Glenn Hirsch, Instructor www.glennhirsch.com

1. Pattern is a Universal
Language in Art
Glenn Hirsch, Instructor

2. Pattern is a Universal Language

3. Pattern is created by repetition
Repetition creates rhythm
Many rhythms
Variety of rhythm
Fast, slow, simple, complex

4. Tomb of Nakht 1500 BCE

5. Gustave Klimt, 1905

6. Deborah Oropallo, Tree,
Violin, and Violinist, 1989Evenly space, repeated rhythms

7. Deborah Oropallo, Sioux Sox, 1989
Staggered, uneven rhythms

8. Repetition creates rhythm(s)

9. Sandro Botticelli
(Italian, 1445-1510)
Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until
the late 19th century because he emphasized
flat color and pattern instead of deep shadow
and modeled realism (e.g., late Michelangelo
or Leonardo).
But since1900 his work has been recognized
for its breathtaking linear grace and voluptuous
pattern.

10. Leonardo
Botticelli

11. Birth of Venus 1475

12. Primevera, 1482

14. Detail from The Trials of Moses, Sistine Chapel

15. Édouard Vuillard
(French, 1868-1940)
Vuillard lived with his mother, a dressmaker, until the age of sixty, and
was very familiar with pattern.
Much of his art is decorative with intricate patterns marked by a gentle
humor and executed in a delicate, soft color.

23. David Salle
(American 1952 - )
Salle helped define the “postmodern” sensibility of an art that
wants the viewer to be very conscious of “style” and “culture.”
He uses combinations of what appear to be randomly
juxtaposed images using very different schools of art in the
same piece, with a nod to pop art and pattern.

29. Fred Tomaselli
(American, 1956 - )
Tomaselli is best known for his highly detailed paintings
on wood panel, combining an array of unorthodox
materials suspended in a thick layer of clear, epoxy
resin and a maelstrom of pattern.

36. Lorraine Wilson Peters
(American, 1959 - )
Lorraine is a former UC Berkeley Extension
student.

39. Lorraine Wilson, 2000