Chapters 12 & 13

“Entrance; detail of one element,” by Andy Goldsworthy is an example of Earth Art.  Goldsworthy creates sculptures using what he finds in nature to create each piece such as flowers, vines, wood, stone, etc.  There is a notable quote by Goldsworthy that describes this style perfectly, “Each work grows, stays, decays – integral parts of a cycle which the photograph shows at its heights, marking the moment when the work is most alive. There is an intensity about a work at its peak that I hope is expressed in the image. Process and decay are implicit.”  His pieces show the natural process of life.

Annie Leibovitz was most known for her Portrait Photography like the one pictured above, “Paloma Picasso, Paris.”  As the head photographer for Rolling Stone magazine, Leibovitz single handedly defined the intimate portrait style photography the magazine is known for.  Above, Leibovitz captured Paloma Picasso, the daughter of Pablo Picasso, a famous jewelry designer for Tiffany & Co. in her signature red look. 

The above sculpture titled “Chemo 1” by Robert Arneson demonstrates the Modeling technique.  He shaped and molded the piece using clay to create a three dimensional figure.  Arneson died of cancer in 1992 so this piece is representative of what he may have been feeling or how he viewed the disease and treatment at the time.        

“Untitled Film Still #14” above by Cindy Sherman is representative of her style of Staged Photography.  Here a woman stands looking distressed with objects very carefully placed in order to recreate a moment. Viewers can see she is holding what appears to be a knife and in the reflection of the mirror viewers can see a glass of alcohol and a jacket hanging on the chair.  The woman appears to be an innocent housewife but the way the photograph  is staged viewers are left to question what happened before or after the picture was taken. 

The above photograph by Henri Cartier Bresson illustrates the technique of Decisive Moment.  The photograph is called “EUROPE. FRANCE. Paris. Latin Quarter. 1952.”  Pictures like these capture a single moment of time where they will be lost in the next minute or may not have happened if taken a moment before.  The photograph above shows the moment when a man and woman meet and shake hands.  For the viewer, we are left to question whether or not this is their first meeting, or if they know each other and maybe haven’t seen each other in a long time; which makes these photographs unique.

Michelangelo is well known for his Carving ability especially in the example above titled “Pieta.” The piece is made out of a single piece of marble and Michelangelo used tools to shave and carve down the marble into the figure he wanted.  The intricate nature of each piece makes his style so impressive knowing that it is the result of a single large piece of marble. 

Chapters 10 & 11

The above is a Wood Engraving by Albrecht Durer titled "Madonna crowned by an Angel." For this technique, artists take a piece of wood and etch a design/picture against the grain of the wood, also a type of relief.  Notably, Durer was heavily influenced by his trips to study art in Italy where he gained a great appreciation for artists work such as Raphael and da Vinci.  His wood engravings reflected this influence an were much more detailed than traditional German wood engravings.  This detail can be seen above, especially in the mother, child, and angels attributes.

The artist Jess (Collins) is most known for his Collages where pieces of various materials (i.e. cloth, photographs, leaves, etc.) are brought together on one surface to make a new piece of art.  Jess was greatly influenced by his previous work as a chemist during World War II as he worked on The Manhattan Project. The above collage is titled "The Mouse's Tale" which explores the contradictory perspectives at a chemical refinery.

Kathe Kollwitz created the above Woodcut titled "Hunger."  Woodcuts are a relief printmaking process where the artist etches a design/painting into a piece of wood, leaving the design raised.  Kollwitz's passion was to bring light to human suffering especially poverty, hunger, and the tragedies of war.  She was most inspired by The Peasant War and World War I as she lived in Germany and was a first hand witness to these events.  Here here woodcut "Hunger" creates a ghostly perspective of hunger during the Peasant War.

"The Studio" by Jacob Lawrence is a good example of the painting style of Gouache.  This technique uses a more opaque watercolor paint which artists create by adding a gum/glue substance to watercolor paint.  Lawrence was heavily influenced by Harlem where he grew up and developed his passion for art.  Here he was enrolled in art school as a young child through his adolescence.  The Harlem influence can be felt through the use of bright bold colors and the city scene in the background.

Jackson Pollock is well know for his drip style of painting using Oil Paint such as the above painting titled "Free Form."  Oil paint is a painting medium that is thick, opaque paint that yields a shine when dry; however, the paint takes longer to dry.  Pollock painted on unstretched canvas which he placed on the floor instead of a traditional easel.  It is believe he learned this style from the Native American tribes of Arizona and California where he spent a great deal of his time as a child and as an adult by observing their sand painting technique.  He danced around the canvas spattering paint from every angle often times using unconventional applicators such as tree branches instead of paint brushes.

Charles Burchfield explored Watercolor paint mediums with the above painting titled "In May."  Watercolor is another painting medium using water and gum arabic and is much more transparent and quick drying than oil paint. Burchfield was inspired by his favorite authors who wrote about nature such as Henry David Thoreau.  Many of his pieces are based around nature and landscapes.

Chapter 8 & 9

"Self-Portrait, the Artist on the Road to Tarascon" by Vincent van Gogh above is an example of Asymmetrical Balance.  The painting remains balanced both the vertically and horizontally by the objects displayed given their weight and placement in the scene.  First, the trees on both sides of the painting and the man's position on the page relative to his shadow keep each side balanced, neither is more dominant.  Next, the painting remains balanced horizontally where the field and trees meet the stone path way and additionally the man's body and his shadow are balanced on the top and bottom of the picture as shown above.

Emphasis can be viewed in the above painting titled "The Baptism of Christ" which was a collaboration between Leonardo da Vinci and his apprentice Andrea del Verrocchio.  Christ is the primary character as all the other characters are looking at him; the halo around his head draws viewers attention; and his placement at the center of the picture all enforce the fact that he is the focal point.  The second focal point is John the Baptist as Jesus is looking towards him and he is the next largest character in the painting but he is off to the side suggesting that he was not meant to be the focus.  Lastly, the three children huddled in the corner are the third focus of the painting as they are smaller but still are a dominant presence in the picture.  All three subjects are focal points of the painting with their own level of importance. 

"Wheatfield and Cypress Trees" by Vincent van Gogh is a clear example of Repetition and Rhythm. He uses many curved, thick lines in similar color tones to give the essence that the trees are swaying, clouds are billowing along, the grass and shrubs are dancing, and the mountains are rolling.  When looking at the painting up close, viewers can see the thick lines that are similarly shaped. This technique makes the painting come alive almost as if viewers are standing in the field themselves, experiencing the nature.

Contrast and Variety are displayed in two ways above in "The Manneporte near Étretat" by Claude Monet.  The red arrows show bright and dull contrast in the sky, with the bright blue sky at the top right of the picture and a pale, dull blue lower in the sky.  The yellow arrows show light and dark used in the painting.  The yellow area on the left is darker casting the shadow of the rock into the water where as the yellow arrow on the right points of light blue waters where the sun is shining.  Contrast can also be shown by artists using thick versus thin lines or rough versus smooth textures.

"Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" by Leonardo da Vinci above shows Visual Movement throughout the painting where the viewers eye flows from image to image following subconscious movement of lines within the picture.  Starting with the red arrow at Saint Anne's eyes looking down to the Virgin.  The Virgin's arm and leg are parallel to each other directing our eye to the lamb.  From the lamb's eyes, viewers look at the child following the blue arrow.  By way of the orange line, the child looks to the Virgin.  Lastly, the Virgin's  eyes direct us back to the child as noted by the yellow arrow. This pattern was unique as the movement directs us to the child twice inferring that the child may be the focal point of the picture.

The above sculpture "Match Cover" by Claes Oldenburg shows Scale and Proportion.  Here, Oldenburg took an everyday object that all viewers know the relative size of and created it on a much larger scale which is not the normal proportion of the object.  There could be many symbols within this sculpture as matches are an everyday object but they can create the powerful element of fire.  Also, it is interesting to note that only one match is lit and standing straight while the others appear to be uses and bent.
  

Chapters 6 & 7

The above painting "Calliope" by Giovanni Baglione shows Chiaroscuro.  Artists uses chiaroscuro to display a more prominent contrast between the light and darkness of a picture.  The lighter areas above are the focal point of the picture and add greater definition and detail to the painting. The viewers eyes are drawn to the lighter areas. 

"The Martyrdom of St. Peter" by Michelangelo Caravaggio shows the artistic technique of Tenebrism.  Caravaggio was one of the most well known artists for using this style.  Tenebrism is essentially a more severe and dramatic use of chiaroscuro.  Here the light makes St. Peter the clear focal point of the painting where as the painting of  Calliope above does not use such great contrast of light and dark.    

Impasto technique is used above in the painting "Cyprus" by Vincent van Gogh.  This is a technique where artists use a very thick application of paint so that each of their brush strokes is visible.  Paintings are more intriguing to the eye as it creates a texture on the canvas. Impasto is most commonly executed using oil or acrylic paints.  

Max Ernst's piece above titled "The Habit of Leaves" is a Frottage.  Frottage is an artistic technique used by artists where they take charcoal or a pencil for example and rub it on a piece of paper which is over a textured surface.  By doing this, the features of the surface below the paper become visible on the paper.  Here a wooden floor and leaf were used as the textured surface.    

Primary Color Palette in art work are very simple pieces like the one from Jean Dubuffet's "Bustle" above in terms of color as they uses the three primary colors red, yellow and blue.  All other colors stem from a combination of these colors mixed together.  When two primary colors are blended together a secondary color is created.  For example, mixing red and blue creates purple which is a secondary color.  Even though only three colors are used, the painting can still be quite complex.

Roy Lichtenstein's painting "Purple Range" above shows the Complimentary Color Palette being utilized.  Purple and yellow are complimentary colors as they are located directly opposite each other on the color wheel.  This color scheme is appealing to the eye.  Other complimentary color pairs are green and red, and orange and blue.  

Chapters 4 & 5

The above portrait "Stravinsky" by Pablo Picasso, is a good example of the term implied line.  Artists create an implied line by only drawing fragments of a line by picking up their pencil and continuing the line later allowing the viewer of the piece of art to create the lines with their own imagination.  In the above portrait, Picasso only draws partial lines in the mans jaw line, hand and jacket.  By drawing implied lines, this gives viewers enough context to understand what has been drawn. 

The above drawing is from Egon Schiele titled "Mutter mit Kind" demonstrates contour line. 
Here Schiele drew the contour or outer edges of the mother and her child leaving an outline of their shapes. Viewers can see the general form and shape of the picture but the artists does not give as many details. 

Victor Vasarely's piece "Tower" is a good example of positive and negative space.  The positive space in this image are the zebras as they are the main subjects of the piece.  The negative space is the black area all encompassing of the subjects. 

Perugino's portrait titled "Delivery of the Keys" above shows how an artist uses one point linear perspective.  Artists use this technique to give depth and added dimension to an otherwise flat painting.  Above, the one point where all the lines seem to converge is the building in the background of the picture, specifically, the door.