Chapter 2

Visual Communication

• Subject matter - What the artist is conveying

• Media - The tools and materials the artist used

• Craftsmanship - The ability to make objects attractive

• Design - The grammar, or structure, of visual language

The artist has used the medium of a fabric quilt to depict a series of Biblical images.
Can you identify the subject matter of any of these scenes?
Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt, 1898 American
Pierced and appliqued cotton embroidered with plain and metallic yarns, 69” x 105”
 Chardin has used the student artist as his subject.
What impression is he trying to convey about this laboring student?
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Young Student Drawing, 1738, French
Oil on wood, 8.25” x 6.75” (detail)
 2.1 Subject Matter: What Is the Art
Saying?

Subject matter may be things, such as people, objects,

landscapes or animals. Subject matter may also be
ideas such as war, love, loneliness or joy. Some
artists are concerned with purely design aspects of
creating art,
such as color and proportion.

Artists’ attitudes towards subject matter has changed

greatly over the course of history and civilization.
 Narrative Subjects
In narrative paintings the artist is telling a story. Within this large painting, artist Pieter
Brueghel included numerous small scenes of peasant life that form a larger story of life in that
time and society.
Pieter Brueghel, Peasant Wedding, 1566, Netherlandish. Oil on panel, 44” x 63”
 Durer has chosen a close-up view of plants as subject matter.
There is no narrative “story” being told in this highly detailed image of nature.
Albrecht Durer, The Great Piece of Turf, 1503, German. Watercolor on paper, 16 x 12”
 Religious Subjects
Any religious figure from any religion in the world can be the subject of a work of art.
The Mayan maize god pictured here held great significance for the Mayan people.
Maize God, 775 AD, Honduras. Limestone, 35 x 31”
 Literary Subjects
Artists may use literary subjects, such as the Bible, or famous myths and legends on which to
base their
artwork. This painting illustrates a scene from Washington Irving’s story of Rip Van Winkle, the
man who fell asleep for 20 years and awakened to see his village and himself transformed to
the point where they did not recognize one another.
John Quidor, The Return of Rip van Winkle, 1849, American. Oil on canvas, 40 x 50”
 Landscapes
Landscapes are paintings of the natural environment, a subject which has engaged
artists throughout he centuries. Here the Chinese artist Hsia Kuei used ink on silk to
show a misty view of a river and mountain, using a minimum amount of detail to evoke
a particular mood.

Hsia Kuei, Views from a Thatched Hut, 1230, Chinese. Ink on silk, 11” tall
 Cityscapes
Views of urban environments, including streets, buildings and activities taking place
there are called cityscapes. The French artist Corot painted this view of the Italian
city of Venice in 1834. He made preparatory sketches and notations before painting
this in his studio.

Jean-Baptiste Corot, View of Venice, 1834, French. Oil on canvas, 18 x 27”

 The Human Figure
Artists have used the human
figure as subject matter for
many reasons over the
centuries. The ancient
Greeks considered the human
figure to be the ideal of
beauty, and it was perfectly
acceptable to display well-
toned and proportioned nudes
to be admired by all viewers.

The human figure is a

complex form that changes
dramatically with the slightest
shift in weight, or twist in
posture. It is also capable of a
tremendous range of
expression and emotion.

Myron, Discus Thrower,

Roman marble copy after
Greek bronze, 450 BC, life-
size
European society has sometimes considered nudity inappropriate for public display in
artwork. However, during the period known as the Renaissance the human nude was
celebrated; artists were fascinated by a rediscovery of ancient Greek traditions and
ideals, including the
study and portrayal of the human figure.
Peter Paul Rubens, Judgement of Paris, 1629, Flemish. Oil on panel, 57 x 77”
 Portraits
Portraits come in a variety of
sizes and shapes, but have
one thing in common—they
are representations of
people. Typically, a portrait
shows the face of a specific
person, regardless of
whether or not the entire
body is also depicted.
The pose may vary, as well
as any particular action the
person may be engaged in.
Hans Holbein, one of the
world’s great portrait
painters, painted England’s
Prince Edward VI for the
boy’s father, King Henry VIII,
in 1538.
Oil paint on panel, 22 x 17”
 Self-Portraits
Many artists make
pictures of
themselves, called
self-portraits. Frances
Benjamin Johnston,
depicted in her 1895
self-portrait
photograph, shows
herself as an
independent and
fearless woman.
 Historical Subjects
Important historical events have long been memorialized by artists. In 1939, African-
American artist Hale Woodruff painted a series of murals at Talladega College in
Georgia. These images tell the story of the 1839 revolt by Africans imprisoned on the
Portuguese slave ship Amistad. Following the slave revolt the ship landed in
Connecticut, where the Africans were acquitted, freed, and allowed to return to their
homeland.
Oil on canvas, 12 x 40,” 1840
 Genre Subjects
Genre painting refers to images of normal, everyday activities of ordinary people. A king and
queen posing on the throne is not a genre subject. Here, French artist Edgar Degas’ painting of
laundry workers shows two woman engaged in tedious labor. Oil on canvas, 1876, 26 x 32”
 Social Comment
An artist with strong political views may want to use artwork as a vehicle for expressing these
ideas. Social comment might criticize government leaders, war, or the structure of society.
Fernando Botero created this unflattering portrait of the Colombian presidential family in 1967.
Oil on canvas, 80 x 77”
 Still Life
Still life refers to images of inanimate objects — things that are not alive and cannot move.
Bottles, bowls, fruit, flowers and cloth often appear in these works. Paul Cezanne was a
French artist who created this oil painting in 1905; it was one of many still life paintings he
made. 32 x 39”
 Animals
Artists are often intrigued by
animals. Nearly all cultures have
portrayed birds and mammals
with great skill, both in realistic
and stylized versions. This
Alpaca from the early Inca
civilization is made of soldered
sheet silver. The artist shows
the fine long hair of this wool-
producing animal.
Undated, 9.5” tall
 Expression
While some artists
paint only what they
see with their eyes,
others, like El Greco,
include their inner
feelings about the
subject. When
personal and
emotional feelings are
added to a work, it is
an expressionist
artwork. This oil
painting of the
Spanish city of
Toledo seems
mysterious, scary and
brooding. 47 x 42 “
1610
 Abstraction
Abstraction is the simplification of subject matter into basic, often geometric shapes. Pablo
Picasso makes the simplified shapes themselves the subject of his 1928 oil painting. He
depicts a table as a simplified shape. The white oval on the right might represent a sculpture in
his studio. The two triangles in the center are a container, and pictures hang on the back wall.
The artist and his easel are on the left; he has three eyes! 59 x 91”
 Nonobjective Painting
In the twentieth century,
many artist created works
which did not refer to any
objects in the real world;
their fully abstract works
were only composed of
color, shape and line.
American artist Jackson
Pollack’s 1947 oil
painting, Full Fathom
Five, is 51 x 30.”