Visual LiteracyVisual LiteracyVisual LiteracyVisual Literacy
Teaching Awareness of Visual Teaching Awareness of Visual Elements Elements
Visual literacy is the ability, through knowledge of the basic visual elements, to understand the meaning and components of an image.
DEFINITION:
The Basic Visual Elements
Dot
Line
Direction
Shape
Texture
Hue
Saturation
Value
Scale
Dimension
Motion
The Dot
In a process called visual fusion, our minds combine dots by blending and organizing the
patterns into coherent images.
The Dot
Georges Seurat. A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884, 1884-86. Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, Art Institute of Chicago.
The Line
J. M. W. Turner
Tours; Sunset
The Tate Gallery, London
Shape
We can say that the geometric basis of shapes provides us with an
elementary vocabulary, an alphabet of the shape language.
Shape
Here the curves seem optimistic, even humorous.
Shape
The square might be read as dull, straightforward, sometimes
unimaginative, stable. . . . and, well, . . . . SQUARE!
Lever House, New York. Skudneck, Auriges, and Merril, Architects
Shape
The triangle is interpreted as action, agitation, conflict, tension, and
aspiration.
Shape
Women's perfume bottles are generally more curvy, circular, and triangular. The curves may be reflecting the actual body, but also imply feelings of warmth, continuity, and security. Men’s cologne bottles are generally square, implying strength, honesty and reliability.
Direction
The motion created by
various shapes and lines can
convey different emotional states. The direction of that motion will contribute the intensity of the
emotional response. Edvard Munch, The Scream
Direction
If a diagonal direction is substituted for the horizontal and vertical, the image will feel less stable. The diagonal direction conveys a feeling of movement, excitement, and change.
Direction
Curved direction also has an element of instability in it, but unlike diagonals, it also has the ability to be reassuring and safe.
Clarence John Laughlin. The Fierce-eyed Building, 1938
Direction
Triangles serve a similar function to circles in that they trap the eye within a specific sub- frame, created by three different points in the image.
Naomi Savage, Pressed Flower, 1969-80
Texture
Few dots or lines interrupt the surface of the baby's cheeks.
The value is also very even, enhancing the illusion of the skin's smoothness.
TextureLack of detail communicates a smooth texture, while the gentle nuances of color and value make the viewer believe the baby's skin would be soft.
Texture
In this painting the old woman's face is delineated and roughened by age, in sharp textural contrast to the smooth image of the baby. Paula Modersohn-Becker, Old Woman with
Head Scarf. Private Collection
Texture
In a close-up of the painting, we see how the artist used dimension to give the wrinkles “depth”. The brush strokes are like curves on an etching or topographic map, giving the impression of three dimensions.
Hue
The primary colors: red, yellow, and blue
WARM
COOL
Hue
Visually, hue does three things:
1. It adds another dimension to images that once were black and white. 2. It acts as a formal element that directs the viewer’s attention. 3. It creates moods and feelings that complement the message of the image’s form.
Hue and Dimension
Colors tend to recede and contract. Placing certain colors next to each other can enhance dimension.
Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1951
Hue and Mood
From The Year of Living Dangerously (Australia, 1983), directed by Peter Weir
Gucci, 1994
Red evokes feelings of strong emotion or anger.
Blue is cool and passive.
Saturation
These four images are the same watercolor of a frog, reproduced at different saturations.
The image on the far left is fully saturated, and the one on the far right is completely unsaturated.
Saturation
The past in black and white: a teen-aged Bill Clinton shaking John Kennedy's hand and the Bush
Oval Office
The future in highly saturated images: a triumphant post-election Clinton shaking his fist and Clinton, the then President-to-
be, walking into the Oval Office
Saturation
The color picture on the left illustrates a magazine article presenting eight models. They "come from incredibly diverse backgrounds." The saturated colors in this picture exaggerate this diversity of cultures.
If we lower the saturation of the image, as in the picture on the right, we don't notice the contrast and the effect changes dramatically.
Saturation
The colors in Howard's End are much less saturated because the movie is much more
tranquil and serene. Do the Right Thing , however, is an intense movie that expresses
highly charged, extreme feelings, so its colors are highly saturated and emotionally
loaded.
Howard's End, directed by James Ivory, 1992
Do the Right Thing, directed by Spike Lee, 1989
Value (Tone)
“Low key:” dark
“High key:” light
Claude Monet, The Petit Bras of
the Seine, 1872. Rembrandt, The Woman Taken in Adultery, 1644.
Value (Tone)
A monochrome image depicts the importance of value in a work. This type
of image is composed of different degrees of value for one color or a few
complementary colors.
Pablo Picasso, Reclining and Standing Nudes, 1942.
Value (Tone)
.
Leonardo Da Vinci's La Gioconda (Mona Lisa)
demonstrates sfumato in the eyes and mouth.
Specifically, the eye featured here depicts this
notion by suggesting movement.
Value (Tone)
.
Chiaroscuro is the effect of creating 3-dimensional volume with light. This contrast technique exploits the difference between light and dark.
Rembrandt, The Adoration of the Magi, National Gallery, London
The Basics of Scale: Depth
We assume the building is considerably larger than the figures.
But if we actually measure them, the building is in fact the same size as the figures in the painting.
The respective sizes create the illusion of depth.
Raphael, The Marriage of the Virgin
The Basics of Scale: Relations between Characters in Film
HAL and Dave in conflict: Dave is dwarfed by the powerful computer, implying his powerlessness and inevitable defeat.
Stanley Kubrick, 2001, A Space Odyssey
The Basics of Scale: Provoking Emotional Response
Scale may be altered in order to create a variety of other emotions, for example, tension and anxiety.
Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, 1941
Dimension
“[In film] the enlarging or shrinking of an object over a period of time or the length of time it takes to travel between two points are two
familiar ways of defining terms like 'close' and 'far'" [Mast]. These changes in scale appear so natural that we forget we are looking at a flat
screen.
Duane Michals. Chance Meeting, 1969.
Dimension: Perspective
Linear perspective: objects appear progressively smaller
the farther away they are.
Reproduced from Sensation and Perception,1993
Dimension: Light and Shadow
Changing the placement or number of light sources
In the center and right frames, the light changes.
The left frame is the same scene rendered with no tonal information
Dimension: Eye Level
Bird’s eye view
Worm’s eye view
Walter Ioos, Jr., 1994
Poster from Film und Foto International Exhibition, Stuttgart, Germany, 1929.
Motion
By blurring a subject, a still image can be infused with implied
movement.
Motion: Sfumato
By blurring the corners of her mouth, Da Vinci creates the illusion that the Mona Lisa is in the process of smiling. Or is she about to frown?
Sfumato forces the viewer to interpret her mouth’s motion.
Motion: Contrapposto
"Contrapposto" refers to the technique of twisting or shifting the weight of a figure to imply motion.
Sarah Nathanson, Dancers, 1994
Motion: Line
The line creates the feeling that it is moving by leading the viewer's eyes along its path.
Sarah Nathanson, Motion, 1994.
Motion: Advertisement
Basic visual elements work together to create the effect
of motion in this ad by Porsche.
Analyzing an Advertisement
Getting students to understand and analyze basic visual elements:
Use the Levels of Critical Thinking (a Metaprocess):
1. Describe the ad.
2. Break it down into visual components: the basis elements.
3. Connect it with context, audience, purpose.
4. Evaluate its effect on the intended audience.
AS WE HAVE SEEN--
Analysis of advertisements and their intended effects
Analysis of art works
Analysis of filmBUT ALSO
Understanding and interpreting political cartoons
Analysis of photographs in the news
Examination of graphs and tables in popular media
Analysis of Web pages
OR ANY VISUAL DOCUMENT OUR YOU ENCOUNTER
Visual LiteracyVisual LiteracyVisual LiteracyVisual LiteracyAwareness, Analysis, Awareness, Analysis,
Contextualization, and Critical Contextualization, and Critical Thinking about Visual Elements Thinking about Visual Elements
Thanks to
The Online Visual Literacy Project, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
http://www.pomona.edu/Academics/courserelated/classprojects/Visual-lit/intro/intro.html
Cecil Collins, The Artist and His Daemon. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
August Leopold Egg, The Traveling Companions, 1862. City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
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