Art 101
COLOR & SHAPE
When you read a book, you need to know the language in which it was written, the vocabulary and turns of phrase. Art also has a language. The viewer needs a knowledge base from which to begin to “read” artwork. This base is called “the elements of art.” In science, elements combine to form the molecules and compounds that make up the universe and everything in it. In art, elements combine to create paintings, sculptures, et cetera. Two elements of art are “color” and “shape”.
Colors and shapes in art are the same as you learned in kindergarten. The basic six colors (also called hues) are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. They are divided into primaries—red, blue, and yellow—and secondaries—green, purple, and orange. They are also warm—red, orange, and yellow—or cool—green, blue, and purple. Hues directly opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary and can affect each other in interesting ways. Colors can appear in bright or dull shades and vivid or muddy intensity. Black, white, and grey are neutrals. When neutrals mix with hues, they determine how light or dark the color will be.
Shapes are also basic. Geometric shapes are this element in its simplest form: circle, square, triangle. Much of the time, these shapes are implied; artists will not simply draw them out. Rather, they might depict a group of people or objects that will together suggest a shape, people standing in a circle for example. Other times, a figure’s pose will be triangular. However, sometimes an artist will draw out an obvious square or circle. This is very common in modern avant-garde or abstract art.
Let’s look at some examples…
Anton Mengs painted a vision of Mt. Parnassus where the mythical Muses, the goddesses of the arts, lived. They are joined by their father, the god Apollo, and mother. In the center, Apollo’s body is thick and rectangular like the pillar to his left or the trees behind him. He is tall and strongly built and looks powerful and stable. Flanking him, the women are evenly divided into two groups of five. But the goddesses aren’t merely standing in a boring line. The women form a circle. They and Apollo also create a triangular shape with the god forming the apex.
This work is from an era known as Neo-Classicism. Classicism is a style that values stability, simplicity, and reason. The “neo” prefix means that those values were updated for 18th century customs and tastes. This mythological family portrait has all these traits. It is symmetrical, logical, simple, but active. While Apollo just stands there, the Muses dance, sing, talk, and write. As the line of the circle arcs around from the back to the front, it highlights their action. It draws the viewer’s attention as it gets closer to our personal space. The triangle stabilizes the active circle, centering it on the composed Apollo. Notice how as the figures move from the edges of the painting to the center, their actions become quieter.
Finally, look at the two Muses that anchor the two ends, the one in red on the left and the one opposite her with the large blue orb. Their similar triangular poses mirror each other. As the line of the circle shoots out from Apollo towards the edges and curves back inward toward the center, these two women anchor the motion, grounding the shape, stabilizing it. This holds everything in.
In this work, Kasimir Malevich has placed a solid black square in the absolute center of a pure white canvas. That’s it. This style of art, called Suprematism, relies on the viewer’s pure, impulsive reaction stimulated by basic geometric shape and colors. The white canvas is the base from which everything emerges, like an artistic primordial soup. It is nothing. Empty. The void. The large black square sits in the exact middle of the white. Since black and white are opposite colors, what they symbolize in the painting is also opposite. Where white is nothing, black is everything. Since white is empty, black is not. It has mass.
According to this work, shapes can also stimulate feelings or thoughts. Of the three elementary forms: circle, square, and triangle, the square is the most stable and dramatic. The unending curve of a circle is smooth, gentle, and soft but not fixed. A triangle’s stability depends on whether it sits on a base or one of the angles. If the point is at the top, it’s balanced. If it points down, it’s unbalanced. Its diagonal sides and sharp angles also imply movement or drama. The square is stable and always solid no matter on which side it rests. Its four right angles, creating true verticals and horizontals are logical and unchangeable.
What Malevich is attempting with this work is a modern reinterpretation of a timeless and universal concept—the conflict of opposites. But he is also trying to unify viewers with common ideas by stimulating something we all have—emotions, with imagery we all understand—shape and color.
Here, Claude Monet uses orange and blue to recreate a rising sun shining through the early morning fog of a harbor. The painting is mostly blue. The boats and figures are loosely rendered to give the impression of a hazy morning. Through this quiet scene a small orange ball blazes low in the morning sky. Notice how small the sun is to the rest of the painting but still dominates the work. The circle doesn’t have to be huge to be noticeable. The contrast between the two colors is so absolute that they almost clash. Blue and orange are complementary, opposites on the color wheel. Orange’s bright intensity radiates and draws the viewer’s eye to it. The blue brings out the brilliance of the orange and causes it to shimmer and glow with more intensity, just like the sun. Monet applies color to recreate what he saw, and the sensations aroused by this scene.
Of the elements of art, color and shape are probably the most recognizable among humanity. A master artist can communicate his overall message by exploiting their basic qualities. So, although very simple, they can invoke feelings and emotions in the viewer.
Lady Bison 