Some Art Terms Explained
Artists "design" their works by controlling and ordering various elements of art.
Understanding some basic art terms can help you to 'read' a painting and see how they used these elements and techniques to achieve different results. Even abstract artists plan how they will place various elements in their work.
Paul Gauguin, Breton Girls Dancing, Pont Aven, 1888
Composition
Composition is the plan, placement or arrangement of the visual elements, to make a complete work of art. The way in which the artwork is composed will define the hierarchy within the work, telling the viewer the relative importance of the images and elements included.
Mondrian lozenge Composition with Red Grey Blue Yellow and Black 1924 25
Balance
A sense of balance is achieved through colour and the way in which objects are placed. Symmetrical compositions convey a sense of stability and asymmetrical compositions tend to convey a sense of movement because the elements of the composition are unbalanced. Radial or rotational balance is based on a circle with a design extending from or focused upon its centre.
Alexander Calder, Stabiles, 1963
Contrast
Contrast is the arrangement of opposite elements (light vs. dark colours, rough vs. smooth textures, large vs. small shapes, etc.) in an artwork so as to create visual interest, excitement and drama. The colours white and black provide the greatest degree of contrast.
Complementary colours also highly contrast with one another.
Lines, Shape and Form
Lines provide direction for the viewer's eye through the picture. They will be straight, curved or in a 'zigzag'.
Shapes are forned when lines meet, that is, as shape is an area enclosed by one or more lines.
Forms are similar to shapes but are three dimensional.
Marc Chagall I and the Village 1911.
William Michael Harnett, Still life, Violin and Music, 1888
Picture Plane
The picture plane is an imaginary plane (flat surface) which corresponds to the surface of the canvas (but sitting above it), directly at the viewer’s line of sight. It's commonly associated with the foreground of a painting, just at the viewer's line of sight.
In most representational paintings, all the elements in the picture appear to recede from the picture plane (ie behind it), while trompe l'œil effects are achieved by painting objects in such a way that they seem to project in front of the picture plane. However, a number of modernist painters deliberately chose to present three dimensional objects as having the same flat surface (picture plane) as the canvas itself.
Francoise Gilot, Composition, 20th Century
Space
Space refers to the use of the surface area on a work of art. In any work of art there will be a single object or a number of primary objects. These spaces are known as positive space. The space between the primary objects, or around a single object, is known as negative space.
Unity
Unity is the sense of wholeness or oneness within the artwork, so that the various parts of a work of art appear as a complete, cohesive whole. A composition is unified when there is a sense that no portion of the composition could be changed without altering the aesthetic integrity and meaning of the artwork. Unity will assist to create a sense of harmony.
Vasily Kandinsky, On white II, 1923