The Point
Read this text, which discusses the most basic visual element: the point.
A point is a visual element upon which all others
are based. It can be defined as a singularity in space or, in geometric
terms, the area where two coordinates meet. When an artist marks a
simple point on a surface (also referred to
as the ground), they immediately create a figure-ground relationship. They divide the work between its surface and anything added to
it. Our eyes differentiate between the two, and their arrangement has
everything
to do with how we see a final composition. The point itself can be
used as a way to create forms.
For example, Pointillism
is a style of painting made famous by the French artist Georges Seurat
in the late nineteenth century. He and
others in the Pointillist group created paintings by juxtaposing
points – or dots – of color that optically mixed to form lines, shapes,
and forms within a composition. Look at a detail from Seurat's La Parade de Cirque to see how this works.
His large canvas Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte is a
testament to the pointillist style and aesthetic. Its creation was a
painstaking process that generated new ways of thinking about
color and form.
Georges Seurat, La Parade de Cirque, detail, 1887-89. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Saylor Academy Knowledge Check
Source: Christopher Gildow, http://opencourselibrary.org/art-100-art-appreciation/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.