Chapter
12
1 • 10
Barbara Chase-Riboud, Bathers, 1973. Floor relief, cast aluminum and
silk in 16 pieces, 400 x 400 x 12 cm.
Barbara Chase-Riboud does not limit her image to a superficial presentation of
subject, bathers. She reveals deeper formal meanings with the repitition of cast
undulating surface folds and the contrast of metal against flowing silk coils.
Courtesy of the artist and Jernigan Wicker Fine Arts, CA.
often derives from an artist s private
experiences. These experiences are so
personal that it is sometimes difficult for
an observer to understand the message
unless he or she has had the same kind of
experiences as the artist. The definitions
of subject, form, and content that follow
below are traditional. However, as we
look at the illustrations in the book, we
will recognize the contemporary blurring
of these definitions. With that in mind, it
may be easier to cope with works that
defy our usual understanding of art.
Beyond art's three basic components,
there are certain principles of
organization—harmony, variety, balance,
movement, proportion, dominance, and
economy—that contemporary artworks
may not always follow. Although some
may quarrel with the observance of these
principles in certain works, no one can
argue with their constituent basics: the
elements of line, shape, value, texture,
and color. All artists must deal with these
elements either alone or in combination.
They may be the guiding forces for
organization and interpretation. As a
consequence, content may have an
opportunity to appear. Thus, to
summarize, in art we have the motivation
(subject), the substantiation (form), and
communication (content).
THE THREE BASIC
COMPONENTS OF A
WORK OF ART
Subject
A subject is a person, a thing, or an
idea. The person or thing will be pretty
clear to the average observer, but the idea
may not be. In abstract or semiabstract works, the subject may be
somewhat perceivable, but in
nonobjective works, the subject is the
idea behind the form of the work, and it
communicates with those who can read
the language of form (fig. 1.10). Whether
13
Introduction
recognized or not, the subject is
important only to the degree that the
artist is motivated by it. Thus, subject is
just a starting point; the way it is
presented or formed to give it
expression is the important
consideration.
Music, like any area of art, deals
with subjects and makes an interesting
comparison with the visual arts. In the
latter, the subject is frequently the
particular thing(s) viewed and
reproduced by the artist. But at other
times, art parallels music in presenting a
"nonrecognizable" subject; the subject is,
of course, an idea rather than a thing.
Music sometimes deals with recognizable
sounds—thunderstorms and bird songs
in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony or taxi
horns in Gershwin's An American in Paris.
Although rather abstractly treated, these
may be the musical equivalents of
recognizable subjects in an artwork.
By way of contrast, Beethoven's Fifth
Symphony or Gershwin's Concerto in F are
strictly collections of musical ideas. In
the dance medium, choreography often
has no specific subject, but dancing in
Copland's ballet Rodeo is, to a degree,
subject-oriented. All of the arts have
subjects that obviously should not be
judged alone, but by what is done with
them (fig. 1.11).
Form
The term form is used in various
ways when referring to art objects. When
applied to sculpture, form refers to the
1 - 11
Charles Sheeler, Composition around Red (Pennsylvania), 1958. Oil on canvas, 26 X 33 in.
The subject—a man-made structure—is clear enough. However, a work of art should not be judged by its
subject alone but rather by how that subject is treated.
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The Blount Collection of American Arc
Chapter
14
I • 13
W. Eugene Smith, Spanish Wake, 1951.
Photograph.
The emotional factor in the content of this photograph is quite evident (and with this particular
subject would probably always be so). However, the artist-photographer has enhanced the
content by his handling of the situation.
© W. Eugene Smith/Black Star.
1 • 12
Uli Figure, New Zealand.
Painted wood figure, 59 in. (152 cm)
high.
To illustrate the different meanings of the term
"form," we may say that the forms in this
piece of sculpture are the open and solid
individual shapes, or that the form of the work
consists of the total assembly of those
individual parts.
Hamburgisches Museum FtirVolkerkunde.
total organization or composition. A
sculpture's appearance is a result of the
use of the elements of line, texture,
color, shape, and value and their
relationship to the principles of
harmony and variety. Form does not
refer exclusively to the sculpture's shape,
although a successful shape is the result
of good composition (fig. 1.12).
Sculptors may refer to "forms," on the
other hand, as the shapes suggested by
cavities or protuberances.
Formal organization, even when
applied to two-dimensional work,
involves all the visual devices available to
the artist in the material of his or her
choice. Using these devices, artists must
make their arrangement and
manipulation most effective for what is
being expressed. Some artists arrange
more intuitively than others, some more
logically. With experience, however, all of
them develop an instinctive feeling for
organization.
Form (including the principles of
order) is so important to the creation and
understanding of art that we devote an
entire chapter to it in this book. The
principles of formal order are flexible,
with no dogmatic rules; every work is
different and has its own unique
problems. Nevertheless, despite their
flexibility, the principles are employed to
give the work a meaningful construction.
Content
The emotional or intellectual message of
an artwork is its content, a statement,
expression, or mood read into the work
by its observer, ideally synchronized with
the artist's intentions. For example, the
15
Introduction
artist W. Eugene Smith delivers meaning
through the subject and associated symbols
of death (fig. 1.13). In this work, form
provides additional subconscious meaning
through the use of blacks and somber
grays, a reduced awareness of texture, and
the emphasis of low diagonals. For many
people, content is confined to familiar
associations, usually by feelings aroused by
known objects or ideas. This is obviously
self-limiting—limited to those observers
who have had similar experiences. A much
broader and, ultimately, more meaningful
content is not utterly reliant on the image
but reinforced by the form created by the
artist. This content is found in abstract as
well as more realistic works.
Although all visual artworks require
some degree of abstraction, a greater
degree is often more difficult to
understand and appreciate; sometimes this
"appreciation" is, instead, revulsion and
confusion! "Abstraction" is a term
frequently misunderstood and sometimes
incorrectly applied. It is often a process
that imposes itself on the artist in reaching
the desired effect in a work, although this
effect is not always foreseen while the
work is in progress. Abstraction usually
involves reordering and emphasis—in
short, the route taken to arrive at a certain
result. It is a stripping-down to expressive
and communicative essentials. The end
result is not always appreciated by
observers conditioned to expect a literal
copying of a subject (fig. 1.14).
Although simplification frequently
results, changes in direction toward
abstraction do not mean a less profound
outcome; instead, they are intended
to make the deeper meaning more
accessible. When an observer's
expectation is literal, the intended
content of the artwork is often
misinterpreted. In the case of
nonobjective or nonliteral abstraction, the
"objective" is the content, as in all art (see
fig. 6.6).The content in such work is
generally subjective and sometimes totally
invented, and a subject, if one exists
(although normally it does not) is unseen.
We often see the term "abstract" used
comprehensively for all art that is both
derivative and nonderivative.We think a
distinction should be made. In truth,
abstract is more often a verb than a noun.
The progress toward content in the
development of an artwork generally
follows a certain course. The artist is
motivated by feelings about a subject
(which we shall call the "what").That
subject may or may not be a
Development toward Abstraction
Object
from
Nature
Naturalism
Realism
Semiabstract
Abstraction
(objective)
Fully
representational.
(very objective)
Representational
but emphasizing
the emotional.
(more subjective)
Partly representational but
simplified and
rearranged.
Based on a subject
but visually appears
nonobjective.
I • 14
Development leading toward abstraction.
Abstraction is a relative term because it is present in varying degrees in all works of art, from full
representation to complete nonobjectivity.
(nonobjective)
Nonrepresentational,
started without any
reference to subject
and assuming artistic
value resides in form
and content completely.
Chapter I
16
combining to produce
ORGANIC UNITY
I • 15
This diagram illustrates the interrelationship of
subject, form, and concept as described on
pages 12-16. Subject is not always the starting
point. In some instances, artists start by
exploring color or shape (the elements), and
discover meaning as they work. The positions
on the diagram and their degree of importance
may be changed. And, though the content is
revealed by the form, it might, in some
instances, be the motivating force. Whatever
the evolution, progression, or emphasis of the
components—subject, form, and content—
organic unity is the desired end.
representational likeness. The artist
then manipulates the artistic elements
(line, shape, etc.) to create the kind of
form (the "how") that will result in the
desired content (the "why").The
content expresses the artist's feelings
(fig. 1.15). In this process, the artist
attempts to make all parts of the work
mutually interactive and interrelated—
as they are in a living organism. If this
is achieved, we can call it organic
unity, containing nothing that is
unnecessary or distracting, with
relationships that seem inevitable.
A television set might be used as an
illustration of organic unity because it
has a complex of parts intended to
function together, like the organs in the
human body. A TV contains the
minimum number of parts necessary
to function, and these parts work only
when properly assembled with respect
to each other. When all the parts are
activated, they become organically
unified. As in the case of sophisticated
engineering, this sense of reciprocal
"wholeness" is also sought in art.
Wholeness is difficult to detect in
the works of some contemporary artists
who challenge tradition. In their works,
the distinctions between subject, form,
and content are blurred, lost, or
"muddied" because these components
are sometimes treated as identical. This
break with tradition requires a shift of
gears in our thinking. In
Conceptual art (a style; most art is
conceptual, to some degree), the
concept is foremost, the product is
considered negligible, and the concept
and subject seem to be one. In Process
art (another style), the act of producing
is the only significant aspect of the
artwork, thereby reducing form and
content to one entity. (See the Process
and Conceptual Art section in Chapter
10.) Styles that embrace such goals can
be quite puzzling if the aims of the
artist are not understood by the viewer.
Even conventional art forms
sometimes scramble the roles of the
components. Although content results
from form, content sometimes
functions as the precipitating force,
thereby placing it prior to the subject
in the scheme of things. Also, in some
cases, the developing form may mutate
into a subject and/or content altogether
different from that originally
conceived.
As previously suggested, many
people expect visual art to be
recognizable, representing such familiar
items as houses, flowers, people, trees, and
so on. When the artist reproduces such
things faithfully, the vision may be
thought of as the "real" world. The artist
who works in this manner could be
called a "perceptual" artist because he or
she records only what is perceived. But
in art, the "real" can supersede mere
optics; reality in art does often include
things seen but, more importantly,
includes our reactions to those things
(fig. 1.16). Artists who are more
concerned with responses than with
commonplace perceptions are
legitimately called "conceptual" because
they are idea-oriented.
Creativity emanates from ideas.
Generally speaking, an idea is born in
the mind. For the artist, it may be an
all-encompassing plan, a unique or
particularly suitable set of relationships
checKed
Tor
(however broad the scope), an attitude
that could be conveyed or a way of
conveying an attitude, or a solution to a
visual problem. In the artist's mind, the
idea occurs as mental imagery and may
be a "bolt from the blue" (inspiration?)
or the end product of much thoughtful
searching, some of which may be
reflected in numerous notes, sketches,
or repeated overhauling of the artwork.
All such creative enterprises are
occasionally plagued by mental blocks,
but they seem to afflict the fledgling
Introduction
17
artist most often. For the beginner, the
idea is conceived at a more pedestrian
level, being equated with subject ("I
don't know what to do!"). In such
situations, a familiar object or
experience is the best bet as a starter,
supplemented by the brainstorming of
anything remotely related. In art, an
idea is of value only when converted
into visual reality; sometimes this is the
more difficult problem, sometimes not,
depending on the fertility of one's
imagination.
I • 16
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889.
Oil on canvas, 29 x 36% in. (73.7 x
92.1 cm).
Surveying the landscape is a fairly common
experience, but few (if any) of us see
landscapes with the perception and intensity
of van Gogh.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired
through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. Photograph © 1998
the Museum of Modern Art, New York.