Art Made Simple(r): A Brief Look at the Principles of Visual Art

Art can often seem confusing, intellectualized, and distant to the lay viewer. Often artists have constructed complicated theories that surround their work, but which may not always be intelligibly communicated through the finished product. For these, and other reasons, modern art has become largely inaccessible to the greater public. The important thing for people to realize and reconnect to is that good art should evoke a visceral reaction in the viewer, and that the viewer must be ready and willing to explore that reaction. The responsibility of the viewer does not end here, but it does provide a good starting point for open communication between the artist and audience.

While knowing about the specific theories and thoughts of the artist when viewing a piece should be largely unnecessary to having a good viewing experience, knowing something about art in general can go a long way to intensifying that experience. The fact of the matter is that most artists practice the use of a few simple principles consciously or unconsciously, and therefore these principles make up a fundamental part of their process. As a viewer, knowing these principles represents a part of the responsibility that must be met if all parties (artist, art, and audience) are to get a fair dialogue.

Following, I have put together a brief two-part primer on basic artistic principles, explained through a series of examples lifted from the history of Western art. Where possible, links have been included where you can look at the examples for yourself.

Color may be the first thing that people think of when they think of art. Nearly everyone sees color in some form, and most people even have a favorite color. Color can suggest warmth and comfort or cold austerity. Color, in reality, is a quality of perceived light. When light falls upon objects, some colors of the visible spectrum become absorbed by the materials we are looking at, and some are reflected. The absorbed colors become the colors perceived by our eyes.

Historically, some artists have been known to build theories about the ways in which people react to certain colors, how certain colors express some truth about the artist's personal emotional life, or even how certain colors can be combined to create optical illusions.

The famous works of Vincent Van Gogh represent one of the best examples of the vibrant use of color in art. In Sower in the Setting Sun (http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm) one can see the ecstatic gold of the sun flooding the horizon while the purples and lavenders of the countryside envelop the sower. The young man of the painting seems small and almost inconsequential in the midst of all this color. For Van Gogh, each color held emotional symbolism, and his perceptions of the world often expressed themselves as divine visions of nature. When people play a role in these visions it is only as diminutive beings, for Van Gogh believed in the primacy of nature over man. Color provides the drive and energy to these paintings, and through them the viewer catches a glimpse of the passionate vision of the artist.

If color exists as a primary element of artistic works, then the value of these colors represents color's most important component. Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. Without value, color compositions would have no contrast and little dimension. Without contrast and dimension, the impact of coloration would lessen significantly.

In the Baroque era, artists made use of dramatic lighting or chiaroscuro (Italian term, roughly translatable as "light and dark") in order to highlight portions of painted compositions. Nowhere is this dramatic value technique seen more vividly than in a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi known as Judith and Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (http://artyzm.com/e_obraz.php?id=757) . In this painting, a candlelit scene shows Judith, who has seduced and cut off the head of Holofernes, the general set to destroy her people. Without the bright values of her dress the scene would be engulfed in darkness, but the reflection of the weak candle off the fabric ensures that this is not so. The deepening shadows that surround Judith show masterfully darkened colors to provide dimension and the illusion of motion. The color values of the piece may be theatrical, but they enhance its power far more than the blander alternatives.

Color and value by themselves can do nothing without the organizing principle of line. Colors must have some type of disciplined organization, or else art would exist as a blob of colors only. Lines lead the eye through a piece of art, giving important clues about the painting's compositional framework. In short, lines help the artist to communicate effectively. The term 'line' may seem self explanatory, but to be specific it is a continuous mark made on any surface (or by a surface, if we are talking about sculpture or architecture) by a moving point. We may think of a pen, chisel, scalpel, brush, or pencil making lines from one point to another.

Henri Matisse was one of the masters of line. Stylistically a part of the Fauvist movement in painting, Matisse emphasized art with bold colors and few lines. With great economy of line Matisse could elegantly treat many subjects. In The Blue Nude (http://www.artchive.com/ftp_site.htm) Matisse has drawn a vivid and exotic portrait of a woman. The skill with which she has been drawn becomes more apparent when we note the almost continuous dark line that makes her seem to "pop" out of the painting. The outline does not simply mark out her space in the painting, but its careful emphases and highlights give her dimension, elegance, and depth. The lines also conduct the eye on a journey up the diagonally placed body. Her features focus on her eroticism; carefully highlighted breasts, deeply curved hips, and the placement of her arm on her head, as for better displaying her body. All of these features come through a deep focus on the placement and execution of line.