Chapter 4: What do you mean "Line"?

The second part of class is a discussion of the formal elements and their design: Line, Space, Light, Color, Texture, Pattern, Time and Motion, Balance, Emphasis, Scale, Rhythm, and unity. What’s important for us to understand and to recognize after reading these chapters is that the visual elements are intentional, on purpose, and for some specific meaning and content.

Artists consciously employ line and space to create effective compositions.

Take a look at the French Post-Impressionist Links to an external site. painter Cezanne’s Links to an external site. Basket of Apples (c. 1895). This type of subject matter is referred to as a still life Links to an external site.: A painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects, typically including fruit and flowers and objects contrasting with these in texture, such as bowls and glassware.

 Cezanne’s still life painting doesn’t look very realistic. There are lots of “mistakes,” the edge of table doesn’t line up, wine bottle is tilted, the apples are blotchy and look more like smudges of paint, the white napkin is stiff and awkwardly on the table and falling off the table at the same time, and the table top looks like it’s going to spill forward into our laps.

Consider the fact that in French, a still life painting is called a nature morte meaning “dead nature.” Cezanne’s intention was to give “life” (or movement, energy, animation) to this “sill life” a “dead” (or boring, dull, passé) image.

Cezanne was a HUGE INFLUENCE on MODERN ART during the turn of the last century, especially with the development of Cubism Links to an external site.!  The Spanish artist Pablo Picasso Links to an external site.is one of the founders of Cubism and credited Cezanne as the “Father of modern art.” Let’s take a look at one of Picasso’s still lives and see Cezanne’s influence.

Cubism dissects objects into two-dimensional shapes, which result in the representation of multiple points of view of an object on a single surface. The Cubist style liberated the traditional method of depicting form with a more active and contradictory use of line and shape.

In Picasso’s Still Life with Compote and Glass Links to an external site.(1914-1915), we see a newspaper, table leg, crumpled white napkin, white bowl filled with fruit, the texture of a yellow wall and wooden chair rail molding, and grey linoleum floor tiles. (A compote is a bowl-shaped dessert dish with a stem.) 

Maybe the photo below offers a similar view to Picasso’s as he sat at his breakfast table? The blue square and black florid shape are perhaps what he sees outside his window: a blue sky and the finial of iron fence or gate?

While we may think that Picasso’s painting is revolutionary and or a negative criticism of still life paintings, when we take a look at conventional still life paintings Links to an external site., we see that he is following in a very long tradition. Below is a comparison of Picasso’s Still Life with Compote and Glass to the Spanish Baroque Links to an external site. painter Juan van der Hamen y Leon Links to an external site.’s Still Life with Fruits and Birds (1621).

In Leon’s we see a tabletop with a giant bowl filled with fruit and a window in the top right that looks out onto a beautiful blue sky and landscape. We can see that Picasso is consciously following in the painting tradition. But with Cubist principles of multiple viewpoints, we – the viewer – are presented with more information about the room. We see not only what’s ON THE TABLE but the side of the table and the floor.

While Picasso’s may not be as realistic, his use of line, space, and perspective (visual elements) give us an image with more information. As I said earlier in the lecture, this semester we will become more familiar with elements of art and principles of design and their role in process of making art.

Let’s start with line.

Where do we see lines?

We saw battle lines are drawn in Kruger’s Links to an external site. Your Body is a Battleground (1989). Lines mark good versus evil.

You’ve heard people warn, “You’ve crossed the line!” – Line can be a signal of opposition.

Lines define differences, borders, and restrictions. Here are images of the United States and Mexican boarder. A physical line to mark a governmental division of land and people.

Lines define spaces and create shapes. Lines create context and meaning. The horizontal and vertical lines of a chessboard create a grid pattern that is then given rules and meanings to play the game.

Lines can help mark motion. Check out this great painting Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912) by the Futurist Links to an external site. artist Giacomo Balla Links to an external site.. We see the rapid movement of the tiny dachshund’s short legs, the whipping twist of his leash, and the paced walk of the owner feet.

Lines organize and create unity. You can easily notice it in formal wear and uniforms. Like the U.S. Marine’s Dress Blues: the red piping of the jacket, the red line down the side of the pant leg, the line of gold buttons, the bright white line of their belts. These all create UNIFORMITY between the individuals. The lines allow multiple bodies to appear more similar, emphasizing the strength and unity of the group and what they symbolize.

Lines can mark where you are going and where you have been.

Lines can also be distinctive features of landscapes. Like a gorgeous skyline.

A majestic horizon line.

Lines can express sounds and emotions. Watch the personality of “soundtrack” from a short clip of Disney’s Fantasia Links to an external site.(1940).