Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
Ebook78 pages16 minutes
Composition: The Anatomy of Picture Making
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Difficult to grasp and harder still to achieve, composition is a chief concern of artists at every level. This clear and focused introduction exposes the compositional devices that underlie successful artworks. Its many examples reduce pictures to their basic formal elements, offering a concise treatment of an oft-neglected topic.
Author Harry Sternberg, whose works appear in major museums throughout the United States, was a student and instructor at New York's prestigious Art Students League. He draws upon his extensive background as a teacher and professional to provide an approachable view of applying composition to graphic works. Novices and experienced artists alike will benefit from his well-illustrated explanations of handling such elements as the picture border, flat space, tensions, positive and negative space, geometric design, and volume, as well as the processes of analyzing pictures and communication through design.
Author Harry Sternberg, whose works appear in major museums throughout the United States, was a student and instructor at New York's prestigious Art Students League. He draws upon his extensive background as a teacher and professional to provide an approachable view of applying composition to graphic works. Novices and experienced artists alike will benefit from his well-illustrated explanations of handling such elements as the picture border, flat space, tensions, positive and negative space, geometric design, and volume, as well as the processes of analyzing pictures and communication through design.
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Reviews for Composition
Rating: 3.3333333333333335 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5More confusing than useful. The layout of the book itself contributed to that as well...
Book preview
Composition - Harry Sternberg
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2008, is a republication of the work originally published in 1958 by Pitman Publishing Corp., New York.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sternberg, Harry, 1904—2001.
Composition : the anatomy of picture making / Harry Sternberg.
p. cm.
This Dover edition, first published in 2008, is a republication of the work originally published in 1958 by Pitman Publishing Corp., New York.
9780486146133
1. Compostion (Art). 2. Painting—Technique. I. Title.
ND1475.S74 2008
750.1’8—dc22
2007049439
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y 11501
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
INTRODUCTION
COMPOSITION
THE PICTURE BORDER
FLAT OR SHALLOW SPACE
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SPACE
THE ACTIVITY OF SHAPES
VALUES
COMMUNICATION THROUGH DESIGN
GEOMETRIC DESIGN: VOLUME
ANALYZING PICTURES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is dedicated to my wife Mary.
INTRODUCTION
THE ARTIST LOOKS AT NATURE
Some artists still go hunting for compositions, armed with a cardboard viewer or composition finder.
Such artists peer through the slot in their viewers, seeking an arrangement in nature that fits satisfactorily into the opening. When they find it, they proceed to copy what they see.
The history of art demonstrates that artists, in their never-ending search for new and more personal
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