 2-5/8". The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.
© 2015 Succession H. Matisse/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Archives
H. Matisse, © 2015 Succession H. Matisse. [Fig. 4-27]

51. Experiments with Space in PaintingExperiments with Space in Painting
2 of 32 of 3
• Most notable in Cézanne's Mme.
Cézanne in a Red Armchair is the lack
of spatial depth.
 The painting is almost entirely flat
where the left side of the armchair
meets the wall behind it.
 The stripes on the figure's dress do not
delineate the shape of her lap.

52. Paul Cézanne, Mme. Cézanne in a Red Armchair.
ca. 1877. Oil on canvas, 28-1/2 × 22". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Bequest of Robert Treat Paine II, 44.77.6. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. [Fig. 4-28]

53. Experiments with Space in PaintingExperiments with Space in Painting
3 of 33 of 3
• Terry Winter, in Color and Information,
uses a web of circuit-like squares
around a central pole.
 The artist transformed digital
information from when he scanned in
drawings for woodcuts, modifying their
size and color.
 The work brings order yet chaos, image
yet abstraction, and information despite
information overload.

54. Terry Winters, Color and Information.
1998. Oil and alkyd resin on canvas, 9 × 12'.
Terry Winters, courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery, New York. [Fig. 4-29]

55. Digital SpaceDigital Space
1 of 21 of 2
• Chinese artist Feng Mengbo created 42
paintings in the Game Over: Long
March series that envisioned an
imaginary video game.
• The project was later turned into an
actual video game based on the
Communist Party's Red Army under the
command of Mao Zedong.

56. Digital SpaceDigital Space
2 of 22 of 2
• The work was retitled Long March:
Restart and consisted of two 80-foot-
long walls.
 Viewers can take control of the Red
Army soldier and move the avatar
through five screens and 14 levels of
play, each progressively faster and more
difficult.

57. Feng Mengbo, Long March: Restart.
2008. Video-game installation, each screen approx. 20 × 80'. Museum of Modern Art,
New York.
© 2015. Digital image, Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 4-30]

58. The Critical Process: Thinking aboutThe Critical Process: Thinking about
SpaceSpace
1 of 21 of 2
• Ten Thousand Waves by Isaac Julien,
inspired by the drowning of 23 Chinese
cockle pickers in England, shows
tragedy juxtaposed with the Chinese
fable, "The Tale of Yishan Island."
• A third story of a contemporary
goddess adds to what seems like a
chaotic landscape.

59. Isaac Julien, Ten Thousand Waves.
2010. Installation view, Nine-screen installation, 35 mm film, transferred to High
Definition, 9.2 surround sound, 49 min. 41 sec. Edition of 6 plus 1AP.
Courtesy of the Artist and Victoria Miro, London, Metro Pictures, New York, and Galería
Helga de Alvear, Madrid. © Isaac Julien. Photography © Adrian Zhou. [Fig. 4-31]

60. The Critical Process: Thinking aboutThe Critical Process: Thinking about
SpaceSpace
2 of 22 of 2
• However, a single, fixed viewpoint is an
institutionalized one; the work suggests
that a new perception of space may be
like the typical sensory experience of
daily life.

61. Thinking BackThinking Back
1. Differentiate between shape and mass.
2. Describe how three-dimensional space
is represented on a flat surface using
perspective.
3. Explain why modern artists have
challenged the means of representing
three dimensions on two-dimensional
surfaces.