Movement

1
Movement

• Used by artists to direct viewers through their
  work, often to the focal area. Such movement can
  be directed along the lines and edges also by
  way of spaces and colors within the works.
  Movement is directed most easily on paths of
  equal value.

2
What does movement do?

• Artists use visual movement to take viewers on a
  trip through their work. When we look at art,
  our eyes move along edges and lines, and also on
  paths made of connecting shapes of similar color
  or value. Such movement often leads us to the
  focal area and gives our work a sense of unity
  and organization.

3
Moving along edged (contours)

• The outer edges (contours) of the bottle and
  flowers were emphasized by a student artist.
  Your eye moves along the edges toward the top
  flower which is the focal area.

4
Movement in Sculpture 3D

• Light often emphasizes the edges and forms of a
  sculpture. Note how Michelangelo carved the
  marble to the lit edges lead your eye upward to
  the head of Moses, which is the focus.

5
Your eyes follow shapes toward the center of
focus, or focal point.

• Your eye moves along elongated shapes toward the
  focus or center of interest.
• Do you think you can find such directional shapes
  and movement in realistic and abstract paintings?

6

• Painters direct movement in their work by making
  paths of similar values or colors, leading to the
  focus.
• How many such paths can you find in Mendocino
  Morning, by Gerald Brommer?

7
Value Paths Create movement to focal points

• Movement is created in the painting on the left
  as your eye travels from the little girl on the
  blanket and moves up the stairs. The light
  value paths of the blanket the wall behind the
  girl on the stairs is repeated. Our eyes move
  back and forth from these two areas, leading us
  to the focal points of the image, which are the
  girls on the blanket, as well as the girl going
  up the stairs.

8
Lines and Linear Movement

• You cannot get lost in this painting. Your eye
  must follow the lines from the outer edges of the
  painting to the focus the erupting volcano.
  This is called linear movement.

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Lines, Edges, Shapes Colors Lead us through
artwork

• A road map helps us find our way to our
  destination. In art, lines, edges, shapes, and
  colors help us move from outer edges to the focus
  of our work just like a road map.

10
Large Shapes lead us to Detailed Focal Area

• Movement to the focal area is felt when the outer
  shapes of a painting are simple and large, and
  the focal area is detailed and busy. Our eye
  naturally moves from simple to complex areas.

11
Visual Movement with shapes

• The main visual movement in this painting is on
  the zig-zag white shape, but movement is also
  seen on other edges and shapes to the focal area.

12
Using Repetition to Create Movement

• The use of repetition to create movement occurs
  when elements which have something in common are
  repeated regularly or irregularly sometimes
  creating a visual rhythm.

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Repetition doesnt have to be exact to create
movement.

• Repetition doesn't always mean exact duplication
  either, but it does mean similarity or
  near-likeness. Actually, slight variations to a
  simple repetition will add interest. Repetition
  tends to tie things together whether they are
  touching or not and is an easy way to achieve
  unity. This can be done with any of the elements
  of art (form, line, shape, value, texture or
  color).

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Effective Use of Repetition to Create Movement

• Repetition creates the movement in the painting
  on the left. The color of the gowns is repeated
  leading the eye into the painting. The pattern on
  the floor also creates repetition.

15
Using Rhythm to create movement

• Rhythm is the result of repetition which leads
  the eye from one area to another in direct,
  flowing, or staccato movement.
• It can be produced by continuous repetition, by
  periodic repetition, or by regular alternation of
  one of more forms or lines. A single form may be
  slightly changed with each repetition or be
  repeated with periodic changes in size, color,
  texture, or value. A line may regularly vary in
  length, weight, or direction. Color may also be
  repeated in various parts of the composition in
  order to unify the various areas of the painting.

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Using Action to create movement

• Movement can also be created by action. In
  two-dimensional works of art, action must be
  implied.
• Implied action in a painting creates life and
  activity within the composition.
• This is best illustrated by the direction the eye
  takes along an invisible path, which is called
  implied line, created by an arrow, a gaze, or a
  pointing finger.
• Action can also be indicated by the "freeze
  frame" effect of an object in motion, such as
  bouncing ball suspended in mid air, a jogger
  about to take that next step, or a swimmer taking
  a dive, etc.

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Using Optical Movement

• Optical Movement can also be used in a work of
  art. Artists such as Bridget Riley and Victor
  Vasarely used shape, color and line to create a
  physical sense of movement in works of art. This
  period of art is often times referred to as The
  Op Art Movement. Optical movement produces a
  disorienting physical effect on the eye.

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Summary make sure this information is on your
journal pages.

•  
• 1.       Definition of Movement used by artists
  to direct viewers through their work, often to a
  focal point. Such movement can be directed along
  the lines and edges also by way of shapes and
  colors within the work. Movement is directed
  most easily on paths of equal value.
• 2.       The purpose of movement is to create
  unity in artwork with eye travel.
• 3.       Movement in a work of art often leads us
  to the focal area and gives the work a sense of
  unity and organization.

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Movement can be achieved in art by using

• 1.       Repetition elements which have
  something in common are repeated in a work of art
• Rhythm - produced by continuous repetition, by
  periodic repetition, or by regular alternation of
  one of more forms or lines which leads the eye
  from one area to another in direct, flowing, or
  staccato movement (abrupt changes in forms or
  lines)

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• 1.       In Art Staccato refers to detached,
  short and disconnected, often using shapes, lines
  or forms
• 2.       Action - In two-dimensional works of
  art, action must be implied. The direction the
  eye takes along an invisible path created by an
  arrow, a gaze, or a pointing finger. Action can
  also be indicated by the "freeze frame" effect of
  an object in motion
• 3.       Linear movement the eye travels along
  a line path. The line can be either solid,
  broken or implied.

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• 1.       Implied Line A line that is visually
  suggested by the arrangement of forms, lights and
  darks, or other elements in a work of art. An
  implied line is not actually there, but leads the
  eye from one shape or form to another. (An
  example might be, if a person were pointing in a
  certain direction, you would look in that
  direction)
• 2.       Size Paths the eye follows larger
  elements to smaller elements
• 3.       Value Paths The eye follows dark
  elements to lighter elements
• 4.       Color Paths From colored areas to non
  colored areas, or changes in color values (light
  colors to darker colors)
• Shape Paths The eye follows unusual shapes to
  usual shapes, or larger shapes to smaller shapes

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• 1.       Our Eyes naturally move from simple to
  complex areas of a piece of artwork.
• 2.       Light Often Emphasizes the edges and
  forms of a three dimensional sculpture.
• 3.       Optical Movement is another way to
  create movement in a work of art. Using shapes,
  color and line to create a physical sense of
  movement in works of art. This period of art is
  often times referred to as The Op Art Movement.
  Optical movement produces a disorienting physical
  effect on the eye.

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Activity Classroom

• Movement can be seen in the following artwork.
  Choose from the following list, or from your own
  observations, elements the artist may have used
  to create movement in their work. Write at LEAST
  4 things about movement within each piece. Be
  specific in your answers.
• Work with one partner. Follow the paths of
  movement in each and write down, in order what
  you see. Compare your answers with your partner.

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Use the following words where appropriate when
describing the slides

• Repetition
• Rhythm
• Action
• Lines/Linear
• Texture

• Size
• Value
• Color
• Shape/Form
• Optical Movement

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Example In the first work, Juggling Man, you
might list

• 1.  It is a three dimensional sculpture
• 2.  Light allows our eyes to see shapes and
  forms.
• 3.  Our eyes follow value paths to the focal
  point which is the face. We look at the lighter
  areas first, and then follow the linear contour
  lines of the arms and legs until we come to the
  face.
• Because the arms are outstretched, creating
  linear movement, our eyes keep moving along them,
  bringing us back and forth to see what he has in
  his hands.

26
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish,
1746-1828), The Forge, between c. 1815 and 1820,
oil on canvas, 71 1/2 x 49 1/4 inches (181.6 x
125.1 cm), Frick Collection, NY.
1

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Eadweard Muybridge, Jumping a hurdle saddle bay
horse Daisy Plate 640 of Animal Locomotion, 1887,
collotype, Worcester Art Museum, MA.
2

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Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910), Snap the
Whip, 1872, oil on canvas, 12 x 20 inches,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
3

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Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890), The Starry
Night, June 1889 (Saint-Rémy), oil on canvas, 29
x 36 1/4 inches (72 x 92 cm), Museum of Modern
Art, New York, F 612
4

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Georges Seurat (French, 1859-1891), The Circus,
1891, oil on canvas, 73 x 59 1/8 inches, Musée
d'Orsay, Paris.Georges Seurat used pointillism
to create this painting. Dots of pure color are
placed very close together, and visually mix
together to create changes in value.

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 Henri Matisse (French, 1869-1954), Dance (first
version), 1909, oil on canvas, 8 feet 6 1/2
inches x 12 feet 9 1/2 inches (259.7 x 390.1 cm),
Museum of Modern Art, NY.
6

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Matisse painted a second version of Dance in
1910, oil on canvas, 102 x 154 inches (260 x 391
cm), Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Henri Matisse, Music, 1910, oil on canvas, 102 x
153 inches (260 x 389 cm), Hermitage Museum, St.
Petersburg, Russia.
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34
Umberto Boccioni (Italian, 1882-1916), Unique
Forms of Continuity in Space (Forme uniche della
continuità nello spazio), 1913, cast 1972,
bronze, 117.5 x 87.6 x 36.8 cm, Tate Gallery,
London.
9

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35
Robert Minor (American, 1884-1952), Pittsburgh,
1916, lithographic crayon and India ink,
published in The Masses, no. 8, August 1916.
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By the way..

• Robert Minor produced this drawing as an
  editorial cartoon, commenting on a 1916 steel
  workers' strike. He was among the first American
  editorial cartoonists to employ grease pencil and
  ink brush, when most were using pen and ink. He
  emphasized the thrust of the soldier's bayonet by
  drawing its direction as the counterpoint to that
  of the worker's body. The grace of this
  juxtaposition results in our feeling all the more
  shock at the sight of the pointed blade. Minor
  drew inspiration for this approach from such
  European masters as Francisco Goya and Honoré
  Daumier, coming to produce many such spare,
  forceful drawings as this.

37
Marcel Duchamp (American, born France, 1887-1968
in U.S.A. 1915-18, 1920-23, 1942-68), Nude
Descending a Staircase, 1911-12, oil on canvas,
58 x 35 inches, Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA.
Sometimes called Cubo-Futurists
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Charles Burchfield (American, 1893-1967),
September Wind and Rain, 1949, watercolor, 22 x
48 inches, Butler Institute of American Art,
Youngstown, OH.
12

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John Steuart Curry (American, 1897-1946), Fire
Diver, 1934, watercolor on paper mounted on
board, 22 1/2 x 15 1/2 inches, Kemper Museum of
Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO.
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