Section outline
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4.1: The Basic Elements
When we consider art's formal aspect (materials, the methods used to work them, and their perceptual effects), we can distinguish the basic units (called elements) from the various principles used to combine elements. Elements proceed from the simple to the complex: from a point to a line, to a planar shape, to mass, to a figure or ground distinctions, and so on. In a given work of art, these fundamental formal units relate to one another on a second, higher level. Artists arrange them according to principles of design, such as balance, repetition, emphasis, unity, variety, and so on. The key point to understand here is that there is a fundamental conceptual distinction between simpler formal elements and the general rules or patterns for how they are combined, which we call the principles of design.
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Students mustView
Read this text, which discusses the most basic visual element: the point.
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Students mustView
When you put two or more points together, you create a line between them. Put more lyrically, a line is a point in motion. Read this text on the many different types of lines and their functions in art.
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Students mustView
Read this discussion of shape and how artists use shapes to articulate figure-ground relationships in artworks.
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Students mustView
Read this discussion of mass and its significance for two- and three-dimensional works of art.
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