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Everything in its right place: An Introduction to Composition in Painting
-Curriculum Overview-
Introduction
Why is it that when we walk into a museum so many people gravitate towards
the same images? What is it that many of us find so sublime about a Caravaggio?
Why do we often feel pulled into the domestic calm of a Vermeer? What is it
about the rich and compact images of Frida Khalo that we find so irresistible?
How do we know when a painting, a drawing, or a print "works"?
While it does not explain entirely the beauty—or the popularity—of
any paintings or group of paintings, one of the most important components of
paintings and drawings is its composition. The composition—the
way in which a painting is composed and the way in which the painting's elements
work together to form a coherent whole—is key to the success of a work
of art in conveying its message and visually "hanging together." The composition
is an important part of the foundation of the paintings we find so compelling.
In this curriculum unit students will be introduced to composition in the visual
arts, including design principals, such as balance, symmetry, and repetition,
as well as one of the formal elements: line.
Guiding Questions
- What is composition in the visual arts, and how does contribute
to the success of an art work?
- How do the artist's compositional choices convey feeling, tone, or information
to the viewer?
- How do compositional elements guide the viewer's eye around the canvas?
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson students will be able to:
- Define composition in the visual arts
- Identify elements of the composition in a variety of art works
- Explain how the artist's compositional choices work to guide the viewer's
eye to important elements of the image
- Discuss ways in which the compositional structure of a work affects
the tone of the painting, or communicates information or emotional content
to the viewer
- Explain how each of these elements works to make the work successful
as a painting
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
Background for the teacher
You may wish to begin preparing for this lesson by visiting the EDSITEment
reviewed web resource The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This web site contains a
guide for learning about and identifying composition, perspective, light, color,
form, motion, and proportion in Emmanuel Leutze's well known painting of "George
Washington Crossing the Delaware."
Composition in the visual arts is a large topic and this curriculum unit is
only an introduction. There are some aspects of composition that will not be
covered in this unit, but it should help students to begin to think about the
kinds of choices that artists make when placing objects, figures, and natural
elements in their work. The placement of objects within the picture plane is
not an arbitrary act, but is the result of calculated decisions. This curriculum
unit will assist students in beginning to identify some of those decisions.
In addition, this lesson will help students begin to engage with the question
of why artists make particular decisions.
One of the main purposes of focusing on the composition of a piece is to help
students begin to read the information contained within the paintings they are
viewing. Quite often artists structure the compositions of their paintings in
ways that will bring the viewer's attention to the most important elements of
the painting. Works of art are often encoded with a series of visual messages,
some of which are readily accessible to all audiences, and some of which are
only available to smaller, more knowledgeable audiences. This lesson should
help students gain an awareness of one of the most important elements of a work
of art—its composition—as an initial step towards accessing more of
the information within a work of art.
Websites
Unit Lessons
Selected EDSITEment Web Sites
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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