A brief introduction to the principles and elements of art, specifically balance, scale, proportion, time and motion, emphasis, contrast, rhythm and pattern. Based on Part One of "Gateways to Art" (2012).

1. ART APPRECIATION:
BALANCE, SCALE,
PROPORTION,
TIME/MOTION,
EMPHASIS, CONTRAST &
RHYTHM
T, R, 9:30AM-10:50AM
Professor Paige Prater

2. Symmetrical
Asymmetrical
Radial
BALANCE: DISTRIBUTION OF
ELEMENTS (UNIFIED OR VARIED)
WITHIN A WORK

3. BALANCE: SYMMETRICAL
Ritual container from Gui, China, Shang Dynasty,
1600–1100 BCE. Bronze, 6¼ x 10¾”. University of Hong
Kong Museum

4. • Uneven distribution of value and
shape
• Visual“heaviness” of the
right side counteracted by
placing one shape lower on the
left
Muqi, Six Persimmons, Southern
Song Dynasty, c. 1250. Ryoko-in,
Dailoxu-ji, Kyoto, Japan
BALANCE: ASYMMETRICAL

5. 
Equidistance from a
single point
BALANCE: RADIAL
Amitayas mandala created
by the monks of Drepung
Loseling Monastery, Tibet

6. 
Unity, variety, and balance are central principles
that artists use to create visual impact

Unity gives a work a certain oneness or cohesion

Variety is expressed in contrast and difference

Created by the use of different kinds of lines, shapes, patterns,
colors, or textures

Balance is imposed on a work when the artist achieves an
appropriate combination of unity and variety
REHASH

7. Bernini. Apollo
and Daphne,
1622-24.
Giacomo Balla. Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash,
1912.
TIME/MOTION

8. 
relative to our own size

MONUMENTAL

HUMAN SCALE

SMALL SIZE
SCALE

9. SCALE: MONUMENTAL

10. SCALE: HUMAN SCALE
Damien Hirst, Mother and Child (Divided), 1993

11. SCALE: SMALL SIZE
http://m.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/reveale
d-a-book-the-size-of-a-ladybug/278427/

12. Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1943. Oil on canvas,
16⅛ x 24”. Tate, London
SCALE: UNEXPECTED…

13. PROPORTION:
 Relationships
between sizes of parts
 Aids
expression and description (and
NATURALISM)
 Egypt
 Greece>Rome>Renaissance
 Golden
Section
 Golden
Mean
 Fibonacci
Sequence

14. PROPORTION: EGYPTIAN CUBIT

15. PROPORTION: GOLDEN
SECTION, ETC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tAZe6pP-FM

16. Poseidon (or Zeus), c. 460–450 BCE. Bronze, 6’10½” high.
National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece
PROPORTION: GREECE

18.  Golden
Rectangles is a technique
based on nesting inside each other
a succession of rectangles based
on the 1:1.618 proportions of the
Golden Section
 The
shorter side of the outer
rectangle becomes the longer side
of the smaller rectangle inside it,
and so on
 =elegant
spiral shape
PROPORTION: GOLDEN
RECTANGLE

19. PROPORTION: GOLDEN
RECTANGLE

21. PROPORTION: GOLDEN
RECTANGLE
Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858. Combination albumen print.

22. PROPORTION: GOLDEN
RECTANGLE

23. PROPORTION: RENAISSANCE
Raphael, School of Athens, 1510-1511. Fresco, 16’ 8” x 25’.
Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican City.

24. 
Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his
pursuit of perfection

Magnificent scale = sense of importance

Parts of each figure are harmonious in relation to
each other and portray an idealized form

Double emphasis on the center brings our
attention to the opposing gestures of two famous
Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle
PROPORTION: SCHOOL OF
ATHENS

25. 
Drawing attention to particular content

VS SUBORDINATION (drawing attention away from
particular content)
EMPHASIS

26. Double-chambered vessel
with mouse, Recuay, Peru,
4th–8th century. Ceramic, 6”
high. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York
EMPHASIS

27. EMPHASIS
Jules Olitski, Tin Lizzie Green, 1964. Acrylic and oil/wax
crayon on canvas, 10’10” x 6’10”. Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, Massachusetts

28. NO EMPHASIS
Mark Tobey, Blue Interior, 1959.
Tempera on card, 44 x 28”

29. 
The particular part of emphasis to which the artist
draws our eye
FOCAL POINT

30. PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, LANDSCAPE WITH THE
FALL OF ICARUS, C. 1555–8. OIL ON CANVAS,
MOUNTED ON WOOD, 29 X 44⅛”. MUSÉES ROYAUX
DES BEAUX-ARTS DE BELGIQUE, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

31. EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT
• Directional Line
• Contrasting
Values
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith
Decapitating Holofernes, c. 1620. Oil
on canvas, 6’6⅜” x 5’3¾“. Uffizi
Gallery, Florence, Italy

32. EMPHASIS & FOCAL
POINT
 water is the focal point
conceptually as well as
visually
The Emperor Babur Overseeing his
Gardeners, India, Mughal period, c.
1590. Tempera and gouache on paper,
8¾ x 5⅝”. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

33. • 3 separate focal
points
• Position
• Shape
• Rhythm
Ando Hiroshige, “Riverside Bamboo
Market, Kyobashi,” from One Hundred
Famous Views of Edo, 1857. 15 x 10⅜”.
James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu
Academy of Arts, Hawaii

34. CONTRAST

Very different elements right next to each other

35. Francisco de Zurbarán,
The Funeral of St.
Bonaventure, 1629. Oil
on canvas, 8' 2” x 7' 4”.
Musée du Louvre,
Paris, France
CONTRAST

36. 
ALL the elements and principles of art can
serve to create EMPHASIS

Both actual and implied lines shape our
examination of a work of art by directing the
movement of our gaze

Contrasts between different values, colors, or
textures can sometimes be so dramatic and
distinct that we cannot help but feel drawn to
that area of a work
REHASH…

37. 
Recurrence of an element


Motif – repeated design as a unit within a pattern
Repetition creates UNITY
comes from repetition!
PATTERN

38. RHYTHM/PATTERN

39. Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas, 
35½ ×
45⅝”. Musée National d’Art Moderne,
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

40. GREAT MOSQUE OF CÓRDOBA,
PRAYER HALL OF ABD AL-RAHMAN I,
784–6

41. Huqqa base, India,
Deccan, last quarter of
17th century. Bidri ware
(zinc alloy inlaid with
brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York
MOTIF

42. Chuck Close,
Self Portrait, 1997. Oil
on canvas, 8’6” × 7’.
MOMA, New York

45. MOTIF VS. RANDOMNESS
• Dada
movement
• “chance”
• Random
arrangement
Hans Arp, Trousse d’un
Da,1920–21. Assemblage of
driftwood nailed onto wood with
painting remains, 15 x 10½ x
1¾”. Musée National d’Art
Moderne, Centre Georges
Pompidou, Paris, France