Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Mistos (Match Cover)
Uses monumental scale to poke fun while expressing admiration for the little things of everyday life
Oldenburg transforms the essence of everyday things as he magnifies their sculptural form
Robert Lostutter, The Hummingbirds
Lostutter uses small scale to enhance the character of his work
He likes to create his works on the scale not of a human but of a bird
Hierarchical scale: Relief from the northern wall of the hypostyle hall at the great temple of Amun
In the art of ancient Egypt, the king, or pharaoh, was usually the largest figure depicted because he had the highest status in the social order
This scene depicts the military campaign of Pharaoh Seti I (figure A) against the Hittites and Libyans
Jan van Eyck, Madonna in a Church
Uses hierarchical scale to communicate spiritual importance
In his effort to glorify the spiritual importance of Mary and the Christ child, Van Eyck separates them from normal human existence
Van Eyck has scaled them to symbolize their central importance in the Christian religion
Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Dorothea Tanning was a Surrealist artist
The sunflower seems huge in relation to the interior architecture and the two female figures standing on the left
By contradicting our ordinary experience of scale, Tanning invites us into a world unlike the one we know
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (“A Little Night Music”) is a title borrowed from a lighthearted piece of music by the composer Mozart, but ironically Tanning’s scene exhibits a strange sense of dread
Nigerian Ife artist, Figure of Oni
The Oni is the most powerful and important figure in this culture
The head is large in proportion to the rest of the body; the Yoruba believe that the head is the seat of a divine power
Raphael, The School of Athens Scale and Proportion in a Renaissance Masterpiece
Raphael’s sensitivity to proportion reflects his pursuit of perfection
He indicated the importance of his masterpiece by creating it on a magnificent scale
He composed the individual figures so that the parts of each figure are harmonious in relation to each other and portray an idealized form
Double emphasis on the center brings our attention to the opposing gestures of two famous Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle
Poseidon
As a Greek god, Poseidon had to have perfect proportions
The sculptor applied a conveniently simple ratio, using the head as a standard measurement
The body is three heads wide (at the shoulders) by seven heads high
Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away
Henry Peach Robinson was a great photographic innovator
This image shows Robinson’s attention to the coordinated ratios in artistic composition
Notice how the right-hand drape divides the photograph into two Golden Rectangles, and how the spiral draws our eye to the dying young woman
Iktinos and Kallikrates, Parthenon
By applying the idealized rules of proportion for the human body to the design of the Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena, the Greeks created a harmonious design
The proportions correspond quite closely to the Golden Section
The vertical and horizontal measurements work together to create proportional harmony