Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa” A Masterpiece of Unity and Harmony Created a unified composition by organizing repetitions of shapes, colors, textures, and patterns to create a visual harmony, even though the scene is chaotic
Mount Fuji (A), in the middle of the bottom third of the work, almost blends into the ocean
Whitecaps on the waves (B) mimic the snow atop Mount Fuji
Hokusai has also carefully selected the solids and voids in his composition to create opposing but balancing areas of interest. As the solid shape of the great wave curves around the deep trough below it (C), the two areas compete for attention, neither possible without the other
Interior design, I. Michael Interior Design
The interior has a balance of curved and straight lines that complement each other
The linear patterns of curved lines repeat (red), as do the other directional lines
Shapes are distributed throughout the scene (green)
Marie Marevna (Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska), Nature morte à la bouteille
The unifying features are the angular lines and flat areas of color or pattern
Marevna’s Cubist style breaks apart a scene and re-creates it from a variety of different angles
The entire work becomes unified because the artist paints a variety of different viewing angles using flat areas of color and pattern throughout
Even though we view the still life from many different angles, the artist was able to unify the composition by using similar elements
Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation
The artist concentrates on two major areas: foreground and background
The organic human shapes in the foreground are balanced against the geometric lines of the background
Rather than communicating a feeling of tension and violence, the composition is quiet and logical, emphasizing the mood of detachment and contemplation
Romare Bearden, The Dove
Some artists create compositional unity while gathering together bits and pieces of visual information
In this work we see snippets of faces and hands, city textures of brick walls and fire escapes, and other associated images assembled into a scene that, at first glance, seems frenetic and chaotic
Bearden reflects the order of the city with an underlying grid made up of verticals and horizontals in the street below, and the vertical street posts and buildings in the upper section of the work
Joseph Cornell, Untitled (The Hotel Eden)
The disparate shapes, colors, and other characteristics of everyday things come together to form distinctive images
Cornell has collected objects from life and sealed them in a box
Placed together, all the different objects in the box make and express an idea greater than any one of them could suggest on its own
Vishnu Dreaming the Universe
The repetition of the human shapes that attend Vishnu creates compositional unity
The dualities of male/female, life/death, good/evil are illustrated in the complex stories of the gods
A religious idea provides profound conceptual unity
The image, the religious idea that the image illustrates, and the fervent belief of the artist who created the work all interconnect
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram
Used variety to energize his artwork and challenge his viewers
The work features a stuffed goat with a tire around its middle standing on a painting
By combining these objects, Rauschenberg creates an outlandish symbol of himself as a rebel and outcast
By using a variety of non-traditional art materials and techniques, the work becomes a transgression against traditional art and morals
Album quilt
These carefully sewn quilts are named after the scrapbooks kept by Baltimore girls
Like a scrapbook, these quilts use a variety of images and fuse them together into a finished work
Because a strong structure is imposed on the many different shapes through the use of a grid, the work holds together as a unified whole
Ritual container from Gui, China
Artists of ancient China designed a creature born of symmetry called the t’ao t’ieh
The image of the creature in an artwork is not immediately apparent, because its form is “hidden” amongst many separate symmetrical shapes and forms
It is as if a symmetrical collection of elements coalesces to reveal a monster mask
The meaning of this motif is mysterious, but it may symbolize communication with the gods
On each side of the central ridge are patterns that mirror each other
Muqi, Six Persimmons
Chinese artists have used asymmetrical balance to reflect on life and spirituality
Dark, light, and the subtle differences in shape are not distributed evenly between the left and right sides of the work
The artist creates subtle variations in the placement of the persimmons on each side of the central axis
Brilliantly counteracts the visual “heaviness” of the right side by placing one shape lower on the left
The use of brush and ink was a form of meditation, through simple, thoughtful actions, in search of higher knowledge
Andrea Palladio, part elevation/section and plan of the Villa Rotonda
Although the term “radial” symmetry suggests a round shape, in fact any geometric shape can be used to create radial symmetry
Palladio wanted people who lived in this building to be able to experience four views of the surrounding countryside from a single vantage point
Loggias, or porch-like entrances, on all four facades; they are all equidistant from the center of the building
The same elements are used on four sides
Amitayas mandala
Is a diagram of the universe
Shapes pointing in four different directions from the center are symmetrical
The creation of one of these sand paintings is an act of meditation that takes many days, after which the work is destroyed