The Elements of Art

The building blocks

or ingredients of art.
Composition

How the Elements of Art and

Principles of Design
are arranged to create a piece of artwork
Line

An element of art:
a mark on a surface with length
and direction created by a tool
(pencil, pen, brush)
 LINE

Ansel Adams Gustave Caillebotte

Pablo Picasso
Shape

•An Element of Art

•A 2-dimensional area
•Defined by line or color change
•Shapes can be geometric or organic
Shape

Joan
Miro
Gustave Caillebotte
 Form

 An element of art
 A 3-dimensional object;
 Shows an object in space, the mass or
positive space it occupies.
 FORM

Deborah Butterfield

Jean Arp
Value

 An Element of Art
 The lightness or darkness of a color
 White added to color to create tints;
 Black added to a color to create shades
Value Scale
 VALUE

MC Escher Pablo Picasso

Color
An Element of Art that consists of
 Hue (another word for color)
 Intensity (brightness)
 Value (lightness or darkness)
 COLOR

Alexander Calder

Henri Matisse
Color Wheel
Tints, Shades and Tones
Color Schemes
Space

An element of art
The distance or area between,
around, above, below,
or within things.
Space

Positive: the object

Negative: the space
around the object

Robert Mapplethorpe
 SPACE

Foreground
Middle ground
Background
(creates DEPTH)

Claude Monet
Texture
•An element of art
•The surface quality or "feel" of an object,
its smoothness, roughness, softness, etc.
•Actual texture can be felt
•Implied texture is the way it looks as
if it would feel
Real Texture
Implied Texture
The Principles of Design

What we use to organize the

Elements of Art,
or the tools to make art.
Balance
The way the elements are arranged
to create a feeling of stability in a work
 BALANCE

Alexander Calder
Symmetrical Balance

The parts of an image are organized

so that one side mirrors the other.
 Symmetrical Balance

Leonardo DaVinci
Asymmetrical Balance

When one side of a composition

does not reflect the design of the other.
 Asymmetrical Balance

James Whistler
Radial Balance

When the design is reflected on all 4 sides

Radial Design
Emphasis
The focal point of an image,
or when one area or thing
stands out the most.
 EMPHASIS

Jim Dine Gustav Klimt

Contrast

A large difference between two elements

to create interest and tension.
 Contrast

Salvador Dali
Ansel Adams
Rhythm and Movement

 A regular repetition of elements

to produce the look and feel of movement.
 Rhythm and
Movement

Marcel Duchamp
Vincent VanGogh
Pattern and Repetition

 Repetition of a design motif

 Regular
 Alternating
 Random
 Gustav Klimt

Pattern and Repetition

UNITY

When all the

elements and
principles
work together
to create a
pleasing
image.
Johannes Vermeer
 Variety

The use of differences and change to

increase the visual interest of the work.
 Variety
Marc Chagall
Proportion

 The comparative relationship of one part to

another with respect to size, quantity, or degree;
SCALE.
 Proportion

Gustave
Caillebotte
Proportion
Media
The materials an Artist uses
to create a work of art
Types of 2-D Media
Oil paint
Acrylic paint
Pastel
Oil pastel
Pencil
Charcoal
Watercolor
Ink
Lithography
Etching
Silkscreen
Types of 3-D Media
Bronze
Iron
Aluminum
Wood
Stone
Found objects
Plastic
Plaster
Steel
 Raft of the Medusa
The Raft of the Medusa is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the
French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–
1824). Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an
icon of French Romanticism. At 193.3 in × 282.3 in, it is an over-
life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the
wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the
coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were
set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the
13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured
starvation, dehydration and cannibalism. The event became an
international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed
to the incompetence of the French captain
Raft of the Medusa Critique
First Paragraph: Label and background information.

Second Paragraph: Detailed description. Include images

that you see and discuss the elements of art.

Third Paragraph: Analyze how is it organized?

Discuss the principles of design.

Fourth Paragraph: Reflection. What do you think of this painting?

Do you like it or not? Give at least three reasons for your opinion
using facts from the second and third paragraphs.
Raft of the Medusa