Emphasis is a principle of art which occurs any time an element of a piece is given dominance by the artist. In other words, the artist makes part of the work stand out, in order to draw the viewer’s eye there first.
Frequently, emphasis is achieved by means of contrast. Obvious contrasting elements create focal points, meaning: places to which one’s attention cannot help but be drawn.
The focal area does not have to be located in the center of the image, as a matter of fact, placing it in off center adds to the interest of the piece. Usually there is a primary, or main, point of emphasis, with perhaps secondary emphases in other parts of the composition. The emphasis is usually an interruption in the fundamental pattern or movement of the viewers eye through the composition, or a break in the rhythm.
All worthy works of art employ emphasis for, lacking this principle, a piece seems monotonous and boring to the eye.
Ways to create Emphasis
1. Contrast a shape with its surroundings.
2. Create a contrast of temperature.
3. Use a darker or lighter value.
4. Focus attention with converging lines.
5. Isolate the object you want to emphasize.
6. Increase an object’s intensity of color.
There are many more ways to create emphasis in your art than just the six methods above. For instance, one way to easily emphasize a central subject in a painting is to use symmetry.
All you have to do is place your subject in the center of the painting and allow either side to somewhat mirror the other.
Perhaps the most famous example of symmetry in art is Leonardo’s Last Supper.
Leonardo positioned the architectural features, the groups of disciples and several little objects on the table so that, to a great extent, one side mirrors the other.
However, he didn’t just leave it at that. Notice how the lines of perspective all lead towards the head of the central character as well.
Leonardo Da Vinci Last Supper, 1494–1498, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic
The Last Supper is a late 15th-century mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci in the dining room of the Convent of Santa Maria in Milan, Italy. It is one of the world’s most famous paintings, and one of the most studied, scrutinized, and satirized.
The work is presumed to have been commenced around 1495 and was commissioned as part of a scheme of renovations to the church and its convent buildings by Leonardo’s patron the Duke of Milan. The painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. Leonardo depicts the reactions of the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him.
Due to the methods used, and a variety of environmental factors, very little of the original painting remains today, despite numerous restoration attempts, the last being completed in 1999.
In common with other depictions of The Last Supper from this period, Leonardo seats the diners on one side of the table, so that none of them has his back to the viewer. Leonardo places emphasis on Jesus by putting him in the middle of a symmetrical composition.
The Raft of the Medusa oil, 1818–1819 Théodore Géricault
Completed when the artist was 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 16′ 1″ × 23′ 6″, it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval fleet the Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of Africa on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation and dehydration and practiced cannibalism. The event became an international story.
Most of the figures rendered are life-sized in this painting and those in the foreground almost twice life size.
The makeshift raft is shown as barely seaworthy as it rides the deep waves, while the men are rendered as broken and in utter despair. One old man holds the corpse of his son at his knees; another tears his hair out in frustration and defeat. A number of bodies litter the foreground, waiting to be swept away by the surrounding waves. The men in the middle have just viewed a rescue ship; one points it out to another, and an African crew member, Jean Charles, stands on an empty barrel and frantically waves his handkerchief to draw the ship’s attention.
The pictorial composition of the painting is constructed upon two pyramidal structures. The perimeter of the large mast on the left of the canvas forms the first. The horizontal grouping of dead and dying figures in the foreground forms the base from which the survivors emerge, surging upward towards the emotional peak, where the central figure waves desperately at a rescue ship.
The viewer’s attention is first drawn to the center of the canvas, then follows the directional flow of the survivors’ bodies, viewed from behind and straining to the right. According to the art historian Justin Wintle, “a single horizontal diagonal rhythm [leads] us from the dead at the bottom left, to the living at the apex.” Two other diagonal lines are used to heighten the dramatic tension. One follows the mast and its rigging and leads the viewer’s eye towards an approaching wave that threatens to engulf the raft, while the second, composed of reaching figures, leads to the distant silhouette of the Argus, the ship that eventually rescued the survivors.
Géricault’s palette is composed of pallid flesh tones, and the murky colors of the survivors’ clothes, the sea and the clouds. Overall the painting is dark and relies largely on the use of sombre, mostly brown pigments, a palette that Géricault believed was effective in suggesting tragedy and pain. The work’s lighting has been described as “Caravaggesque”, after the Italian artist closely associated with tenebrism—the use of violent contrast between light and dark. Even Géricault’s treatment of the sea is muted, being rendered in dark greens rather than the deep blues that could have afforded contrast with the tones of the raft and its figures. From the distant area of the rescue ship, a bright light shines, providing illumination to an otherwise dull brown scene.
Spring – Barbara Hepworth, 1966
Barbara Hepworth was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture.
This sculpture is said to represent rebirth and the womb. A theme in many of Barbara Hepworth’s pieces. How is emphasis used.
The Force of Nature, Lorenzo Quinn
The Force of Nature is a series of sculptures by artist Lorenzo Quinn that depict a woman pivoting the world around with a piece of cloth. The woman, presumably Mother Nature, is swept with a gust of wind, forcefully draping her attire and hair behind her. There is a vigorous sense of motion radiating from each installation that also performs a remarkable balancing act between the Earthly sphere and its navigator.
Having displayed slightly different versions of this piece all over the world, from England and the United States to Monaco and Singapore, each sculpture provides its own sense of twirling motion without the slightest bit of physical movement. The ripples in her garment and the strain of the cloth wrapped around the globe offer enough visual clues to allow one to surmise the structure’s intended action. Ultimately, the illustrative piece offers a surreal presentation of the Earth’s rotation through a personified force of nature.
What is emphasized here? How?
Artz 363 