DESIGN PRINCIPLES

Artist / Origin	Gustave Caillebotte (French, 1848–1894) Region: Europe

1. HOW DOES AN ARTIST CREATE ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE? 

What is asymmetrical? A Symmetrical balance is when everything is perfectly and evenly balanced out. For example if you were to fold a picture in half you'll see that the other side is exactly the same. However what is interesting is that a asymmetrical balance refers to a design that has dissimilar elements but still appears balanced. Now dividing a picture in half won't have the exact same elements however the elements they do have are varied and seem to balance one another out.  As you can from this painting, "Paris Street, Rainy Day 1877" by Gustave Caillebotte. Caillebotte brings the photo to life by careful manipulation of angles, cropping of figures, and placement of objects. Following the asymmetric rhythm of the umbrellas Caillebotte has scattered throughout the scene. Although we don't see a symmetrical balance within the painting, the colors, the geometric order, monumental figures and the dramatic perspective employed by Caillebotte seem to offer a very unique image, as if we can easily step right into the photo. 

2. DESCRIBE SEVERAL WAYS USED TO UNIFY AN ARTWORK?

Unity is when elements of a piece is combined with an overall texture, pattern, repeated theme, shapes and contrast. Unity occurs when all of the elements of a piece combine to make a balanced, harmonious, complete whole.  This painting "Going Home" by Jacob Lawrence balanced the quality of unity and variety. If you look closely Lawrence established visual themes with the lines, shapes, and colors of the train seats, figures, and luggage, and then he repeated and varied those themes. You can notice a varied repetition in the green chair seats and window shades. This piece uses the quality of unity and completes a whole  through the effective use of the elements and principles of design.

3. HOW DOES SCALE CHANGE THE MEANING OF AN ARTWORK?

The Scale size of an artwork can change the dynamic's and intensify the meaning behind it. Scale art is an art form in which artists actually can create artistic pieces that are either miniature in size or larger than life. Just like this recent new amazing artwork called "EYE" in Chicago, Milwaukee  done  by artist  Tony Tasset. It is about 25-feet foot tall! Large pieces of public art like this artwork EYE are a breath of fresh air in large cities. They’re often capable of evoking a sense of place on their own which is pretty awesome. Size always matters! When scale is used in an artwork, it can greatly influence the meaning of the work. 

EGYPTIAN ART

332-30 B.C

An important quality in Egyptian Art as you can see from the "Statuette of the God Anubis" was anthropomorphism . Which is where we can see a combination of human and animal characteristic features. As well as symbolism. This wooden figure symbolizes the god Anubis with a canid head on a human body. Anubis represented the patron god of embalming, guide of the Underworld. Which seems to be wearing a certain feathered costume of Egyptian deities. As you can see his body is very formal and can see a common gesture which would be the left foot forward. What I found very intriguing was how many works of  Egyptian art consisted of gods, goddesses, and Pharaohs, who were also considered divine.

 (480 - 323 BC)

This is one of the most famous statues in Greek Art which is  called "The Discus Thrower" by Myron.  This statue is a perfect example of how Greek art was more fascinated with the aesthetics of the human body.  The Greeks analyzed the anatomy of their male "hero" figures, teaching us how to portray muscles, bones, natural stance and athletic poses both in sculpture and 3-like demensional art. As you can see here the Greeks wore no clothing when they practiced sports, and the sculptor could observe their 

beautiful, strong bodies in every pose.

 When comparing Greek Art and Roman Art, The Greeks often represented the gods in their art, in an effort to express the ideal form of beauty, physical strength and power. For the Romans, however, art had a more practical function. Artwork was primarily used for ornamentation and decoration. As you really anaylze Roman Art they preferred to sculpt historical events and important people.If a Roman statue is idealized, it is probably a statue of one of the many Roman emperors, who were considered to be divinities. A perfect example would be this statue which is "Augustus of Prima Porta" which was constructed to symbolize the Roman victory over the Parthians in 20 B.C.  As we can see here we see more of a formal position.  Looking from this statue we can sense how he was a symbolic leader and powerful.