When Analyzing Art Is It Often Helpful to Focus on the Following Three Major

Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice
Ocvirk, Stinson, Wigg, Bone, Cayton
Twelfth Edition

Chapter 1
Introduction
pp. 10-13

The Three Components of Art

Subject field, grade, and content take always been the iii bones components of a work of art, and they are wed in a way that is inseparable. In general, subject may be thought of equally the "what" (the topic, focus, or image); form, as the "how" (the evolution of the work, limerick, or the substantiation); and content, as the "why" (the artist's intention, communication, or meaning behind the work). Subject The field of study of visual fine art tin can be a person, an object, a theme, or an idea. Though in that location are many and varied means of presenting the subject area affair, information technology is but important to the degree that the artist is motivated by information technology.

Objective images, which represent people or objects, look as close as possible to their real-earth counterparts and can be conspicuously identified. These types of images are also chosen representational.

Dennis Wojtkiewicz, Kiwi Series #1, 2005.
Oil on sheet, 36 x 66 in. Marilyn Levine, Anne's Jacket, 1999.
Ceramic, 36 x twenty 1/ii x 7 1/4 in.

Gus Heinze, Expresso Buffet, 2003. Acrylic on gessoed console, 32 x 35 one/2 in.

Artists who explore the procedure of abstraction (simplification and rearrangement) create images that await less like the object on which they are based, although they may still be recognizable. Barbara Chase-Riboud, Bathers, 1973. Floor relief, cast aluminum and silk in sixteen pieces, 400 x 400 ten 12 cm.

Piet Mondrian, The Grey Tree, 1911.
Oil on canvas, xxx 1/2 x 42 7/8 in. Ismael Rodriguez Rueda, El Sueno de Erasmo (The Dream of Erasmus), 1995.
Oil on sheet, 39 i/two ten 47 1/2 in.

DeLoss McGraw's "The Story of Eutychus," mixed-media Marcel Duchamp, Nude Decending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912
Oil on canvas, 58 x 35 in. Harold E. Edgerton, Baseball hit-fly ball, 1950s-1970s. Gelatin argent print In the most extreme type of brainchild, the subject does not refer to whatever physical object, and this nonrepresentational prototype is thus considered non-objective. Here, the subject field may exist difficult for the observer to identify, since it is based solely on the elements of art rather than real-life people or objects. This type of bailiwick often refers to the creative person's idea near energy and motion, which guides the use of raw materials, and information technology communicates with those who can read the language of form. Piet Mondrian, Composition, 1916. Oil on canvass and wood strip, 47 1/4 x 29 1/2 in. Music, like visual art, deals with subjects and provides an interesting comparison. Unless there are lyrics, it is often hard to identify a specific subject in a slice of music. Sometimes, the subject is recognizable - the thunderstorms and birdsongs in Beethoven'due south Pastoral Symphony or the taxi horns in Gershwin'southward An American in Paris. Other times, notwithstanding, the subject is more abstract, and it is an emotion or idea that comes beyond strongly in the music. Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man is a practiced example of this: he does not try to describe the subject literally but creates a nobel, accessible, and uplifting musical theme that honors the plight of the common human being. In a similar mode, nonobjective art seeks to present a more general theme or idea as the subject.
Mark Rothko, Number 10, 1950.
Oil on sail, 7 ft. six three/8 in. x 4 ft. nine i/8 in. Regardless of the blazon of art, the almost important consideration is what is done with the subject field. After y'all recognize the subject in a piece of work (whether it is obvious or not), ask yourself whether the artist has given it expression. Jackson Pollock, Fall Rhythm (Number 30), 1950.
Oil on canvas, 8 ft. 9 in. x 17 ft. three in. Charles Sheeler, Gilt Gate, 1955.
Oil on canvass, 25 1/viii in. x 34 vii/viii in.

Form

As a component of art, the word form refers to the total overall arrangement or system of an artwork. Information technology results from using the elements of art, giving them gild and meaning through the principles of organisation. When studying a work's form, we are analyzing how the piece was created. More specifically, we are examing why the artist fabricated certain choices and how those choices interact to class the artwork's last advent. In this sense, the word grade may really be thought of as a verb rather than a noun.

The elements of art, which include line, texture, color, shape, and value, are the most basic, indispensable, and immediate building blocks for expression. Their characteristics, adamant past the creative person's selection of media and techniques, tin can communicate a wide range of circuitous feelings. All artists must bargain with the elements singularly or in combination, and their organization contributes to the artful success or failure of a work.

Based on the intended expression, each artist can arrange the elements in any manner that builds the desired graphic symbol into the piece. All the same, the elements are given club and meaningful structure when arranged according to the principles of organization, which aid integrate and organize the elements. These principles include harmony, variety, residual, proportion, dominance, movement, and economy. They help create spatial relationships and effectively convey the artist'south intent. The principles of organization are flexible, not dogmatic, and tin exist combined and practical in numerous ways. Some creative person adapt intuitively, and others are more than computing, but with experience, all of them develop an instinctive feeling for organizing their work. And then important are these concepts of elements and principles that they are studied separately.

Content

The emotional or intellectual message of a work of art is its content - a statement, expression, or mood developed by the artist and interpreted past the observer. Of the three components of art, content may be the nigh difficult to identify, because the audience, without direct advice with the artist, must decipher the creative person'southward thoughts by observing the work's subject and form. For example, in Young Daughter in the Lap of Death, the hit emphasis of the left-to-right diagonals, the sharp contrasts of low-cal and nighttime values, and the aggressive and powerful drawing strokes requite us some insight into Kathe Kollwitz'south concern for life, though we may not empathise the depth of her passion.

Kathe Kollwitz, Young Daughter in the Lap of Death, 1934.
Crayon lithograph, 42 x 38 cm.

Ideally, the viewer's interpretation is synchronized with the artist's intentions. Yet, the viewer's diversity of experiences can bear upon the communication between artist and viewer. For many people, content is determined by their familiarity with the subject; they are confined to feelings aroused by objects or ideas they know. A much broader and ultimately more meaningful content is not utterly reliant on the prototype merely is reinforced past the form. This is specially and so in more abstract works, in which the viewer may not recognize the image as a known object and must, thefore, translate meaning from shapes and other elements. Images that are hardly recognizable, if representational at all, tin nevertheless deliver content if the observer knows how to interpert course.

Occasionally, artists may be unaware of what motivates them to make certain choices of image or form. For them, the content of the slice may be subconscious instead of deliberate. For case, an artist who has had a violent confrontation with a neighbor might subconciously demand to express acrimony (content) and is thus compelled to piece of work wit sharp jagged shapes, bitter acid reds, slashing agitated marks (form), and exploding images (subject).

Sometimes the meaning of nonobjective shapes becomes clear in the creative person's mind but later on they evolve and mutate on the canvas.

Although information technology is not a requirement for enjoying artwork, a little inquiry about the creative person'southward life, time menses, or civilization tin can help expand viewpoints and atomic number 82 to a fuller estimation of content. For example, a deeeper comprehension of Vincent van Gogh'due south specific and personal apply of color may exist gained past reading Van Gogh's letters to his blood brother Theo. His letters expressed an evolving conventionalities that color conveyed specific feelings and attitudes and was more that a mere optical experience. He felt that his use of color could emit power like Wagner'due south music. The letters also revealed a developing personal colour iconography, in which red and greenish symbolized the terrible sinful passions of humanity; black contour lines provided a sense of anguish; cobalt blue signified the vault of heaven, and yellowish symbolized love. For Van Gogh, color was non strictly a tool for visual imitation but an instrument to transmit his personal emotions. Color symbolism may not have been used in all his paintings, just an understanding of his intent helps explain some of his choices and the ability in his work.

Vincent van Gogh, The Dark Buffet, 1888. Oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 35 in.

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Source: https://personal.utdallas.edu/~melacy/pages/2D_Design/Components_of_Art/Components_of_Art.html

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