Principals and Fundamentals of Art

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Aesthetic qualities

-           The Literal Qualities

-           The Design Qualities

-           Expressive Qualities

An art work which emphasizes making the subject matter look REAL, we call it Imitationalism. This is the theory of art which says that literal qualities are the most important.

When the elements and principles of art are most important in a work of art, we say that that work is an example of Formalism.

When the expression of strong emotions, moods or ideas is the most important aspect of a work of art, we say that it is an example of emotionalism and we speak of the expressive qualities.

Four steps of Art Criticism:

Description, Analysis, Interpretation and Judgement.

Description -- Can you identify the objects in the artwork?  How many people/objects are in the artwork?  What are they doing? Simply, what do you see in the work.  Collect the facts and clues only.  Describe everything you see.

Analysis -- What elements do you think dominate the work?  How is the work arranged?

Interpretation -- Based on the clues that you collected in your description, what do you think this painting or sculpture is about?  Explain what ideas, moods, emotions, stories you think the artwork communicates.

Judgement -- Do you think that this work is successful, and why?  What kinds of reasons can you give for your idea of why this is a good or bad art work?

Glossary Term: Elements of Art
The elements of art are the parts of an artwork that an artist plans. The elements are color, value, line, shape, form, texture and space. 

Color:  Color (hue) is one of the elements of Art.  Artists use color in many different ways.  The colors we see are lightwaves absorbed or reflected by everything around us. In nature, a rainbow is white light that is broken apart by the moisture in the air.  People discovered that white light can be broken apart using tools like prisms or this spectroscope.   The colors of the visible light spectrum are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

White light consists of all of the colors mixed together. The color of an object depends on how it absorbs and/or reflects light. If an object absorbs all of the light wavelengths, it will appear black. If it reflects all of them, it will appear white. If an object absorbs all wavelengths except red, for example, it will look red.

Artists have invented many different media that imitate the colors of light. Painters, for example, use powdered pigments to reproduce the colors of the rainbow.

Value:  Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. You can get different values of a color by mixing its shades and tints.

Line:  You can find lines everywhere you look.

By joining lines together you can make shapes and indicate texture.

Shape: When lines meet, shapes are formed. Shapes are flat. Some shapes are geometric, such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, and ovals. Other shapes are organic or irregular.

Form: three-dimensional—they have height, width and thickness. Shapes are flat; forms are not.

Texture: the way something feels when you touch it. Artists also create the illusion of texture in artworks such as paintings, drawings and prints

Space: empty place or surface in or around a work of art. Space can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, negative and/or positive.

Principals of Art

Balance:  how artists to create visual weight.   Artists think about how to make their works balanced by using elements such as lines, shape and color. There are several ways to balance an artwork: 

Radial balance means lines or shapes grow from a center point. 

Asymmetrical (informal) balance means each side of an imaginary line are different yet equal.

Symmetrial (formal) balance means both sides of an imaginary line are the same.

Contrast:  Two things that are very different have a lot of contrast. White and black have the greatest contrast. Complementary also have high contrast.  Artists use high contrast to make something show up.

Proportion:  describes the size, location or amount of one thing compared to another.

Pattern:  Artists create pattern by repeating a line, shape or color over and over again.

Rhythm:  Visual rhythm makes you think of the rhythms you hear in music or dance. Artists create visual rhythm by repeating art elements and creating patterns.

Emphasis:  Artists use emphasis to make certain parts of their artwork stand out and grab your attention. The center of interest or focal point is the place the artist draws your eye to first. 

Unity:  The feeling that everything in the work of art works together and looks like it fits.

Variety:  Variety occurs when an artist creates something that looks different from the rest of the artwork. An artist may use variety to make you look at a certain part or make the artwork more interesting.