Impasto

Impasto is "paint applied very thickly to canvas or support."

Above is an untitled, 1961 work done by Robert Ryman. It is an oil painting on unstretched linen. In the image, you can see the brush strokes that the artist used as the paint as been applied very thickly to the linen, giving it an actual, physical texture. The way Ryman applied the paint appears to have created layers of paint on top of one another, giving it the look and feel of a textured surface.

Pattern

Pattern is defined as "a repetitive motif or design."

One of Andy Warhol's most famous paintings, "Campbell's Soup Cans," is a group of synthetic polymer paintings on thirty-two canvases that were completed in 1962. This is a great example of pattern because it is just the same image repeated onto 32 different canvases. As a whole, they become one piece of patterned work featuring a single design repeated many times.

Complementary Color Palette

A complementary color palette would be a range of colors consisting of colors that are opposite of each other on a color wheel (i.e. blue and orange).

 

 

Seen above, "Wall Drawing 853" is an acrylic painting by Sol LeWitt from 1998. It consists of three panels, with each panel consisting of two complementary colors placed side by side. To the left, green and red are placed together. In the middle panel, blue is seen above orange. All the way to the right, the complementary colors purple and yellow are juxtaposed.

This image was found at http://www.massmoca.org/lewitt/walldrawing.php?id=853

Primary Color Palette

A Primary Color Palette would best be described as a range of colors consisting of red, yellow, and blue.

This here is "Bear" by Brice Marden. It is an oil painting that was completed in 1997. This clearly uses a primary color palette because it is comprised entirely of reds, blues, and yellows, which are all primary colors. There are no other colors within the painting, meaning that it does not contain any secondary colors, further verifying that Marden used a primary color palette.

Cross Hatching

Cross Hatching is when "one set of hatches (parallel lines) are crossed at an angle by a second, and sometimes third, set of hatches." The closer that the hatches are together, the darker the area in the drawing appears.

The image here is "A Sibyl" by Michelangelo Buonarroti and it is a pen and ink on paper drawing from around 1520. This is a great example of cross hatching because, as a viewer, you can see that there are several instances throughout the work where hatches meet each other at an angle in order to create a sense of depth. In the mid-section of the subject, you can see that it is very dark. This is where multiple hatches are drawn very close together. In areas where it is not as dark, the hatches are further apart. The key difference between cross hatching and hatching is the fact that, as is the case here, there are multiple sets of hatches that cross each other.

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro is defined as "the use of light and dark to create the effect of three-dimensional, modeled surfaces."

 

 

The image seen above is "Liberty Leading the People (July 28th 1830)," an oil painting by Eugène Delacroix fro 1830. This is a good example of chiaroscuro because of the way Delacroix produced his shadows. The contrast between light and dark along the faces of several of the people in the painting, the legs of the lifeless bodies in the foreground, and the breasts and shoulder of the main, central figure. The projection of a shadow on these round, modeled surfaces serves as a fine example of how chiaroscuro can be used to create a three-dimensional feel in a piece of artwork.

Disorienting or Chaotic Space

Disorienting or Chaotic Space can be described as the manipulation of perspective by artists in order to project an image that appears to distort space as it is commonly known to exist. An example of this can be found below.

In the picture above, a photograph by Paul Strand from 1917 called "New York," uses shadows to produce a somewhat deceiving appearance. The shadows of a nearby structure causes viewers to actually see the structure but then it turns into a street/sidewalk with people standing on the corner. His use of the shadow distorts space and alters the viewers' perspective of what they are seeing. They go from seeing a physical structure with depth, to seeing a shadow on a flat street, to once again realizing a third dimension with the introduction of people on the corner.

Foreshortening

The book defines Foreshortening as "the modification of perspective to decrease distortion resulting from the apparent visual contraction of an object or figure as it extends backward from the picture plane at an angle approaching the perpendicular."

The image above is "Reclining Nude on Green Couch" by Philip Pearlstein. It is a painting that was done in 1971. It is a good example of foreshortening because the reclining position of the subject caused the artist to distort perspective by resizing parts of the body such as making the lower leg in the forefront much larger than the arms and head in the distance.

Line Orientation-Horizontal

Horizontal Line Orientation can essentially be described as a line or group of lines that present a clear and precise shape to an image, giving it a controlled appearance. In the case of the image below, it is a series of lines that define the work as a whole and give it a horizontal shape and "direction". The entire work is viewed as one consistent whole, that is presented horizontally.

The image above is "Apprehend" by Bridget Riley and it is a tempera painting on canvas that was completed in 1970.

Contour Line

Contour Line is defined as "the perceived line that marks the border of an object in space." Based on the description in the context of the book, it is a line that gives dimension to shapes.

The work seen here is "Gonella, the Court Dwarf of the Dukes of Ferrara" and it is an oil painting on oak wood produced by Jan van Eyck with an unknown completion date. This is a great example of contour line because of the use of line to give the subject's face a three dimensional appearance. The lines in the cheek and forehead give "Gonella" some character and dimension and, in doing so, serve as a great example of contour line. Also, there are various other contour lines that show the different layers of clothing he is wearing, adding further to the depth of the image.

Implied Line

The book defines Implied Line as "A line created by movement or direction, such as the line established by a pointing finger, the direction of a glance, or a body moving through space.

The sculpture above is "Mignon" and was made from bronze by Auguste Rodin in 1925. As seen in the definition above, the direction of a subject's glance can create a line known as implied line. Such is the case here. The eyes of the subject create an optically stimulating presence that causes the viewer to see an implied line based on the direction that the subject is looking in.

Outline

Outline is defined by the book as "the edge of a shape or figure depicted by an actual line drawn or painted on the surface. The picture below does a good job of showing what an outline is and how it can be used in art.

This is "Figure 1" and it is a lithograph on wove paper made by Jasper Johns in 1968. The reason that this is a good example of outline is because the number one is clearly outlined, making it stand out from the background, giving it a distinct shape by a physically drawn line.