Back to the Basics Elements of Art Principles of Design April 2014.

Back to the BasicsElements of Art

Principles of Design

April 2014

Principles of DesignHow the Build Blocks are usedBalanceContrast and ProportionEmphasisRhythm or MovementPatternUnityVariety

Unity and VarietyUnity creates a sense of harmony and wholeness.

Unity gives the work a sense of completion.Variety adds interest by using contrasting elements within the artwork.

Unity emphasizes the similarities. Variety emphasizes the differences.

Unity and Variety

Several Circles, 1926Wasily KandinskyOil on canvas, 55 ¼ x 55 ½ inchesSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Kandinsky was a pioneer in the development of abstract, non objective art. He believed in the expressive qualities of abstract forms. For him, each color and shape had its own symbolic significance and properties.In this composition, unity is provided by the repetition of circles on a neutral background. Variety is added by varying the sizes and colors of the circles, and by overlapping them.

The Impressionists limited details and used strokes of pure color on the canvas to convey the sense of a fleeting moment in time. This painting conveys the excitement and exhilaration of a celebration on a flag-lined street. The flags are blowing in the wind, the noise of the crowd can almost be heard in this moment that Monet has presented to us. Unity is created by the repetition of the flags and the people, and the arrangement on canvas, with all elements of the composition facing inward from the edges of the canvas. Variety is provided by variations in the sizes and position of the flags and people.

Rue Montorgueil in Paris, Festival of June 30, 1878, Claude Monet, 1878.

Unity and Variety

What appears to be a candid moment captured by the artist is in fact, a deliberately posed

study of the human figure. Unity is suggested by the

repetition of the figures and their muscularity. They are also

enclosed within the architectural structures of the foundry. Variety is obvious in the number of different poses

struck by the ironworkers, while showing off their

physiques. There is a complex arrangement of poses and

limbs that appear to be interconnected. The result is a lively composition of carefully

composed figures.

The Ironworker's Noontime 1880Thomas Pollock Anshutz oil on canvas Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Unity and Variety

Again, the color palette is limited. Rene Magritte used grey tones and pastels throughout the work. The windows, which repeat across the bottom half of the piece, and the men are about the same size, which, along with the repeated men, create a pattern across the entire painting. Relief from the constant pattern is provided by the plain building on the right. Since the artwork is busy with pattern, the plain side of the building is where he put in some variety.

Golconde, 1963Rene Magritte,Oil on canvasThe Menil Collection, Houston, TX

Unity and Variety

Unity and VarietyThe non-representational colors of Pop Art do not depict the artist’s inner sensation of the world. They refer to the popular culture, which also inspires Warhol to experiment with the technique of silkscreen printing, a popular technique used for mass production. On the occasion of Marilyn Monroe’s suicide in August 1962, Warhol used this image for his screen printing. It was a publicity shot by Gene Korman for the film Niagara, made in 1953.

Assembly Line Art?In August 1962, Andy Warhol began to produce paintings using the screen printing process. He recalls, “The rubber-stamp method I’d been using to repeat images suddenly seemed too homemade; I wanted something stronger that gave more of an assembly-line effect. With silk screening you pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across it so the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue. That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It all sounds so simple—quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. My first experiments with screens were heads of Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty, and then when Marilyn Monroe happened to die that month (August 1962), I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face.” (Andy Warhol, Popism, 1980)

The Nine Faces of Marilyn Monroe, 1962Andy Warhol

Silk screen printing

At first glance it might be obvious that the easiest way to create unity is to repeat one item over and over. Thiebaud does that here, but he also uses other methods. His palette is limited in color and value. He also scatters the bolder colors and values in triads across the canvas. Notice how he has the brown and yellow cakes arranged to form triangles across the picture plane. Variety is created by using the sliced cake with the sharp horizontal layers in the upper right. Imagine if that cake were round like the others, or just one or two layers. The picture would become too repetitive if he had made that decision. Where do you think the focal point is of the composition? Why?

Unity and VarietyCakes, 1963Wayne Thiebaud (tee-bow)Oil on canvas, 60 x 72 in National Gallery of Art, Washington

Jasper Johns has arranged color in triads across the page. Notice how the red makes a triangle across the page, as well as the purples and the yellows. All of the colors have the same level of saturation (intensity) that is subdued and grayed. The thickness of the blue/grey lines that go across the artwork is about the same, but instead of being boring, they wiggle and dance and lead the eye around (rhythm). He uses textures almost arbitrarily across the page, but keeps it them from being boring by using a variety of lines and type and drips. Notice that the wood texture is the exact same color as the outline around the man, another way of bringing together two different patterns.

After Hans Holbein, 1993Jasper Johns32 ½ x 25 ½ "Encaustic on canvasIn private collection

the portrait by Hans Holbein

the Younger on which Johns’

work is based.