Art Fundamentals
(1)
Academic Decathlon
PCS
Line, Shape,
Form
*Line: A path of a point
moving through space.
-Solid? Interrupted?
-Horizontal: Suggests
peace and tranquility.
-Vertical: Move the eyes
upwards (N.B. Gothic
architecture)
-Curved: Indicates action,
motion, and chaos
*Shape: Space that
defines the twodimensional area.
*Form: Objects that are
three-dimensional (with
length, width, and depth)
-Organic v. Geometric
-Positive Space: Objects in
the artwork
-Negative Space: Area
around these objects that
frames them
Is this a shape or a form?
Is this geometric or organic?
Michelangelo Merisi da
Caravaggio’s
The Entombment (Rome)
*Explore the positive and
negative space here.
*What shapes/forms are
constructed?
*What is Caravaggio doing
with line?
Perspective
*Perspective: The illusion
of depth created by
manipulating line, shape,
form, light, and use of space.
-Linear
-Aerial/Atmospheric
*Vanishing point(s):
Geometric location on the
horizon used to construct
linear perspective
*Renaissance: In
Western Art, perspective
indicated the evolution
from Medieval art to the
Renaissance, stemming
from scientific discovery
and movement away from
purely religious,
iconographic depictions of
the world.
Pietro Perugino’s fresco at the Sistine Chapel’s North
Wall (in Vatican)
Unknown Italian artist from the 13th century
(Vatican)
Michelangelo da Buonarotti’s Creation of Adam
(center)
Color/Hue
*Hue: The technical name
of the color
-Primary (blue, red, yellow)
-Secondary (orange,
green, violet)
-Tertiary (six)
*Value: measure of
darkness in a hue or gray
*Neutral: white, black,
and grays in between
-These cannot be hues
*Intensity: purity of a
color (how mixed is it?)
*Local color: “true” color
as seen in normal daylight
*Optical color: the effect
that lighting has on the
color (night, fog,
candlelight, etc.)
*Texture: How things feel
or how we think they
would feel if touched
Color Wheel (hues only)
Robert Rauschenberg’s Untitled (NY Met)
Georges-Pierre Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the
Island of La Grande Jatte (Louvre)
Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise (Musee Monet, Paris)
William Turner’s Shipwreck of the Minotaur (Lisbon)
William Turner’s Landscape in the Fog (Berlin)