Les Principes d’Art : Composition Intro: We’re going to look at some paintings and see how the artists decided to arrange shapes, color, and line to make effective compositions. You already know more about composition then you think you do. If you have company coming and your mother wants you to put out some cookies, do you just toss them onto the plate? No, you arrange them in a pleasing way. You’ve probably taken time to arrange your room in a way you like. That’s all composition is, arranging shapes. Over the centuries, people have learned a lot about what makes an effective composition. Of course, artists don’t HAVE to follow the traditional approaches, but it’s helpful to know what they are.

La Composition signifie: “la manière dans laquelle les choses sont rangées.” Préparez-vous à remarquer . . . Un centre d’intérêt Une variété de formes Un équilibre ou manque d’équilibre . . . pour chaque peinture.

Quel est le Centre d’Intérêt des tableaux suivants Quel est le Centre d’Intérêt des tableaux suivants? Est-ce qu’il y a une variété de formes? Est-ce qu’il y a un équilibre ou un manque d’ équilibre?

John Singer Sargent’s In the Luxenberg Gardens at Twilight, 1879 John Singer Sargent’s In the Luxenberg Gardens at Twilight, 1879. Discuss the shapes that have been arranged to create this composition: What do you think the center of interest might be? Do you think this is a good placement for the center of interest? Why did he avoid using the center? (Next slide explains why it’s more aesthetically pleasing to avoid the center; for now, it’s fine if students just instinctively realize the center creates a target effect that the artist doesn’t always want. In this composition, your eye moves all around, from the couple to . . ..what? (The pool of water, the moon, the stone barrier, the trees) A good composition is one that causes your eye to bounce all around, but also gives your eye somewhere to rest, too. In a peaceful scene like this, what areas provide some rest for your eye? Point out the great variety of shapes. Why do you think the horizon line is not dead center? Would the composition be better or worse if the horizon line were dead center? Dans Les Jardins du Luxembourg au Crépuscule, 1879.(John Singer Sargent)-Philadelphie

John Singer Sargent’s In the Luxenberg Gardens at Twilight, 1879 John Singer Sargent’s In the Luxenberg Gardens at Twilight, 1879. Discuss the shapes that have been arranged to create this composition: What do you think the center of interest might be? Do you think this is a good placement for the center of interest? Why did he avoid using the center? (Next slide explains why it’s more aesthetically pleasing to avoid the center; for now, it’s fine if students just instinctively realize the center creates a target effect that the artist doesn’t always want. In this composition, your eye moves all around, from the couple to . . ..what? (The pool of water, the moon, the stone barrier, the trees) A good composition is one that causes your eye to bounce all around, but also gives your eye somewhere to rest, too. In a peaceful scene like this, what areas provide some rest for your eye? Point out the great variety of shapes. Why do you think the horizon line is not dead center? Would the composition be better or worse if the horizon line were dead center? Dans Les Jardins du Luxembourg au Crépuscule, 1879.(John Singer Sargent)-Philadelphie

Mona Lisa:La Gioconda La Joconde (Léonardo DaVinci)-Le Louvre (Paris)

Mona Lisa:La Gioconda La Joconde (Léonardo DaVinci)-Le Louvre (Paris)

Executions of the 3rd of May Exécutions du 3 mai (Francisco de Goya)-El Prado (Madrid) Here’s another painting with a clear center of interest. Here is Francisco de Goya’s painting, Executions of the Third of May. You’ll notice that the artist has placed the subject off center and about a 1/3 of the distance to the edge. What else does the artist do to draw your eye to the center of interest? (Use of light, pointing guns, figure’s arms are out)

Executions of the 3rd of May Exécutions du 3 mai (Francisco de Goya)-El Prado (Madrid) Here’s another painting with a clear center of interest. Here is Francisco de Goya’s painting, Executions of the Third of May. You’ll notice that the artist has placed the subject off center and about a 1/3 of the distance to the edge. What else does the artist do to draw your eye to the center of interest? (Use of light, pointing guns, figure’s arms are out)

Wedding Dance Le Bal du Mariage (Pieter Breughel)-Détroit Wedding Dance by Pieter Breughel, (1612) Is there a center of interest here? (Not really) What do you notice about how the artist has organized the shapes (people)? It’s a swirling composition, appropriate for a wedding with all this dancing. Have students hold up one hand to block the light, sky area with their hands. What happens to the scene? (Becomes much more claustrophobic; you need that sense of continuing space.) In addition to organizing shapes effectively, color is a way that artists unify a composition. Do you think everyone wore the same colors to the wedding? No, artist chose colors to tell us about the season and to pull the painting together. Can also discuss how shapes recede, sense of movement, fact that this is an all-over composition with many shapes rather than one focal point.

Windmill Moulin (Piet Mondrian)-Pays Bas Remember that composition is really just arranging shapes. This was painted early in Mondrian’s career, about 1910. What makes this composition strong? Those criss-crossing shapes? Would it have been so looming if the crosses of the windmill had not gone right out of the painting? Artists don’t just plunk the shapes on the canvas; they think long and hard about which arrangements of shapes will make the painting interesting, balanced, slightly edgy and unbalanced, or whatever the effect is the artist is after.

Windmill Moulin (Piet Mondrian)-Pays Bas Remember that composition is really just arranging shapes. This was painted early in Mondrian’s career, about 1910. What makes this composition strong? Those criss-crossing shapes? Would it have been so looming if the crosses of the windmill had not gone right out of the painting? Artists don’t just plunk the shapes on the canvas; they think long and hard about which arrangements of shapes will make the painting interesting, balanced, slightly edgy and unbalanced, or whatever the effect is the artist is after.

Red, Yellow and Blue Rouge, Jaune et Bleu ( Piet Mondrian)-Londres Same artist (Piet Mondrian), but much more abstract. This is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1921 How is this composition different from all the others? All lines and grids, non-representational, but notice they are not all the same size squares, making it much more interesting and alive. A well-designed painting keeps your eye moving all around the composition. What do you notice that helps keep your eye moving? Use your hand to cover up portions. Is there a shape you’d miss that seems essential to making this composition interesting?

Red, Yellow and Blue Rouge, Jaune et Bleu ( Piet Mondrian)-Londres Same artist (Piet Mondrian), but much more abstract. This is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1921 How is this composition different from all the others? All lines and grids, non-representational, but notice they are not all the same size squares, making it much more interesting and alive. A well-designed painting keeps your eye moving all around the composition. What do you notice that helps keep your eye moving? Use your hand to cover up portions. Is there a shape you’d miss that seems essential to making this composition interesting?

Red, Yellow and Blue Rouge, Jaune et Bleu ( Piet Mondrian)-Londres Same artist (Piet Mondrian), but much more abstract. This is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1921 How is this composition different from all the others? All lines and grids, non-representational, but notice they are not all the same size squares, making it much more interesting and alive. A well-designed painting keeps your eye moving all around the composition. What do you notice that helps keep your eye moving? Use your hand to cover up portions. Is there a shape you’d miss that seems essential to making this composition interesting?

Red, Yellow and Blue Rouge, Jaune et Bleu ( Piet Mondrian)-Londres Same artist (Piet Mondrian), but much more abstract. This is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1921 How is this composition different from all the others? All lines and grids, non-representational, but notice they are not all the same size squares, making it much more interesting and alive. A well-designed painting keeps your eye moving all around the composition. What do you notice that helps keep your eye moving? Use your hand to cover up portions. Is there a shape you’d miss that seems essential to making this composition interesting?

Red, Yellow and Blue Rouge, Jaune et Bleu ( Piet Mondrian)-Londres Same artist (Piet Mondrian), but much more abstract. This is Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1921 How is this composition different from all the others? All lines and grids, non-representational, but notice they are not all the same size squares, making it much more interesting and alive. A well-designed painting keeps your eye moving all around the composition. What do you notice that helps keep your eye moving? Use your hand to cover up portions. Is there a shape you’d miss that seems essential to making this composition interesting?

Five in the Afternoon Cinq Heures de l’Après-midi (Robert Motherwell)-SFMOMA Robert Motherwell painted this in 1950 and is titled At Five in the Afternoon. A good composition usually has a variety of shapes. How does he manage to come up with variety in such a simple painting? What is the effect of having those circles pressed between those vertical black shapes? Is there a shape you’d really miss if it weren’t there? (Lots of students point to the strange part of a rectangle, but of course there’s no right answer.) Have the students cover the shape by holding one hand in front of their eyes to see if they’d miss a shape. That rectangle makes the whole composition more interesting. If no one notices, point out the artist’s decision to have the black shapes not “rest” on the bottom of the painting. They are all kind of floating on a white boundary.

Five in the Afternoon Cinq Heures de l’Après-midi (Robert Motherwell)-SFMOMA Robert Motherwell painted this in 1950 and is titled At Five in the Afternoon. A good composition usually has a variety of shapes. How does he manage to come up with variety in such a simple painting? What is the effect of having those circles pressed between those vertical black shapes? Is there a shape you’d really miss if it weren’t there? (Lots of students point to the strange part of a rectangle, but of course there’s no right answer.) Have the students cover the shape by holding one hand in front of their eyes to see if they’d miss a shape. That rectangle makes the whole composition more interesting. If no one notices, point out the artist’s decision to have the black shapes not “rest” on the bottom of the painting. They are all kind of floating on a white boundary.

Five in the Afternoon Cinq Heures de l’Après-midi (Robert Motherwell)-SFMOMA Robert Motherwell painted this in 1950 and is titled At Five in the Afternoon. A good composition usually has a variety of shapes. How does he manage to come up with variety in such a simple painting? What is the effect of having those circles pressed between those vertical black shapes? Is there a shape you’d really miss if it weren’t there? (Lots of students point to the strange part of a rectangle, but of course there’s no right answer.) Have the students cover the shape by holding one hand in front of their eyes to see if they’d miss a shape. That rectangle makes the whole composition more interesting. If no one notices, point out the artist’s decision to have the black shapes not “rest” on the bottom of the painting. They are all kind of floating on a white boundary.

L’Intérieur le Soir (Édouard Vuillard)-Kunstmuseum, Switzerland. Edouard Vuillard - An Interior at Evening. We talked about how making a good composition involves arranging shapes. How does an artist get the shapes to work well together? If you squint, you’ll see that this composition is simply two dark shapes, two very light shapes, and a middle value shape in the bottom right corner. How did the artist connect the two big dark shapes? See the foot? What about a focal point? Which shape does your eye go to first? How does he get you to notice this shape? (Placement as well as strong light against dark background) Your eye really bounces around, from the face, to the big yellow lamp, down that skinny yellow shape of light, to the hands, and so forth.

L’Intérieur le Soir (Édouard Vuillard)-Kunstmuseum, Switzerland. Edouard Vuillard - An Interior at Evening. We talked about how making a good composition involves arranging shapes. How does an artist get the shapes to work well together? If you squint, you’ll see that this composition is simply two dark shapes, two very light shapes, and a middle value shape in the bottom right corner. How did the artist connect the two big dark shapes? See the foot? What about a focal point? Which shape does your eye go to first? How does he get you to notice this shape? (Placement as well as strong light against dark background) Your eye really bounces around, from the face, to the big yellow lamp, down that skinny yellow shape of light, to the hands, and so forth.

Snowstorm, 1842 Tempête de Neige (J. M. W. Turner)-Tate, Londres J.M.W. Turner - Snowstorm , 1842 - how would you describe the composition? Where is the lightest point? Why is this swirling arrangement a better compositional design for a storm than a horizontal design with a flat horizon would have been?

Snowstorm, 1842 Tempête de Neige (J. M. W. Turner)-Tate, Londres J.M.W. Turner - Snowstorm , 1842 - how would you describe the composition? Where is the lightest point? Why is this swirling arrangement a better compositional design for a storm than a horizontal design with a flat horizon would have been?

La Proportion Divine: Le Parthénon (Grèce) Does anyone know what the golden ratio is? When the Greeks built the Parthenon do you think they just kept piling up the stones until someone said, “Hey, that looks about right?” Of course not. They knew the ratio that would make the proportions look pleasing to the eye, and that proportion is 1 : 1.618034. In rough terms, that means that if the long side of a rectangle is 16, then the short side should be about 10. Over the past centuries artists learned to use this knowledge of pleasing proportions to determine both the dimensions of their paintings and placement of the shapes on the canvas. (You can draw other rectangles on the board, some too skinny, some too stubby, so that it is instantly clear that everyone recognizes the pleasing proportions of 1: 1.6. Further explanation is found at the end of this Powerpoint.

Le Parthénon La Proportion: 1:1.6

La Proportion Divine

La Partie Divine So now that artists knew that certain sizes of rectangles would make for harmonious paintings, they also applied their knowledge of the golden section in order to place their centers of interest in an effective spot on the canvas. Roughly speaking, a good spot for the center of interest is the place at which the blue “a” line segment meets the red “b” line segment. Confusing? Just think of it this way: a good place for the center of interest is about a third of the way from the edge of the rectangle. Notice how Edward Hopper whose painting, The Long Leg, includes a sailboat about a third of the way from the edge. Note: graphic of ratio taken from Wikipedia.

Le Principe de La Proportion Divine Les 2 quantités sont dans la PROPORTION DIVINE si la PROPORTION de la SOMME des QUANTITÉS à la PLUS GRANDE QUANTITÉ est ÉGALE à la PROPORTION de la PLUS GRANDE QUANTITÉ à la PLUS PETITE QUANTITÉ .

Pour les mathématiciens de la classe: Alors, pour un bâtiment: la SOMME du plus long côté (a) et le côté court (b) est au côté long (a) comme le côté long (a) est au côté court (b). Formule: (a + b):(a) = (a):(b)

Pour plus d’information sur La Proportion Divine et La Partie Divine (qui aide les artistes à trouver la meilleure place pour le centre d’intérêt), voir Wikipédie sous la section d’Art:La Proportion Divine (The Golden Ratio).

Encore trois tableaux à apprécier . . .

Les Coquelicots (Claude Monet)-Musée d’Orsay: Paris

Les Coquelicots (Claude Monet)-Musée d’Orsay: Paris

Les Coquelicots (Claude Monet)-Musée d’Orsay: Paris

Sunflowers in the Windstorm Tourne-sols dans la Tempête de Vent (Emil Nolde) Le Tableau Favori de Mme Schulté au Musée d’Art de Columbus

Sunflowers in the Windstorm Tourne-sols dans la Tempête de Vent (Emil Nolde) Le Tableau Favori de Mme Schulté au Musée d’Art de Columbus

(Pouvez-vous deviner le titre de cette peinture de Franz Kline (Pouvez-vous deviner le titre de cette peinture de Franz Kline?C’était la favorite de Mme Schulté en visitant le Musée d’Art de Cleveland quand elle était petite!)

L’Accent Grave (!) (Franz Kline)

Un petit examen . . .

Qu’est-ce que vous savez maintenant sur le dessin d’une composition? La plupart des compositions efficaces ont une variété de ______________________. Le centre d’intérêt est souvent mis ______. VRAI ou FAUX?: Une composition efficace est toujours en équilibre. La Proportion __________ réfère à la proportion 1:1.6. Comment l’artiste réussit-il à attirer l’attention du spectateur et de le faire regarder partout dans le dessin? Answers: Variety of shapes; often center of interest is off-center; false - effective compositions can be balanced or a little off-balance and edgy; Golden ratio is approx. 1: 1.6 and refers to the ratio between the length of the sides of a rectangle (or a 3D shape such as a building) and has to do with pleasing proportions. Last question: there are many ways and can include placement of shapes, use of color, line, use of value (light and dark). Note: watch for my posting of hands-on composition lesson using black and white paper, scissors, etc.

La Fin

Traduit de et amélioré sur l’oeuvre “Looking at Paintings:A Powerpoint to Understand Composition” de TeachersPayTeachers, 2011.