{"id":2768,"date":"2017-08-07T05:42:02","date_gmt":"2017-08-07T05:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/course.oeru.org\/art101\/?page_id=2768"},"modified":"2017-08-07T05:42:02","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T05:42:02","slug":"emphasis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/course.oeru.org\/art101\/learning-pathways\/the-visual-language-artistic-principles\/emphasis\/","title":{"rendered":"Emphasis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Emphasis<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t
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Emphasis <\/b>\u2013 the area of primary visual importance \u2013 can be attained in a number of ways. We\u2019ve just seen how it can be a function of differences in scale. Emphasis can also be obtained by isolating an area or specific subject matter through its location or color, value and texture. Main emphasis in a composition is usually supported by areas of lesser importance, a hierarchy within an artwork that\u2019s activated and sustained at different levels.\n<\/p>\n

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Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The Third of May, 1808<\/i>, 1814. Oil on canvas, The Prado Museum, Madrid<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Like other artistic principles, emphasis can be expanded to include the main idea<\/i> contained in a work of art. Let\u2019s look at Francisco de Goya\u2019s The Third of May, 1808<\/i> to explore this. <\/p>\n

We can clearly determine the figure in the white shirt as the main emphasis in the painting. Even though his location is left of center, a candle lantern in front of him acts as a spotlight, and his dramatic stance reinforces his relative isolation from the rest of the crowd. Moreover, the soldiers with their aimed rifles create an implied line between themselves and the figure. There is a rhythm created by all the figures\u2019 heads \u2013 roughly all at the same level throughout the painting \u2013 that is continued in the soldiers\u2019 legs and scabbards to the lower right. Goya counters the horizontal emphasis by including the distant church and its vertical towers in the background.\n<\/p>\n

In terms of the idea, Goya\u2019s painting gives witness to the summary execution of Spanish resistance fighters by Napoleon\u2019s armies on the night of May 3rd, 1808. He poses the figure in the white shirt to imply a crucifixion as he faces his own death, and his compatriots surrounding him either clutch their faces in disbelief or stand stoically with him, looking their executioners in the eyes. While the carnage takes place in front of us, the church stands dark and silent in the distance. The genius of Goya is his ability to direct the narrative content by the emphasis he places in his composition.
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A Bwa plank mask from Burkina Faso. Mus\u00e9e Barrois, Bar-le-Duc, France<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The emphasis in Landscape with Pheasants<\/i><\/a>, a silk tapestry from 19th century China, is obtained in a couple of different ways. First, the pair of birds are woven in colored silk, setting them apart visually from the landscape they inhabit. Secondly, their placement at the top of the outcrop of land allows them to stand out against the light background, their tail feathers mimicked by the nearby leaves. The convoluted treatment of the rocky outcrop keeps it in competition with the pheasants as a focal point, but in the end their color wins out. <\/p>\n

A final example on emphasis covers both design features and the idea behind the art. Many world cultures include artworks in ceremony and ritual. African Bwa<\/i> masks (see example) are large, graphically painted in black and white and usually attached to fiber costumes that cover the head. They depict mythic characters and animals or are abstract, and have a stylized face with a tall, rectangular wooden plank attached to the top.[1]<\/a><\/sup> In any manifestation, the mask and the dance for which they are worn are inseparable. They become part of a community outpouring of cultural expression and emotion.\n<\/p>\n

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\nList at least three ways emphasis can be achieved in a work of art.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Note: Your comment will be displayed in the course feed<\/a>.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

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Notes<\/span><\/h2>\n
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  1. \u2191<\/a><\/span> The Art of Burkina Faso<\/a> by Christopher D. Roy, <\/i>University of Iowa.<\/span>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n


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