Emphasis
Read this text to see how artists use the element of emphasis to express the main idea of their artwork.
Artists can attain emphasis – the area of primary visual importance –
in several ways. We have just seen how it can be a
function of differences in scale. Emphasis can also be obtained by
isolating an area or specific subject matter through
its location or color, value, and texture. The main emphasis in a
composition is usually supported by areas of lesser importance, a
hierarchy within an artwork that's activated and sustained at different
levels.
Like other artistic principles, emphasis can be expanded to include the main idea in a work of art. Let's look at the following work to explore this.
We can clearly determine the figure in the white shirt as the main emphasis in Francisco de Goya's painting The Third of May, 1808.
Even though his location is left of center, a candle lantern in front
of him acts as a spotlight, and his dramatic
stance reinforces his relative isolation from the rest of the crowd.
Moreover, the soldiers with their aimed rifles create an implied line
between themselves and the figure. There is a rhythm created by all the
figures' heads – roughly all at the
same level throughout the painting – that is continued in the
soldiers' legs and scabbards to the lower right. Goya counters the
horizontal emphasis by including the distant church and its vertical
towers in the background.
In terms of the idea, Goya's narrative painting gives witness to the
summary execution of Spanish resistance fighters by Napoleon's armies on
the night of May 3rd, 1808. He poses the figure in the white shirt to
imply a crucifixion as he faces his own
death, and his compatriots surrounding him either clutch their faces
in disbelief or stand stoically with him, looking their executioners in
the eyes. While the carnage occurs in front of us, the church
stands dark and silent in the distance.
The genius of Goya is his ability to direct the narrative content through
the emphasis he places on his composition.
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The Third of May 1808, 1814. Oil on canvas. The Prado Museum, Madrid
A second example showing emphasis is seen in Landscape with Pheasants, a silk tapestry from 19th-century China. Here the main focus is obtained in a couple
of different ways. First, the pair of birds are woven in colored
silk, setting them apart visually from the gray landscape they inhabit.
Secondly, their placement at the top of the outcrop of land allows them
to stand out against the light
background, their tail feathers mimicked by the nearby leaves. The
convoluted treatment of the rocky outcrop keeps it in competition with
the pheasants as a focal point, but in the end, the pair of birds' color
wins out.
A final example of emphasis covers design features and the idea behind the art. Many world cultures include artworks in ceremonies and rituals. African Bwa Masks are large, graphically painted in black and white, and usually attached to fiber costumes that cover the head. They depict mythic characters and animals or are abstract and have a stylized face with a tall, rectangular wooden plank attached to the top. In any manifestation, the mask and the dance for which they are worn are inseparable. They become part of a community outpouring cultural expression and emotion.
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.