Lines and Meaning
Melissa Kennedy
Pablo Picasso-Guernica, 1937
What was Picasso feeling?
• How did he use line?
He wanted to show feelings of war, used line
to make the shapes of people and
animals.
He used shading to give tones of color
which gives a DRAMATIC feeling.
Types of lines…
• Looking at Picasso’s Guernica, What are 3
types of lines that stand out to you, give
their meanings:
How do you feel?
• If you were in this painting, which
character would you be?
• How do you feel?
A feeling of sadness comes over the
viewer.
• Tell us your story……
Woman with a guitar, 1913
• Pablo Picasso, Cubism
Cubism and Meaning
• Where are the view points in this artwork?
• How are these lines different from the lines
in Guernica by Pablo Picasso?
• What type of feeling or meaning did the
artist want to show?
Cubism lines…
• Looking at this type of artwork done by
Picasso in the early 1900’s, give 3 types of
lines that stand out to you, and what type
of feeling do they imply…
Jackson Pollock- Number 18
Painting Style-Pollock
• If you were a flicker, a dribble, or a splash
of line in Jackson Pollock’s Painting, which
one would you be?
Pollock’s artwork
• When you look at Number 18, how do you
feel?
• If you were to give this artwork a new title,
what would it be?
• What was Pollock trying to tell us in this
artwork?
Jackson at work…
•
Photo taken from www.wikipedia.com, by Hans Namuth
Your turn…
1. Lay lots of news paper down on the floor and
get a large piece of paper.
2. Use different types of brushes, sticks, and
materials to flick and drip one color at a time
onto the paper.
3. Put some watered down paint into a plastic
bag with a hole in the corner (or a use a pot)
and swing around your artwork. What have
you come up with???
Lines in Pollock’s Action Painting
• What are 3 types of lines that stand out to
you, give their meanings:
Wassily Kandinsky-Composition IV,
1911
What types of lines do you see?
• Swirling colors and soaring lines!!
• Look closely, you’ll see the painting is
divided in the center by two thick, black
vertical lines.
• On the left, a violent motion is expressed
through the profusion of sharp, jagged and
entangled lines.
Information taken from www.artchives.com
Kandinsky Lines
• What are 3 types of lines that stand out to
you, give their meanings:
How is this painting related to music?
Mark Rothko
Lines and Feelings
•Red, Orange, Orange on Red, 1962, photo taken from www.flickr.com
Types of Feelings
• How did the artist use color and lines to
create a feeling?
• When you look at this picture what do you
feel?
Lines and Meanings
• Artists use lines to create many different
meanings, without lines it would be hard
for artists to create work.
• Give ONE way artists use lines to create
meaning in an artwork: