ch 1.9 (questions)

Chapter 1.9

Pattern and Rhythm

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Copyright © 2011 Thames & Hudson

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Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields

Chapter 1.9 Pattern and Rhythm

Introduction

Artists use pattern and rhythm to bring order to space and to create a dynamic experience of time

When events recur, this creates a pattern

Patterns are created by the recurrence of an art element

In a work of art, the repetition of such patterns gives a sense of unity

Rhythm arises through the repetition of pattern

The rhythm of a series of linked elements guides the movement of our eyes across and through a design

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Pattern

The use of repetition in a work of art usually results in the creation of a pattern

Artists often create unity in works of art by repeatedly using a similar shape, value, or color, for example

An artist can use repetition of a pattern to impose order on a work

Sometimes artists use alternating patterns to make awork more lively

The area covered by pattern is called the field

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1.149 Horizontal alternating pattern

Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room

• Includes three contrasting patterns– The blue bed covering, in

the lower portion of the painting

– The green-and-white striped pattern in the woman’s pajama bottoms

– Above the figure is a mottled pattern

• The differences in these patterns energize the work

1.150 Suzanne Valadon, The Blue Room, 1923. Oil on canvas, 35½ × 45⅝”. Musée National d’Art Moderne,Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

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Motif

A design repeated as a unit in a pattern is called a motif

Motifs can represent ideas, images, and themes that can be brought together through the use of pattern

An artist can create a strong unified design by repeating a motif

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Gateway to Art:



Huqqa base

Elements, such as the flowers and leaves of the plants, recur at intervals

1.151 Huqqa base, India, Deccan, last quarter of 17th century. Bidri ware (zinc alloy inlaid with brass), 6⅞ x 6½ in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

1.152 slide 1: Pashmina carpet with millefleur pattern, northern India, Kashmir or Lahore, second half of 17th century. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

1.152 slide 2: Detail of pashmina carpet with millefleur pattern

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Pashmina carpet with millefleur pattern

Flower-like motifs are arranged in a pattern in the center

Click the image above to launch the video

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Chapter 1.7 Scale and Proportion


Chuck Close, Self Portrait

• Uses motif to unify his paintings• Uses a repeated pattern of

organic concentric rings set into a diamond shape as the basic building blocks for his large compositions

• There is a difference between a close-up view of the painting and the overall effect when we stand back from this enormous canvas

• The motif that Close uses is the result of a technical process

• A grid that subdivides the entire image organizes the placement of each cell

1.153a Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 1997. Oil on canvas, 8’6” × 7’. MOMA, New York

1.153b Chuck Close,Self Portrait, detail

1.153c Chuck Close, Self Portrait, detail

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Randomness

The introduction of chance symbolizes anti-order

Artists who introduce randomness to a work try toavoid predictable repetition

Works made in this way purposely contradict widelyused traditional methods

Hans Arp, Trousse d’un Da

• Dada reveled in absurdity, irrationality, the flamboyantly bizarre, and the shocking

• Arp worked on creating “chance” arrangements

• Arp claimed that the arrangement of the shapes happened by random placement

1.154 Hans Arp, Trousse d’un Da,1920–21. Assemblage of driftwood nailed onto wood with painting remains, 15 x 10½ x 1¾”. Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France

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Rhythm

Rhythm gives structure to the experience of looking, just as it guides our eyes from one point to another in a work of art

There is rhythm when there are at least two points of reference in an artwork

The intervals between elements provide points of reference for more complex rhythms

Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow

• We see not only large rhythmic progressions that take our eye all around the canvas, but also refined micro-rhythms in the repetition of such details as the trees, houses, birds, and colors

• The party of hunters on the left side first draws our attention into the work

• Our gaze then travels from the left foreground to the middle ground on the right

• We then look at the background of the work

• As a result of following this rhythmic progression, our eye has circled round the whole picture

1.155 slide 1: Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow, 1565. Oil on panel, 46 x 63¾ in. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria

1.155 slide 2: Detail of Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow

1.155 slide 3: Detail of Pieter Bruegel, Hunters in the Snow

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Simple Repetitive Rhythm

A repeating “pulse” of similar elements sets up a visual rhythm that a viewer can anticipate

Such regularity communicates reassurance

The design of buildings is often intended to reassure us about the stability and durability of the structure

For this reason, architectural designs often incorporate simple repetition

Great Mosque of Córdoba

• Each of the repeating elements—columns, arches, and voussoirs—creates its own simple rhythm

• The accumulation of these simple repetitions also enhances the function of the space and becomes a part of the activity of worship, like prayer beads, reciting the Shahada (profession of faith), or the five-times-a-day call to prayer

1.156 Great Mosque of Córdoba, prayer hall of Abd al-Rahman I, 784–6, Córdoba, Spain

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Progressive Rhythm

Repetition that regularly increases or decreases in frequency creates a progressive rhythm as the eyemoves faster or slower across the surface of the work

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Alternating Rhythm

Artists can intertwine multiple rhythms until theybecome quite complex

Alternation of rhythms can add unpredictabilityand visual excitement

Bai-ra-Irrai

• The imagery above the entry of this bai begins, at the bottom, with the regular rhythms of horizontal lines of fish, but the images above become increasingly irregular as they change to other kinds of shapes

1.158 slide 1: Bai-ra-Irrai, originally built c. 1700 and periodically restored, Airai village, Airai State, Republic of Palau

1.158 slide 2: Detail of Bai-ra-Irrai

Goya, The Third of May, 1808Visual Rhythm in the Composition

• It can be divided up into two distinct rhythmic groups

• Although the number of figures in each group is the same, they are distributed very differently

– The group of French soldiers on the right stands in a pattern so regulated it is almost mechanical

– On the left side, the rhythms are irregular and unpredictable

• The alternating rhythm in this painting leads our eye from the figure in white, through a group of figures, downward to the victims on the ground

• It helps define our ideas about humanity and inhumanity

1.159 Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808, 1814. Oil on canvas, 8’4⅜” x 11’3⅞”. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

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Rhythmic Design Structure

How artists divide visual space into different sections to achieve different kinds of effect

Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing of the Vines

• A horizontal structure leads our eye in sequence from one group of shapes to the next

• Bonheur expertly organizes the composition, emphasizing the cumulative effect of the rhythm of the groupings as they move from left to right

• By changing the width of the gaps between the animals, Bonheur suggests their irregular movement as they plod forward

• Each group also has a different relative size and occupies a different amount of space, creating a visual rhythm

1.160a Rosa Bonheur, Plowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing of the Vines, 1849. Oil on canvas, 4’4¾” x 8’6⅜”.Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France

1.160b Rhythmic structural diagram of 1.160a

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Conclusion

In works of art, good composition articulates patterns and rhythms in a way that grabs our attention

Because the visual rhythm of pattern is predictable, it tends to unify a work of art

Some artists try to contradict pattern by imposing randomness and chance to free a work from what they see as suffocating orderliness

Irregular rhythm can make a work seem unpredictable or make us feel uneasy

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PowerPoints developed by CreativeMyndz Multimedia Studios


This concludes the PowerPoint slide set for Chapter 1.9

Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts By Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields

Copyright © 2011 Thames & Hudson

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1.149 Ralph Larmann

1.150 Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

1.151 Metropolitan Museum of Art, Louis E. and Theresa S. Seley Purchase Fund for Islamic Art, and Rogers Fund, 1984. Photo Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence

1.152 Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

1.153a, 1.153b, 1.153c Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Agnes Gund, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Donald L. Bryant, Jr., Leon Black, Michael and Judy Ovitz, Anna Marie and Robert F. Shapiro, Leila and Melville Straus, Doris and Donald Fisher, and purchase, Acc. no. 215.2000. Photo Ellen Page Wilson, courtesy The Pace Gallery © Chuck Close, The Pace Gallery

1.154 © DACS 2011

1.155 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

1.156 iStockphoto.com

1.157 Please note that this image is not available for digital use but can be found on page 148 of the textbook.

1.158 © WaterFrame/Alamy

1.159 Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

1.160a Musée d’Orsay, Paris

1.160b Ralph Larmann

Picture Credits for Chapter 1.9

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STUDY QUESTIONS CH 1.9

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1.This principle of design arises from repetition of a pattern.

a. Balanceb. Focal pointc. Unityd. None of these answerse. RhythmFeedback/Reference: Page 142

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2. Sometimes artists use this kind of changing pattern to make a work more lively.

a. Alternating patternb. Focal patternc. Interval patternd. Repetitive patterne. Balanced patternFeedback/Reference: Page 142

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3. In Islamic art it is not uncommon to see complex interlaced __________, which are designs repeated as units in a pattern.

a. arabesquesb. mihrabsc. motifsd. qiblase. none of theseFeedback/Reference: Page 143

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4. The artist Chuck Close used a repeated pattern of organic concentric rings set into a diamond pattern to create his large __________ .

a. sculpturesb. ceramicsc. paintingsd. glasswaree. printsFeedback/Reference: Page 144

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5. Chuck Close’s Self Portrait of 1997 is made up of small units that are unrecognizable, or __________ .

a. abstractb. representationalc. stylizedd. realistice. expressionisticFeedback/Reference: Page 144

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6. Using automatic reactions to apply art materials in such a way as consciously to deny order can lead to __________ in art.

a. structureb. balancec. unityd. randomnesse. proportionFeedback/Reference: Page 146

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7. The German-French sculptor Hans Arp worked on creating "__________ " arrangements to communicate the ideas of the Dada movement.

a. chanceb. controlledc. rigidd. solide. none of theseFeedback/Reference: Page 146

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8. When there are at least two points of reference in an artwork, __________ is present.

a. sizeb. rhythmc. proportiond. linee. focal pointFeedback/Reference: Page 146

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9. In this sixteenth-century work, the Dutch artist Pieter Bruegel uses rhythm to direct the viewer’s attention through the work.

a. Trousse d’un Dab. The Third of May 1808c. The Blue Roomd. Hunters in the Snowe. Artichoke HalvedFeedback/Reference: Pages 147–48

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10. This is a way in which artists divide visual space into different kinds of sections to achieve different rhythmic effects.

a. Randomnessb. Unityc. Contrastd. Linear perspective rhythme. Rhythmic design structure

ch 1.9 (questions)

Education

repetition of pattern

use of pattern

pattern artists

pattern patterns

whitestriped pattern

amottled pattern

work of art

visual arts