Theory of Arts:

AN INTRODUCTION TO ART, CULTURE AND CRITICAL THINKING

FALL 2021
Dr. Anna-Maria Moubayed
Department of Philosophy - University of Navarra
 2

Theory of Arts Week 2: Style, Form, Content, Medium and Composition

 3

On the Schedule Today

Style

Form

Content

Composition

Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night, 1889.

 4

what should make an artwork/artist part of the canon?

Is the artist an author?
HOW will the Canon look like in 2100?
 5
Sculpture
Paint Medium (pl. = media) - Beads
- Acrylic
- Clay
- Enamel Drawing Print - Found objects
- Gesso - Chalk pastel - Etching - Jewels
- Glaze - Charcoal - Intaglio - Marble
- Ink - Colored pencil - Metals
- Oil Marker
- Papier-maché
- Tempera - Oil pastel Monument - Plaster
- Watercolour - Pen and ink
- Plastic
Used on: Canvas, Cloth, Glass,
Metal, Paper, Wood
- Sand
Installation - Stone
Architecture - Textile
Photography Performance - Wax
Video - Wire
- Wood
 6

Style
Style refers to the consistent and characteristic handling of media, elements of form, and principles of design
that make a work identifiable as aparticular culture, period, region, group, or person .
• Style is made of Form and Composition, which make a work distinctive.
 7

Culture Style
Societies develop their own beliefs and style of material forms (clothing, buildings, etc.)
• Artists are a product of their culture

What is indigenous art by Anishinaabe artist: Michael Belmore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdEbxlPaxuc
 8

Period Style
Styles change over time
• Art changes because of economic & political changes, new technology, religious insight
• Sometimes a desire for something new comes along
 9

Regional Style
Geography also leads to diverse styles
• It may be conscious decision or caused by a mere lack of communication over distance
(i.e. variations in 9th century illuminated manuscripts)
 10

Group Style
Sometimes artists form alliances, exhibit together and publicize
their aims as a group to promote a distinct style
 11

Personal style
Individual artists often have characteristic
modes of personal expression

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX02
QQXfb_o

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, oil on

canvas, 1982.
Sold for $110.5 million
 12

Praxiteles,
Aphrodite of
Knidos, 4th c. BCE

Pablo Picasso, Les

demoiselles d’Avignon,
oil on canvas, 1907.
 13

Art is Form + Content

In the most basic way, art can be thought of as having two parts:
1) Form (formal aspects of art and how the artwork is made)
2) Content (subject matter of the artwork)

Formal Analysis
Looking at a work of art to try to understand what the
artist wants to convey visually
1) Line
2) Shape
3) Color
4) Texture
5) Space and Mass
6) Composition
7) Scale
Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergères, oil
on canvas, 1881-1882
 1) Line 14

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, oil on Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, oil on
canvas, 1503 canvas, 1903-1907.
 15

Egon Schiele, Self-portrait with

Physalis, oil on canvas, 1912.
1) Line and Shape 16
 17

2) Shape

Paul Cézanne, Still-life with Skull, oil on canvas, 1898. Pieter Claesz, Still-life with a Skull and a Writing Quill,
oil on canvas, 1628.
 18

2) Colour

Pieter Claesz, Still-life with a Skull and a Writing

Barnett Newman, Voice of Fire, 1967, National Gallery, Ottawa Quill, oil on canvas, 1628.
 19

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1968 (MoMA)

20
 21

Giovanni Bellini, Madonna and Child, ca. 1470

 22

4) Texture

Meret Oppenheim, Object, 1936.

Albrecht Dürer, Young Hare, 1502..
23
 24

Close up of a
Van Gogh’s
painting
 25

4) Space and Mass

Édouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergères, oil

on canvas, 1881-1882
Gislebertus, Last Judgement Tympanum,ca. 1120,.
Autun Cathedral.
26
 27

Masaccio, Holy Trinity, fresco, 1426-28.

28
29
 30

6) Composition

Sandro Botticelli, Primavera,

late 1470s, or early 1480s.
 31

7) Scale

Giotto, Madonna and Child, ca. 1305-1310

 32

Quick review of what we’ve seen so far

•Subject Matter/Content: It is not a school but
a gathering of important Greek philosophers.

•Materials and Technique: Raphael painted in

the style of fresco.

•Composition: The School of Athens is done in

a pyramidal composition which is very
characteristic of Raphael and the High
Renaissance. (period style)

•Use of Color: Raphael uses mostly natural

colors with lots of browns and greys. He uses
some orange and blue but mostly very earthly
tones. Raphael did not use bright colors
because he intended the mood to be more Raphael, School of Athens, 1509-1511.
solemn.
 33

•Lines and Forms: Raphael gives his figures mass,

bulk and weight by using perspective, drapery,
chiaroscuro, and contrapposto. The way the
clothing of the figures falls on their bodies gives
them a sense of underlying body structure. All the
lines converge between Plato and Aristotle's
heads which gives it the pyramidal composition.
There is also an interest in accurate body
proportion, which is reminiscent of classical
Greek works.

•Sense of Movement: All characters in "The

School of Athens" are doing something. This
indicts a great sense of motion which is visible in
the poses of the figures.
Raphael, School of Athens, 1509-1511.
 34

•Use of Space: Although the painting seems crowded in some parts (especially around Plato and
Aristotle) Raphael creates a great sense of space. He has a vanishing point so the painting looks
like it goes back forever. He also paints the figures in the foreground larger than the rest which
adds to the sense of space.
35
36
 37

Formal Analysis
 38

Titian and/or Giorgione, Concert Champêtre, oil on canvas, 1510-11.

39
 40

Foreground Middle ground background

41
 42

Things to think about:

Where is the vanishing point?

What’s the focal point?
How would you describe the composition?
 43

Thanks!
Any questions?
Email me at:
amoubayed@external.unav.es