Famous Quotes on Art

Definition of Art

• Art is the expression of man's ideas, imagination, and emotions through the use of his body.
• It completes what nature cannot bring to a finish and gives us knowledge of nature's unrealized ends.

Characteristics of Art

• Man-made
• Unique
• Aesthetics

Types of Art

• Painting
• Sculpture
• Architecture
• Literature
• Music
• Dance
• Theatre
• Film

Elements of Art

Space

• Refers to the distances or areas around, between, and within components of a piece
• Positive space refers to the subject of the piece itself
• Negative space refers to the empty spaces the artist has created around, between, and within the subjects

Line

• Indicates direction, orientation, movement, and energy
• Vertical line: power, strength, stability, simplicity, and efficiency
• Horizontal line: serenity, perfect stability, rest, calmness, peace, and repose
• Jagged line: violence, confusion, and conflict
• Curved line: gradual change of direction and fluidity, subtle form

Shape

• An enclosed space, a bounded two-dimensional form that has both length and width
• Boundaries are defined by other elements of art such as line and space
• Organic shapes: based on natural or living forms, irregular
• Geometric shapes: based on measured forms

Form

• Connotes something that is three-dimensional and encloses volume, having length, width, and height
• Geometric forms: mathematical, precise, and can be named
• Organic forms: free-flowing, curvy, sinewy, and are not symmetrical or easily measurable or named

Color

• Produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye
• A sensation, a human reaction to a hue arising from the optic nerve, education, and exposure to color

Texture

• Used to describe the way a three-dimensional work actually feels when touched
• In two-dimensional work, it may refer to the visual "feel" of a piece

Classification of Colors

• Primary colors: cannot be formed from mixtures because they are pure colors (e.g., Red, Blue, and Yellow)
• Secondary colors: formed out of combination of two primary colors (e.g., Blue + Yellow = Green)
• Intermediate colors: formed out of mixing one primary and one secondary color
• Hue: refers to the names we assign a color
• Saturation: refers to the vividness of color
• Value: lightness or darkness of the color

Value

• Relevant to the lightness or darkness of any color
• Importance is easiest to visualize in a work with no colors other than black, white, and a grayscale

Principles of Art

Emphasis

• Composition refers to developing points of interest to pull the viewer's eye to important parts of the body of the work

Balance

• A sense of stability in the body of work
• Can be created by repeating same shapes, colors, or textures