Design Basics - 7e - c 08.pdf - po ang - Januszek66

Charles E. Martin. 1968.

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CHAPTER

SHAPE/VOLUME

INTRODUCTION 152

RECTILINEAR AND

CURVILINEAR SHAPES 164

VOLUME/MASS

Working in Two and Three Dimensions 154

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SHAPES

Introduction 166

NATURALISM AND DISTORTION

Exaggerated Shapes 156

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SHAPES

Isolation or Integration 168

NATURALISM AND IDEALISM

Nature Improved 158

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SHAPES

Emphasis on Integration 170

ABSTRACTION

Essence of Shape 160

POSITIVE/NEGATIVE SHAPES

Confusion 172

NONOBJECTIVE SHAPES

Pure Forms 162

151

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INTRODUCTION

A shape is a visually perceived area created either by an

enclosing line or by color or value changes deﬁ ning the outer

edge. A shape can also be called a form . The two terms are

generally synonymous and are often used interchangeably.

Shape is a more precise term because form has other meanings

in art. For example, form may be used in a broad sense to

describe the total visual organization of a work, including

color, texture, and composition. Thus, to avoid confusion,

the term shape is more speciﬁ c.

Design, or composition, is basically the arrangement of

shapes. The still life painted by the contemporary painter

Sydney Licht (A) is dominated by oval shapes in various

sizes and combinations. Of course, the color, texture, and

value of these shapes are important, but the basic element is

shape, including the shapes deﬁ ned by the spaces between

objects and the more complex shapes created through groups

or clusters of simple shapes. The pattern on the tablecloth

serves as a simple and more abstract echo of the shapes and

negative shapes found in the asparagus bundles.

Pictures certainly exist without color, without any sig-

niﬁ cant textural interest, and even without line, but rarely

do they exist without shape. In representational pictures,

only the most diffuse atmospheric images of light can be said

almost to dispense with shape. The image in B is one of

Monet’s impressions of the Rouen Cathedral that emphasizes

light and atmosphere over shape. Illustration C is a further

exaggeration of these qualities by Lichtenstein. The shape

of the cathedral in C barely ﬂ ickers into focus, and the

many dots make the image compete with the shapes of the

architectural elements for our attention.

If you look closely, you can see that the dots in C are

small circles, and so this image has one level of connection

with the still life in A . Everything else may be different, but

at the level of shape they have a common element.

Types of Shapes

Module

Sydney Licht. Still Life with Two Bunches.

Oil on linen, 1’

1’. Kathryn Markel

Fine Arts. Courtesy of the artist.

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CHAPTER 8 SHAPE/VOLUME | 153

Claude Monet. Rouen Cathedral: Portal, Grey Weather.

1892. Oil on canvas. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

Roy Lichtenstein. Cathedral #2 from the Cathedral Series.

1969. Color lithograph and screen print in red and blue,

4’ 5 / 16 ”

2’ 8 3 / 8 ” (123

82.5 cm). Fine Arts Museums of

San Francisco, Anderson Graphic Arts Collection (gift of

Harry W. and Margaret Anderson Charitable Foundation,

1996.74.239).

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VOLUME/MASS

WORKING IN TWO

AND THREE DIMENSIONS

Thus, in composing art of three-dimensional volume

or mass, the artist faces more complex considerations. We

may simply step back to view the progress of our painting

or drawing. With sculpture we must consider the work from

a multitude of angles, anticipating all the viewpoints from

which it may be seen.

Architecture is the art form most concerned with three-

dimensional volumes. Architecture creates three-dimensional

shapes and volumes by enclosing areas within walls. Some

artists, in both the past and present, have selected to work

with the architecture, not independent from it.

Shape usually is considered a two-dimensional element,

and the words volume and mass are applied to the three-

dimensional equivalent. In simplest terms, paintings have

shapes and sculptures have masses. The same terms and

distinctions that are applied to shapes apply to three-

dimensional volumes or masses. Although the two

concepts are closely related, the design considerations

of the artist can differ considerably when working in

two- or three-dimensional media.

Combining Two- and

Three-Dimensional Work

Angle of Perception

A ﬂ at work, such as a painting, can be viewed satisfactorily

from only a limited number of angles and offers approximately

the same image from each angle, but three-dimensional

works can be viewed from countless angles as we move

around them. The three-dimensional design changes each

time we move: the forms are constantly seen in different

relationships. Unless we purposely stop and stare at a

sculpture, our visual experience is always ﬂ uid, not static.

The two photographs of the piece of sculpture by David

Smith (A) show how radically the design pattern can change

depending on our angle of perception.

A sharp, clear-cut label for art as either two- or three-

dimensional is not always possible. Relief sculptures are

three-dimensional, but because the carving is relatively

shallow with a ﬂ at back, they function more as paintings

without color. Many contemporary artists now incorporate

three-dimensional elements by attaching items to the canvas

or presenting them with the canvas. In the work by Jennifer

Bartlett (B) , a painting of boats is juxtaposed against three-

dimensional versions of the same image. These sculptural

elements refer more to the shapes in the painting than to real

boats. They are cropped at the same points as the images are

cropped in the painting. In this case, the three-dimensional

form seems to copy the painting, rather than the usual

idea of the painting following the appearance of the three-

dimensional form.

David Smith. Blackburn: Song of

an Irish Blacksmith (front and side

views). 1949–1950. Steel and bronze,

3’ 10 1 / 4 ”

3’ 5”

2’ (117

104

61 cm); height of base 8” (20 cm),

diameter 7 1 / 4 ” (18 cm). Wilhelm

Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg,

Smith/Licensed by VAGA, New

York, New York.

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