Principles of Design

balance, rhythm, pattern, repetition, unity, emphasis, motion, scale, variety

Balance

Kay Sage, I Saw Three Cities, 1944.  Oil on canvas.  36 1/4 x 27 15/16 in. Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey. 

Balance-The distribution of the weight(actual or visual) of the elements in a composition

The Case for Surrealism

Rhythm, Pattern, Repetition

Jackie Ferrara, A207 recall, 1980.  Pine.  76 1/2 x 37 1/2 x 37 1/2 in.

Alfredo Arreguin, Frida in Flames, 1992.  Oil on canvas.

Frederick H. Evans, A Sea of Steps, 1903.  Platinum print.  9 1/4 x 7 1/2 in. MoMA, New York.

Regular repetition-A means of creating rhythm in which elements of a composition are duplicated at orderly or fixed intervals

El Anatsui "Exclusive"

Unity

Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930.  Oil on Beaver Board.  30 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. The Art Institute, Chicago.

Unity-Oneness, singleness; harmony

Katharina Grosse in "Fiction"

Emphasis

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, 1962.  Acrylic paint on canvas.  2054 x 1448 x 20mm. The Tate, London.

Emphasis- A technique that compels the viewer's eye toward a certain part or area of a composition

Anatomy of an Artwork

Motion

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, 1912.  Oil on canvas.  57 7/8 x 35 1/8 in. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. 

Illusion of motion-The sense that a static object or work is in the process of moving, as by using multiple images

Paul McCarthy Rotation Movement

Scale

Rene Magritte, Les valeurs personnelles (Personal Values), No. 2, 1952.  Oil on canvas.  31 1/2 x 39 3/8 in. SF MoMA, San Francisco.

Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kevin Hart

Scale- A reference standard of measurement of size; size in relation to other objects or to humans

Richard Tuttle "Structures"

Variety

Palo Veronese, The Wedding Feast at Cana, 1563.  Oil on canvas.  267 x 391 in. Louvre, Paris.

Ordered chaos-The artist's depiction of a chaotic subject with a unifying sense of order

 

Cai Guo-Qiang "Power"