An introduction to the principles of art, especially focal point, contrast, emphasis, and pattern. Based on "Gateways to Art" (2012) by DeWitte, Larman, and Shields.
8. Focal Point
• The particular part of emphasis to which the
artist draws our eye
9. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, c. 1555–8.
Oil on canvas, mounted on wood, 29 x 44⅛”. Musées Royaux des
Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
10. EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT
• Directional Line
• Contrasting Values
Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith
Decapitating Holofernes, c. 1620. Oil
on canvas, 6’6⅜” x 5’3¾“. Uffizi
Gallery, Florence, Italy
11. EMPHASIS & FOCAL POINT
water is the focal
point conceptually
as well as visually
The Emperor Babur Overseeing his
Gardeners, India, Mughal period, c.
1590. Tempera and gouache on
paper, 8¾ x 5⅝”. Victoria and Albert
12. •
•
•
•
3 separate focal points
Position
Shape
Rhythm
Ando Hiroshige, “Riverside Bamboo
Market, Kyobashi,” from One Hundred
Famous Views of Edo, 1857. 15 x 10⅜”.
James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu
Academy of Arts, Hawaii
15. Rehash…
ALL the elements and principles of art can serve to
create EMPHASIS
Both actual and implied lines shape our examination
of a work of art by directing the movement of our
gaze
Contrasts between different values, colors, or
textures can sometimes be so dramatic and distinct
that we cannot help but feel drawn to that area of a
work
16. PATTERN
• Recurrence of an element
– Motif – repeated design as a unit within a pattern
• Repetition creates UNITY
comes from repetition!
18. Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas, × 45⅝”. Musée
35½
National d’Art Moderne,
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
19. Great Mosque of Córdoba, prayer hall of Abd alRahman I, 784–6
20. Motif
Huqqa base, India,
Deccan, last quarter of
17th century. Bidri ware
(zinc alloy inlaid with
brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York
24. Motif vs. RANDOMNESS
• Dada movement
• “chance”
• Random
arrangement
• Hans Arp, Trousse d’un
Da,1920–21. Assemblage of
driftwood nailed onto wood
with painting remains, 15 x
10½ x 1¾”. Musée
National d’Art
Moderne, Centre Georges
Pompidou, Paris, France