Art Talk - RC Schools

Art Talk
Unit Three
The Principles of Art
Chapter 8
Rhythm and Movement
Words to Know (p. 199)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rhythm
Visual Rhythm
Motif
Module
Pattern
Visual Movement
Kinetic
Objectives (p. 199)
• Identify rhythms occurring in the world
around you.
• Understand how rhythm adds a sense of
movement to a work of art.
• Identify and explain motif and pattern.
• Name and identify types of rhythms.
• Use the principle of rhythm to create your
own works.
Check Your Understanding (p. 204)
1. Define rhythm.
2. What is visual rhythm?
3. What is a pattern?
• Shot gun houses are
built with a hall in
the center that runs
from the front door
to the back, with all
of the rooms lined up
on either side.
• John Biggers.
Shotguns, Fourth
Ward. 1987.
Acrylic and oil on
board. 41 3/4” x
32”. Hampton
University Museum,
Hampton, Virginia.
Rhythm and Repetition (p. 200)
• Rhythm is the principle of art that indicates
movement by the repetition of elements.
• The visual arts combine repetition and pauses to
create rhythm.
• Visual Rhythm is rhythm is you receive through
your eyes rather than through your ears.
– Visual rhythm is created by repeated positive shapes
separated by negative spaces.
• The architects of this
Islamic building have
used repetition of
repeated elements to
create a visual rhythm
within the interior
space.
• http://faculty.evansville.ed
u/rl29/art105/img/islamic_
cordobamosque.jpg
•
•
•
Bonheur, a lifelong animal lover, often created large-scale artworks
with horses and other animals as the subject matter. In this painting
Bonheur has used the horses as a motif. The rhythm the horses create
pulls your eyes through the painting. Where does the movement start?
From which direction does the viewer get drawn through the art?
Rosa Bonheur. The Horse Fair. 1853-55. Oil on Canvas. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York. Gift of Cornelius
Vanderbilt, 1887.
www.albrightknox.org/ ArtStart/Bonheur.html
• In visual rhythm, a beat
may be one element or a
combination of elements.
• The strongest beats here are
the big, tall buildings. The
lighted windows make a
random rhythm. The
streets and the spaces
between the buildings
create negative, empty
space – the rest between the
beats.
• Berenice Abbott. The
Night View. 1936.
Photograph. Museum of
the City of New York, new
York. Gift of Mr. Todd
Watts.
• Visual rhythms create a sensation of
movement.
• Rhythms cause the viewer’s eyes to follow
the visual beats through a work of art.
• Visual movement is different from real
action, which involves a physical change in
position.
• Visual movement simply suggests
movement.
• The artist here has
used rhythm to pull
your eyes through
the work. Notice
how the curved
figures and the
slanted hoes give a
sensation of visual
movement.
• Hale Woodruff.
Poor Man’s Cotton.
1944. Watercolor on
Paper. 30 ½” x 22
½”. The Newark
Museum, Newark,
New Jersey.
Repetition (p. 202)
• Rhythm results
from repetition.
• Motif and pattern
are often used to
talk about repetition
in art.
– A motif is a unit
that is repeated in
visual rhythm.
• www.commonthrea
dsohio.org/
Repetition (p. 204)
• In sculpture
and
architecture a
threedimensional
motif is
sometimes
called a
module.
Pattern
• Pattern is a word used
to describe a decorative
surface design.
• Pattern is a twodimensional decorative
visual repetition.
• This book cover is a
delicate pattern of lines
and round forms.
• www.earthsign.com/
es-images/pattern.gif
Check Your Understanding (p. 210)
1. Give one example each of random rhythm
and regular rhythm.
2. In what ways can an alternating rhythm
occur.
3. Describe a progressive rhythm.
Types of Rhythm (p. 205)
• Arranging motifs and space in different
ways creates different visual rhythms.
• There are limitless ways to combine motifs
and space to create character to the rhythm
depicted.
Random Rhythm (p. 205)
• A motif repeated in no apparent order, with no regular
spaces in between, creates a random rhythm.
• One example is autumn leaves that cover the ground.
• Crowds of people create random rhythm.
– The motif is one person. Every person is different, and the space
between and around them is slightly different.
• The Sundi woman who created the bowl shown here deliberately
splashed the bowl with vegetable juices while it was still hot from the
fire. This created the random pattern of round shapes that decorate the
surface.
• Bowl. Knogo peoples, Congo and Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Before 1910. Ceramic, vegetable dye. 4 7/16” x 6 1/8”.
National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C. Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian
Collections Acquisition Program, 89-13-31.
Regular Rhythm (p. 206)
• Regular rhythm has identical motifs and
equal amounts of space between them.
• Regular rhythm has a steady beat.
• Regular repetitions are used to organize
objects.
– Parking spaces are an example of regular
repetitions.
– Stores organize merchandise into regular stacks
and rows which create regular rhythm.
• A grid is based on regular
rhythm.
• This building was the first
office building to rise
above 1,000 feet. Notice
how the pairs of windows
form a regular beat both
vertically and
horizontally. The
negative spaces between
them are the rests
between the beats.
• William van Alen.
Chrysler Building. New
York, New York.
Completed in 1930.
• The artist who created this cloth had a grid pattern in mind when
he wove the long, narrow strips of cloth. Later the artist cut and
sewed the strips together to make the wide cloth you see.
• Notice the regular repetition of of the various motifs.
• Wrapper. Asante Peoples, Ghan. Date unknown. Cotton, rayon,
74 7/8” x 32 ¼”. National Museum of African Art and National
Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Purchased with
funds provided by the Smithsonian Collection Acquisition
Prorgram 1983-85, Lamb EJ10554.
• Regular rhythm can be boring if it is overdone.
• It is like playing one note on a piano over and over again.
• Pop artist Andy Warhol used regular rhythm to make a social
protest statement.
• How would you describe the effect of this regular rhythm? What
do you suppose Warhol intended to convey with this repeated
motif?
• Andy Warhol. Marilyn Monroe’s Lips. 1962. Diptych. Synthetic
polymer, enamel, and pencil on canvas. Left: 82 ¼” x 80 ¼”.
Right: 82 ¼” x 82 3/8”. Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden,
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of Joseph
Hirshorn, 1972.
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• Alternating rhythm can occur in several ways.
• One way is to introduce a second motif.
• Another way is to introduce a change in the
placement or content of the original motif.
• A third way is to change the spaces between
the motif.
• Sometimes alternation is created simply by changing
the position of the motif.
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• One way to create
alternating rhythm
is to introduce a
second motif.
• http://www.straw.c
om/quilting/graphic
s/halfsplitquilt2c.gif
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• Another way is to
make a change in
the placement or
content of the
original motif.
• http://www.embr
oiderersguild.com
/stitch/infocus/im
gs/motif.jpg
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• A third way is to
change the spaces
between the motif.
• http://pcba10.ba.inf
n.it/images/small/e
merge.jpg
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• Sometimes
alternation is
created simply by
changing the
position of the
motif.
• For example, the
motif may be turned
upside down.
• http://www.math.ut
ah.edu/~clemens/im
ages/Carminda_Gro
up_Rug.GIF
Alternating Rhythm (p. 208)
• An alternating rhythm using two motifs
can still be very repetitive.
• Your eyes keep returning to the first motif
even after the second motif joins the
design, but the alteration does create
interest and relieve monotony.
Flowing Rhythm (p. 208-209)
• Flowing rhythm is
created by repeating
wavy lines.
• Curved shapes, such
as rolling hills or
ocean waves, create
flowing rhythm.
• In this photograph, your
eyes follow the curving
path as it changes
direction gradually.
• There are no sudden in
line.
http://www.cyclingphotos.freeserve.co.u
k/bigpic/waterfall.jpg
• Flowing rhythm is
created using upward
swells and downward
slides.
• You might think of the
upward moves as the
beats and the
downward moves as
the rests.
http://image.www.rakuten.co.jp/
scope/I0100975089796324.jpeg
Progressive Rhythm (p. 210)
• In progressive rhythm
there is a change in the
motif each time the
motif is repeated.
• The change is a steady
one.
• Each time the motif
appears it is slightly
different.
Progressive Rhythm
• A progressive rhythm may
start with a square as its
motif.
• The size of the square may
be changed by making it
slightly smaller each time it
is repeated, or each square
may be made a different
color of the spectrum or a
different step on the value
scale each time it is
repeated.
• A metamorphosis of one
object into another is an
example of progressive
rhyhm.
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/owlive
/img/mar04/kohler_030304_big.jpg
Check Your Understanding (p. 213)
1. Define visual movement.
2. Which group of artists used rhythm to
capture the idea of movement itself.
3. Describe a kinetic sculpture. By what
other name are these sculptures often
referred to?
How Artists Use Rhythm to Create
Movement (p. 211)
• Artists use rhythm in a work of art just as
they use the elements and other principles
of art – to convey feelings and ideas.
• Rhythm, which can be comforting and
predictable, can also be monotonous,
symbolic, or graceful, depending on the
artist’s goals.
• Rhythm can also create visual movement.
Visual Movement (p. 211)
• Visual Movement is
the principle of art
used to create the
look and feeling of
action and to guide
the viewer’s eyes
throughout the work
of art.
• In this story cloth,
the artist has used
visual movement to
tell her story.
http://www.uwrf.edu/library/exhibits/ima
ges/storycloth.gif
Futurists (p. 212)
• One group of artists tried to do more
than control the way in which
viewers look at works of art.
• This group of artists called the
Futurists, used rhythm to capture the
idea of movement itself.
• The Italian Futurists were among
the many artists who gained their
inspiration from Cubism. To the
shifting planes and multiple vantage
points of Cubism, Futurists such as
Umberto Boccioni added a sense of
speed and motion and a celebration
of the machine. The Futurists
translated the speed of modern life,
with its roaring new motorcars, into
works that captured the dynamic
energy of the new century.
Umberto Boccioni. Unique
Forms of Continuity in
Space. 1913. Bronze, 43
7/8 x 34 7/8 x 15 3/4 inches.
Futurists
• The Futurists used the word dynamism to refer to the forces of
movement.
• They believed that nothing was solid or stable.
• They also believed that art should show such dynamism.
• They showed forms changing into energy by slanting and overlapping
surfaces, which made the surfaces appear to move.
• http://bubblegum.parsons.edu/~praveen/thesis/images/boccioni.jpg
• In this painting by
Giacomo Balla,
notice how the dog
and its leash
practically vibrate
off the page. What
kind of rhythm did
the artist use to Giacomo Balla. Dynamism of a Dog on
Leash. 1912. Oil on canvas. 35 ½” x 43”.
suggest his
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New
frenetic
York. Bequest of A. Conger Goodyear and
Gift of George F. Goodyear, 1964. copyright
movement?
Estate of Giacomo Balla/Licensed by VAGA,
New York, NY
• When you look
at the artwork to
the right, you
can find
rhythmic
repetitions of
shapes and lines
that seem to
move across the
surface.
Alexander Calder (p. 213)
• Alexander Calder
was a mechanical
engineer who
believed in what
the Futurists were
doing. In his
work he repeated
abstract shapes
and put them into
real motion.
http://www.veredart.com/vered_ati
st_index_images/calder_page_ima
ges/alexander_calder_mobilewith9
elements%20.jpg
• Calder created sculptures
that used the real forces
of air currents and
gravity.
• Calder’s creations were
dubbed kinetic sculpture,
because they actually
move in space.
• Artist Marcel Duchamp
gave Calder’s moving
sculptures another name,
mobiles.
• Moving sculptures of this
kind have been called
mobiles ever since.
http://www.artsconnected
.org/toolkit/images/alexa
nder_calder2.jpg
Chapter Review (p. 225)
due Wednesday, April 19
•
•
Complete the Building Vocabulary (7
questions).
Complete the Reviewing Art Facts (6
questions).
Sketchbook Assignments due
Thursday, April 12, for Calder Mobile
Project
1. Research Alexander Calder on the internet
or library database, Groveart.com, and
find 5 examples of his mobile sculptures.
Print the photos and glue in sketchbook.
2. Create six pre-drawings of your own
mobile design as influenced by Alexander
Calder.