Study Guide - Chapter Two
THE LANGUAGE OF ART
Chapter Overview
This chapter is about the elements of design—line, form, color, texture and
space. It discusses how each work of art, whether painting, sculpture, or architecture,
utilizes these same elements. The chapter gets into color, especially, referring to hue,
value and intensity, but the other elements are also covered in depth.
Chapter Content:
Elements of Art
1. Line – shortest distance between 2 points.
a. Can be actual or implied.
b. Horizontal line suggests rest.
c. Diagonal lines imply action.
d. Contour lines – include only the outline of the figure or object.
2. Light and Value – Darkness or lightness or brightness and dullness. Used to
create shadow.
3. Color – Is an element of art with three properties. The three properties of
color are:
a. Hue - the name of the color
b. value - lightness or darkness of a color
c. intensity – the purity and strength of the color also know as saturation,
shows the brightness or dullness of a color
4. Texture and Pattern - refers to the surface quality or "feel" of an object, such
as roughness, smoothness, or softness.
a. Texture – smaller in size.
b. Pattern – larger in size.
5. Shape and Volume - is an enclosed space
a. Regular shapes – geometric
b. Irregular shapes – organic.
6. Space - the distance or area between, around, above or within things.
7. Time and Motion – Anything that takes time to view – like movies, film etc.
Principles of Art
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1. Balance - is a sense of stability in the body of work. There are 2 types of
balance:
a. Symmetry
b. Asymmetry
2. Rhythm - a type of movement in drawing and painting – created through
repetition. It may be regular, alternating, or eccentric.
3. Proportion and Scale - relationships of the size of objects in a body of work.
4. Emphasis - pull the viewer's eye to important parts of the body of the work.
5. Unity and Variety –
a. Unity – refers to the similarities in the work.
b. Variety - refers to the differences in the work.
Art Materials and Media – (define the following)
1. Natural -
2. Synthetic Materials -
Perspective (deals with Space – one of the 7 elements of art) – (define the following)
1. One point perspective -
2. Two point perspective -
3. Three point perspective –
4. Aerial perspective - Another name for atmospheric perspective.
Movie (time art) – define it…
Where was Frida Kahlo from?
What was she studying in college before her accident?
What major incident influenced her life?
What is her art about?
Who was her husband and what was his profession?
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