The Elements of Art #3

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 of these elements are line and perspective.

In art, line is similar to what you learned in kindergarten. They can be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, thick or thin, straight, angular (such as angles and zigzags), or curvilinear (squiggly lines). When line is used as an outline to define the shape of forms, images, or group of images, it is called contour. Many times, lines are implied rather than drawn outright. An artist can also use them to direct a viewer’s eyes around a work of art.

Perspective is an illusion of depth or distance on a shallow or flat surface. This can be done in two ways. The first is called atmospheric or aerial perspective. Think about a time when you went to the top of a hill or building and looked out over the landscape. Remember how the more distant the land got from you the hazier and more purply-blue it appeared? The earth’s atmosphere was diffusing the light waves that were reflecting off distant objects. By the time they reached your eye, the higher wavelengths of light were gone, leaving the lower, bluer tones. Artists replicate this phenomenon in their paintings to give the appearance of distance.

The second way is linear perspective. This is the idea that if the lines that define the receding edges of buildings, for example, were continued, they would seem to merge at a single vanishing point. These converging lines are called orthogonals. Think of the parallel lines of railroad tracks that appear to meet in the distance.

Let’s look at some ways in which lines and perspective are used…

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In this fresco (a painting on wet plaster), Italian artist Masaccio uses linear perspective to create the illusion of a small chapel where there is really a flat wall. The room is occupied by the Christian Holy Trinity: God the Father stands behind the crucified Son of God, Jesus Christ. Hovering between their heads is a white dove representing the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. The chapel is lifted off the floor by a seven-foot-high altar on which the Virgin Mary and St. John the Disciple are placed. At almost twenty-three feet high in total, this painting towers over the viewer.

The room’s orthogonals converge at a point below the foot of the Cross in the center of the altar’s top, a point above average human height, drawing the viewer’s attention here. Traditionally, sacrifices were made on an altar. Christians believe that the crucifixion of Jesus was a sacrifice made to redeem humanity from sin and death. In churches, small crucifixes were placed on altars to remind worshipers of this. Here, Masaccio has created three-dimensional beings with mass inhabiting an actual space. The death of Christ was real, he says, and the believer is asked to remember His sacrifice for them.

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French artist Claude Lorrain creates a peaceful, quiet landscape. It is nowhere specific but represents an ideal. Hidden by a small group of trees on the right, the landscape opens up on the left and recedes into a seemingly infinite space. A flowing river, lush pasture, and rolling hills extend as far as the eye can see. In the far distance the hills and mountains are a blue color to give the illusion of distance and glow pink in the sunset. Although the canvas is flat, the blue hills and ill-defined castle give the sense of great distance. Lorrain wanted to create a peaceful painting. Here natural beauty and quiet go on forever. This is a painting one can look at, get lost in, and enjoy.

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In The Last Judgement, Michelangelo uses whirling line in his vision of the Christian end of the world. At the bottom left, the dead ascend from their graves. The Saved are welcomed in the top left, but the Damned are thrown down on the right. This rising of forms on one side and falling on the other create a swirling motion that animates the entire painting. At the apex of the swirl, in the top center, is Christ himself overseeing and directing the action like an orchestra conductor. His form twists, emphasizing the dramatic action of the event. Michelangelo created a hurricane of human forms to communicate the drama and emotion of the end of days.

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In the hands of a master, line becomes more than just a definition of shapes. It also gives motion and drama to a still medium. Perspective tricks the viewer’s eye. It erases walls and creates believable new worlds. With these elements, the artist becomes a magician.