Art Appreciation
Chapter 5 Notes (2012)
“Space”
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shape – a 2D area
mass – any solid that occupies a 3D
volume.
figure-ground reversals - Fig. 5-3, the
Rubin Vase (Vase/chalice or 2 faces?)
The foreground becomes background.
three dimensional space – has height,
width, and depth
negative shapes/spaces – empty space,
sometimes the background, sometimes
aquires a sense of form or volume (think
architectural interior spaces)
two dimensional space – no depth, flat,
has height and width
overlap – creates space, one figure or
shape is behind another
picture plane – The flat, two dimensional
surface of a painting… imaginary plane
corresponding with the paintings surface
linear perspective – the illusion of 3D on
2D, perfected in the Renaissance (c.
1450)
one-point linear perspective – one
vanishing point
vanishing point – the point where
vanishing points appear to converge
two-point linear perspective – two
vanishing points
axonometric projections – all lines
remain parallel, Architects (and
engineers) use this a lot.
oblique projection – front parallels
picture plane, sides stay parallel as they
recede away from the viewer
position – objects are higher on the
picture plane as they recede into space
foreshortening – decreasing distortion
from visual contraction, see Fig. 148
virtual reality – artificial computer space
SLIDES:
 Fig. 5-15, da Vinci, The Last Supper,
1495-98
 Fig. 5-18, Gustave Caillebotte, Paris, a
Rainy Day, 1876-77 (deep space)
 Fig. 5-29, Matisse, Red Room, 1908-09
(shallow space)
 Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon,
1907
 Ellsworth Kelly, Green, Blue, Red, 1964
 Pontormo, The Visitation, 1526
 Bill Viola, The Greeting, 1995 (video)
 Fig. 5-23, Dürer, The Art of
Measurement, 1527
 Fig. 5-24, Mantegna, The Dead Christ,
1501
 Titian, Venus of Urbino, 1538
 Fig. 5-30, Cézanne, Madame Cézanne
in a Red Chair, 1877