Jackson Pollock was commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim to paint a mural for her home. The document analyzes Pollock's 1943 painting "Mural" and discusses its formal properties such as its horizontal format, lack of focal points, elements extending beyond the frame, and balanced composition. It explains how an artwork's form can influence how viewers feel. The Bauhaus art school emphasized breaking down art into fundamental elements and principles of design that are still taught today. However, newer concepts have also become important to art since the 1960s. The class discussion aims to determine what foundations are relevant today while still mastering the original elements and principles of form.

1. Design Continued
form, function, and funkiness

2. This is Jackson “Jack the Dripper” Pollock
standing in front of a huge (8‘X20’) blank
canvas. He had just been commissioned by
Peggy Guggenheim to paint a mural for her
home.

3. This is Jackson “Jack the Dripper” Pollock
standing in front of a huge (8‘X20’) blank
canvas. He had just been commissioned by
Peggy Guggenheim to paint a mural for her
home.
I love this image. The artist’s silhouette as
blank as the canvas. Imagine what he is
thinking. He has this huge opportunity to
impress someone who could skyrocket his
career....he’s probably thinking

4. This is Jackson “Jack the Dripper” Pollock
standing in front of a huge (8‘X20’) blank
canvas. He had just been commissioned by
Peggy Guggenheim to paint a mural for her
home.
I love this image. The artist’s silhouette as
blank as the canvas. Imagine what he is
thinking. He has this huge opportunity to
impress someone who could skyrocket his
career....he’s probably thinking
WTF am I going to do?

5. Well, actually he was pretty cocky so he probably didn’t think that
exactly, anyway, here is what he ended up creating:
Mural, 1943

6. Well, actually he was pretty cocky so he probably didn’t think that
exactly, anyway, here is what he ended up creating:
Mural, 1943

7. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?

8. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?
•Note its format or shape of the
canvas is horizontal or landscape.

9. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?
•Note its format or shape of the
canvas is horizontal or landscape.
•Note there are not any areas of
focus, no points where our eyes
tend to rest, they go all over .

10. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?
•Note its format or shape of the
canvas is horizontal or landscape.
•Note there are not any areas of
focus, no points where our eyes
tend to rest, they go all over .
•Notice how the elements in the
painting are not contained within it,
they are cropped at the edges which
allows us to imagine them continuing
outside the frame.

11. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?
•Note its format or shape of the
canvas is horizontal or landscape.
•Note there are not any areas of
focus, no points where our eyes
tend to rest, they go all over .
•Notice how the elements in the
painting are not contained within it,
they are cropped at the edges which
allows us to imagine them continuing
outside the frame.
•The composition is unified (everything goes together well) because
of repetition of colors, shapes, and qualities of lines. But there is enough
variety to keep things dynamic.

12. So lets analyze its formal properties. This means we are
going to make observations of its form, composition, or the
way it looks.
What do we notice?
•Note its format or shape of the
canvas is horizontal or landscape.
•Note there are not any areas of
focus, no points where our eyes
tend to rest, they go all over .
•Notice how the elements in the
painting are not contained within it,
they are cropped at the edges which
allows us to imagine them continuing
outside the frame.
•The composition is unified (everything goes together well) because
of repetition of colors, shapes, and qualities of lines. But there is enough
variety to keep things dynamic.
•There is a good balance of negative space (white shapes) and positive marks.

13. And there are several other formal observations we can make,
But what does all this mean? Why take the time to
analyze it in these formal terms?

14. And there are several other formal observations we can make,
But what does all this mean? Why take the time to
analyze it in these formal terms?
Well, the form of something, abstract or not, helps to determine how we feel when we look at it.

15. And there are several other formal observations we can make,
But what does all this mean? Why take the time to
analyze it in these formal terms?
Well, the form of something, abstract or not, helps to determine how we feel when we look at it.
A horizontal format has a different feel than a vertical one. A
compositional focal point allows the viewers eye to rest, makes us see
something as important, something deserving attention.

16. And there are several other formal observations we can make,
But what does all this mean? Why take the time to
analyze it in these formal terms?
Well, the form of something, abstract or not, helps to determine how we feel when we look at it.
A horizontal format has a different feel than a vertical one. A
compositional focal point allows the viewers eye to rest, makes us see
something as important, something deserving attention.
An allover composition like Mural makes us see the
whole canvas as one thing.

17. And there are several other formal observations we can make,
But what does all this mean? Why take the time to
analyze it in these formal terms?
Well, the form of something, abstract or not, helps to determine how we feel when we look at it.
A horizontal format has a different feel than a vertical one. A
compositional focal point allows the viewers eye to rest, makes us see
something as important, something deserving attention.
An allover composition like Mural makes us see the
whole canvas as one thing.
And of course, a design with controlled chaos has a much different feel than one
with highly organized and similar elements.

18. So, if Pollock wanted the viewer of Mural to feel something (and most
abstract artists do), he had to control (either consciously or not) all the formal
elements in a way that creates the desired effect.

19. So, if Pollock wanted the viewer of Mural to feel something (and most
abstract artists do), he had to control (either consciously or not) all the formal
elements in a way that creates the desired effect.
An advertising designer must think in a similar way
for a different sort of effect (to get the viewer to
notice and desire the product)

20. So, if Pollock wanted the viewer of Mural to feel something (and most
abstract artists do), he had to control (either consciously or not) all the formal
elements in a way that creates the desired effect.
An advertising designer must think in a similar way
for a different sort of effect (to get the viewer to
notice and desire the product)

21. So, if Pollock wanted the viewer of Mural to feel something (and most
abstract artists do), he had to control (either consciously or not) all the formal
elements in a way that creates the desired effect.
An advertising designer must think in a similar way
for a different sort of effect (to get the viewer to
notice and desire the product)
Both Pollock and Don Draper are interested in controlling
what and how the viewer sees, and how they feel.

22. So, if Pollock wanted the viewer of Mural to feel something (and most
abstract artists do), he had to control (either consciously or not) all the formal
elements in a way that creates the desired effect.
An advertising designer must think in a similar way
for a different sort of effect (to get the viewer to
notice and desire the product)
Both Pollock and Don Draper are interested in controlling
what and how the viewer sees, and how they feel.
yes, I know Don Draper is not real!

23. BUT WHERE DID THIS ALL
COME FROM?

24. BUT WHERE DID THIS ALL
COME FROM?
you may ask.

25. Answer: The Bauhaus
The Bauhaus was a pre-WW2 art and
design school in Germany. The concepts
that came out of it greatly influenced
design and art in the 20th century (esp
before 1960) AND the way it is taught
in school.

26. The teachers were artists like Wassily Kandinsky, Piet
Mondrian, Joseph Albers, and Paul Klee.

27. They believed in the idea that all humans see the same way no
matter where they are from, and that they could create forms
that represented some idealized, universal abstract purity. They
also compartmentalized the different mediums (a painting is distinct from
a sculpture for example).

28. They believed in the idea that all humans see the same way no
matter where they are from, and that they could create forms
that represented some idealized, universal abstract purity. They
also compartmentalized the different mediums (a painting is distinct from
a sculpture for example).
So, in their art, and in the classes they taught, they
“broke it down”.

29. Now, their idea that all humans perceive things the same way did not come from nowhere.
Psychologists at the turn of the 20th century developed Gestalt theory, which describes
how we all perceive visual information.

30. Now, their idea that all humans perceive things the same way did not come from nowhere.
Psychologists at the turn of the 20th century developed Gestalt theory, which describes
how we all perceive visual information.
How is it we see the disparate parts as a whole thing. Why
are we able to differentiate between the figure and the
ground?

31. Now, their idea that all humans perceive things the same way did not come from nowhere.
Psychologists at the turn of the 20th century developed Gestalt theory, which describes
how we all perceive visual information.
How is it we see the disparate parts as a whole thing. Why
are we able to differentiate between the figure and the
ground?
Basically, we (and many other animals)
developed these skills for survival

32. There are different versions of this, but this is
basically how the Bauhaus folks broke it down.

33. There are different versions of this, but this is
basically how the Bauhaus folks broke it down.
First they said that, in art and design, there are 7
basic elements or ingredients:
1.Point
2.Line
3.Shape
4.Value
5.Space
6.Texture
7.Color

34. And they said there are 7 basic ways one could use those
elements in order to create a unified (that was the goal)
design, these are the Principles of design:
1.Repetition
2.Balance
3.Rhythm
4.Emphasis
5.Contrast
6.Direction
7.Proportion

35. For better or worse, these elements and
principles have been codified into our thinking
about form (and more importantly for you) in
how art and design is taught in schools.
typical 2d design assignment examples:

36. The thing is, although these concepts are wonderful for making nice
looking design, its no longer relevant to look at only these things as
foundational,
Since the 60s, many other concepts have been important in art and
design. Unity is no longer the only goal; hybridity, fragmentation,
appropriation, social issues, pop culture, multiculturalism, and more
became more important.

37. So, in this class, one of the goals for you is to
determine what are the foundations and
principles of art that are important and
relevant to you and your generation. And
understand that those can change over time.

38. So, in this class, one of the goals for you is to
determine what are the foundations and
principles of art that are important and
relevant to you and your generation. And
understand that those can change over time.
BUT, before you start to think about that I still
want you to have a mastery of those original
elements and principles because they are still
important as tools in creating meaning. Mastery
of form is crucial in developing sophisticated
ways to present content.

39. So for homework, I want you to research the
definitions of those terms (the 7 elements and the 7
principles), write the definitions down in your
sketchbook beside 2 examples of each. (look at those websites
from the first slideshow, take your own images, or find them elsewhere) They should just be
separate images that “foreground” each concept. For example, in this image:
the element of line is foregrounded (meaning its the most prominent thing). Most images
have several different elements and principles but your goal is to find or make ones that
are clear examples of dominance.
These will be due in 2 weeks. Have fun.