ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
Your Name: Francesca Nuzzo
Module 1B: Elements of Design
Instructions: Follow the link or instructions for the reading and answer the questions fully for
credit using your own words. DO NOT CUT AND PASTE ANSWERS. Answer fully and
thoughtfully for complete credit. Low effort responses will lose points. Rename this file and
submit your response as a .PDF or .DOCX file to the D2L assignment folder.
Reading: Artistic Elements
[Link]
1. Define a point:
a. A point is the foundational visual element, defined as a singularity or the meeting
of coordinates. The point is also the element on which all the others are based.
Points can also shape forms, as exemplified by Pointillism, popularized by
Georges Seurat, where dots of color blend to create lines, shapes, and forms.
2. Explain in your own words what a figure ground relationship seems to be:
a. The interaction and differentiation between the main visual feature (the point or
any other figure) and the background (surface) on which it is placed, seem to be
defined as a figure-ground relationship. These two components are
distinguishable to the eyes, and their placement greatly impacts how the final
composition is perceived.
3. How does Georges Seurat use points to create an interesting figure ground relationship
in La Parade de Cirque?
a. The figure-ground relationship is particularly evident in Seurat's use of
contrasting colors and point densities. By strategically placing points of different
colors and densities in various areas of the painting, he shapes the figures and
the ground distinctly.
4. How is a line defined?
A line can be described as a point in motion. There are different types of lines,
but they all have in common their length exceeding their width. Whether a line
appears static or dynamic depends on the artist's deliberate use of it.
5. What do lines do in a work of art?
a. A line can help determine its direction, motion and energy in a work of art.
6. Name some other “actual lines” seen in Diego Velasquez’s Las Meninas:
a. The lines created by the framing of the open door in the background, the
vertical lines of the figures pictured, and the lines of the wall’s reliefs on the right,
are all actual lines.
ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
7. What are “implied lines?”
a. Implied lines are not actual physical lines but are created to visually connect
different elements together.
8. Name some other “implied lines” seen in Diego Velasquez’s Las Meninas:
a. Most of the implied lines of this painting are in the direction of the Infanta
Margarita, as all the characters depicted are leaning towards her.
9. Describe some implied lines (or implied connections) in the statue Laocoon.
a. The snakes strangling Laocoon’s sons form implied lines that connect these
elements to Laocoon, the main subject of the sculpture.
10. What is the function or impact of the straight, classic lines in Las Meninas?
a. In "Las Meninas," the use of classic lines plays a significant role in the
composition of the artwork. Straight lines contribute to the painting's general
sense of balance and symmetry and provide the illusion of depth and
perspective.
11. In your opinion, how would you describe the “expressive lines” in the Organic Lines
drawing?
a. The expressive lines in this artwork seem to form an abstract face, it gives the
impression of being angry. Despite the messy curvy lines, the subject is very
expressive, and it gives a sense of something intense and almost disturbing to
watch.
12. How is a “cross contour” line different from an “outline?”
a. While cross contour lines aim to delineate differences in the details that
characterize the surface, an outline just defines the edges of shapes.
13. How are “cross hatching lines” different from “hatching lines?”
a. Crosshatch lines can be oriented in any direction, and they are used to improve
tone and texture. Hatching lines instead, are generally oriented in one direction to
create shades and visual texture to a surface.
14. What is “line quality?”
a. Line quality is the “personality” visible in the way a line is presented.
15. How does the writing in the example from the Koran (Quran) show a calligraphic line
quality?
a. The Koran calligraphy suggests organic, round and flowing lines, that follow the
same scheme, making it look repeatable and in some way understandable.
16. How do abstract “shapes” divide and organize the composition of Las Meninas?
ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
a. The abstract shapes contribute to creating harmony in the painting, clarifying the
structure and organizing the composition. The abstract shapes make the artwork
less rigid, contrasting all the strong straight lines.
17. What function do the “positive shapes” play in Las Meninas?
a. The figures in Las Meninas become positive shapes because the dramatic
lighting captures the viewer’s attention in contrast to the gloomy background.
18. If a plane is a two-dimensional area or shape, what is a picture plane? (Think it through
in the context given by the text)
a. A picture plane is everything that can be used to create an image on a flat
surface, for example, a piece of paper, stretched canvas, or wood panel.
19. What is “space” and how is different from a “plane”?
a. While a “plane” can be defined as any surface area in space, “space” is the area
that is left unoccupied and that surrounds any real or implied objects. In other
words, space is what surrounds any type of plane.
20. What kind of illusion does “linear perspective” create?
a. “Linear perspective” creates the illusion of tridimensionality on a flat surface.
This perspective provides an accurate representation of distance using a horizon
line and vanishing points.
21. Describe how Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is an example of one point linear
perspective.
a. The one-point linear perspective is created because all the
lines of the painting converge to the same vanishing point. The
only vanishing point of the painting is located directly behind
the head of Christ, drawing the viewer’s attention to the center.
22. View Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street, Rainy Weather. In what way do
elements in his painting look like the illustration of Two Point
Perspective from the text?
a. The building in the foreground of the Paris Street artwork follows the exact
scheme of the Two Point Perspective illustration. The shape and the optical
illusion are the same for both compositions.
23. What illusion does three-point perspective show the viewer?
a. The three-point perspective provides the viewer with the illusion that what they
are looking at is a faithful and accurate representation of reality.
ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
24. In what ways does the space depicted in Third Court of the Topkapi Palace from
fourteenth-century Turkey fail to establish linear perspective?
a. This artwork fails to establish linear perspective because, instead of relying on
vanishing points, it uses multiple vantage points that remain extremely flat
against the picture plane.
25. What were 2 reasons Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon was so shocking to the
people who viewed it in 1907? (See the video: [Link]
a. He shattered conventional ideals of beauty, representing the brutal ugliness of
prostitution, while discarding the traditional rules of perspective at the same time.
He also used African masks as an inspiration for the faces, a clear influence of
the French colonialism of that time.
26. If you had to define the style “cubism” based on George Braque’s landscape Castle at
La Roche Guyon, how would you describe it? Be specific using examples from the
painting.
a. Cubism is an artistic style characterized by the fragmentation and deconstruction
of subjects into geometric shapes and planes. In Braque’s painting, for example,
the landscape is portrayed as a series of geometric forms and is perfectly
noticeable how the planes of the composition overlap and intersect with each
other.
27. As the cubist style progressed, it changed. Judging from the example in the text of Juan
Gris The Sunblind, what elements look different from Braque’s painting?
a. The shapes of the Cubist style became flatter as the Cubism movement evolved.
In this artwork, the newspaper collage components accentuate the flatness of the
pictures. Compared to Braque’s painting the elements are more understandable
and you could describe what you see in detail, but the representation is still very
far away from a realistic one.
28. From the examples cited in the text, why do you think the landscape by George Braque
looks so different from the landscape by Theodore Rousseau?
a. Nearly all the objects in the painting—trees, homes, the castle, and the
surrounding rocks—combine to produce a single complicated form. It is
impossible to define the shape of any specific element, and the painting is all
focused on the concept of a landscape. This artwork is completely different from
Rousseau’s landscape, whose main interest was painting exactly what he saw,
and providing the most realistic representation possible.
29. What is a value scale?
a. A value scale is a visual representation that consists of a range of progressively
darker shades of grey, with pure white at one end and black at the other. This
scale enables artists to apply different shades of grey to express depth, shape,
ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
and lighting effects in their composition. It also helps them understand the
contrast and shading of their work.
30. How does value affect how we perceive shapes?
a. The use of value gives a shape the illusion of mass and lends an entire
composition a sense of light and shadow. It causes certain parts of an image to
appear highlighted and others to appear shadowed.
31. Describe how Michelangelo uses line to create value in Head of a Youth and a Right
Hand.
a. He uses lines to create value by concentrating lines in certain areas to create
facial bodily features. The neck and forehead area has fewer lines because they
are less detailed. He also uses different pigmentations of pencils to achieve
contrast.
32. The emotional effect of the high contrast look of Robert Adam’s Untitled Denver is much
different than the low contrast look of Caravaggio’s Guiditta Decapitates Oloferne.
a. If you had to describe the contrast using one word, how would you describe
Adam’s photo?
- Light-hued.
b. With one word how would you describe the emotional effect of Caravaggio’s
painitng?
- Intense.
33. White light (like from the sun) contains which colors of the spectrum?
a. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, violet.
34. What’s so special about primary colors?
a. They do not originate from any other colors, therefore they make up all other
colors.
35. How are secondary and tertiary colors mixed?
a. Secondary colors are made of primary colors and tertiary colors are created from
equal parts of primary and secondary colors.
36. With “Additive color theory,” what is created when all of the primary colors are combined?
a. White.
37. What material is being mixed with “additive color theory”?
a. Light.
38. With “Subtractive color theory,” what happens when all of the primary colors are mixed
together?
ART 110 Art Appreciation
Module 1: Elements and Principles of Design
a. A dark neutral- the opposite of white.
39. Define hue:
a. The dominant shade in a color.
40. Define value:
a. The lightness or darkness of a given color.
41. Define saturation:
a. Intensity and vividity of a given color.