Principles and Elements of the Hirshhorn Museum

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

"Last Conversation Piece" by Juan Muñoz

Point:

When we look at this sculpture by Juan Muñoz, our eyes are forced to look at the piece as a whole, and not as three separate pieces.  Although each point is placed far enough to be standalone pieces, the four concepts of Gestalt theory (closure, continuity, similarity, proximity) forces us to seek some kind of relationship within the work as a whole.  Our eyes are then able to ‘connect the dots,’ and see that there is a full scene of a story that cannot be seen when looking at each piece separately.

"Tropes de Teens" by Stuart Davis

Line:

Stuart Davis uses lines of various colors and sizes to create a unique work of art.  Painting random lines will mean little, but when artistically constructed with different colors at different angles and curves, they start to form shapes that represent what we can realize, such as faces and hands and bodies.  This painting not only has visual functions, but also has verbal functions, being able to communicate different emotions by the look on the faces in the background.

"The Doubter" by Yves Tanguy

Form:

This painting is a great example of how there can be different forms of art.  It is a great example of abstract art, as we cannot tell exactly what geometric or organic shapes are drawn in this painting.  The abstract colors and shapes helps to create this three-dimensional surrealistic world.  It creates, like most abstract art, an unnatural, yet strangely realistic world full of unique shapes and colors.

"Horse and Rider" by Marino Marini

Movement:

This sculpture of a rider and his horse is a great presentation of the element of movement.  We can see the head of the horse tilted back with its legs straightened, forcing the rider to lean back and keep his balance.  The horse itself is an animal that represents grace, speed, motion, and power.  One can imagine this scene of the rider struggling to get control of his horse gone lose.

"White Relief over Dark Blue" by Ellsworth Kelly

Color:

This piece is simple, yet presents a great example of the element of color.  Although the color blue presents a cool and spiritual feeling, it can also mean sadness and depression.  To that, the bright white, as stated by the title, relieves the viewer of the sadness by adding to the piece more energy and lifting up the overall mood of the work of art.  It’s just enough relief that it does not overwhelm the blue, but it cancels out its emotional effect, making it a viewable piece.

"Wall Drawing #1113: On a wall, a triangle within a rectangle, each with broken bands of color" by Sol LeWitt

Pattern:

This wall drawing is made from the repetition of rectangular shapes.  The pattern, full of different colors, come together to create a triangle within a rectangle, as the title says.  Borders create definition, and even though the colors aren’t in a pattern, the borders the cells come to create allow us to see clearly what the overall shape is.  Patterns, in this way, are able to maintain order in a world of chaos.  No matter how disorganized the color pattern is, we can still see the overall picture: a triangle within a rectangle.

"Landscape with Poodle" by Jean DuBuffet

Texture:

Texture, by definition, is the quality of an object which we sense through touch.  But it doesn’t always have to be physical.  The creation of the illusion of texture is also important, and this piece creates that illusion well.  The patterns, shapes, and styles that exist throughout the painting create a busy feeling, and also a sense that the surface is really rough and hard.  Similar to a rocky road, the areas around the poodle create illusion of a rough texture, even though it is a two-dimensional picture.

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

"Column of Peace" by Antoine Pevsner

Balance:

This sculpture is a perfect example of symmetrical, formal balance.  If we draw a central line down the middle, we can see that both sides are perfectly equal.  There is equal weight on both sides, and we see visual equilibrium that indeed gives us a feeling of peace inside.

"Woman with Baby Carriage" by Pablo Picasso

Proportion:

Proportion is the relationship between objects of a whole, and Picasso’s sculpture is a great model that shows proportion.  Although the actual sculpture is smaller than a regular human being, the way it is proportionally made with the baby carriage allows to know that it is an actual woman.  Because of its relation to the carriage and the piece as a whole, we can easily visualize a real life counterpart of a woman and a baby carriage.

"Morning Light (Dover Hills, October)" by Oscar Bluemner

Rhythm:

This painting has a visual beat and a flow through space to it.  The way the scene is split up into different rectangles gives an almost sequential order to it, and it makes it look as though each small rectangle piece represents a certain time of morning.  It’s darker on the right side, and it seems like each rectangle after is a period of time, slowly and gradually getting brighter and closer to day.  It creates a timed movement through the space within the frame of the picture, creating rhythm and a visual beat.

"Self-Portrait" by Francis Bacon

Emphasis:

Francis Bacon’s “Self-Portrait” has a great deal of emphasis, as we are forced to look only at the person in the painting.  The lack of a detailed background with a strip of brown as the only other detail in the background, creates a focus on posed man.  Bacon’s appearance also creates emphasis with him painted in a brighter color than the rest of the background.  There is a lot of space around Bacon in the painting, but we never focus on it, because there is so much emphasis on Bacon himself, with brighter colors and his pose.

"King and Queen" by Henry Moore

Unity:

This bronze sculpture by Henry Moore shows unity that can be shown through art.  Both the form and color of the two people are very similar, and their style is also the same.  Both the King and Queen look similar to each other in every way, from their size to their pose to their clothes.  The concept of a king and queen also unifies the design.  A king and queen must always be unified in order to rule their territory.  One can’t possibly live without the other, and that is well shown in this sculpture.  It is the same that even in this sculpture, the King cannot sit alone without the Queen, and vice versa.

CRITIQUE

"Penance No. 3" by Manuel Neri

This bronze sculpture, called “Penance No. 3”, was created by Manuel Neri in 1982.  When I first looked at it, I noticed immediately the different colors, but also the position of the person.  A person is on his (or her) knees, and when I look even closure, it also has the hands in front, as if it is repenting or saddened by what has occurred.  During the early 1980’s – around when this piece was sculpted – there were many wars and numerous terrorist attacks throughout the world.  There were hijacks and terrorist bombings in Canada, and also the Lebanon War of 1982.  America itself was still involved in the Cold War, and in 1981 were nuclear threats in the Middle East.  With Neri coming from a family that experienced the Mexican Revolution, these events might have had a great deal of effect on Neri, leading to a darker mood in this sculpture.

Neri uses a variety of colors in his sculpture, but nothing in order or pattern.  Colors seems to be precisely splattered all over the head and body, giving a more disorganized look that makes it seem like the person is having mixed feelings.  There is also a rough, hard texture to the statue, adding to the disorderly look in the work.  The lines, however, are still definite and clear, with curves to show that the sculpture is a statue of a person and not a random object.  Yet this seems to be the only function of the lines that Neri uses, to show that this is a person.  There is also a lack of movement, and the fact that the person is still creates more emphasis on the emotional aspect of the sculpture rather than the physical action that the person is taking.

I believe this sculpture’s has the meaning of looking at the world in sorrow, asking for forgiveness.  The colors and the pose that the statue is taking gives it that feeling, but also the lack of a face.  It might mean that he is trying to hide his face from the wrongdoing throughout the world.  The word “penance” itself means: voluntary self-punishment inflicted as an outward expression of repentance for having done wrong.  After researching what was happening throughout the world around the time this sculpture was being made, I would have the same feeling.  Wars, terrorist attacks, and nuclear threats throughout the world would have me asking “Why?” too.  Especially if the generation before me experienced a revolution in my home country – which was the case with Neri – I would also be asking God for forgiveness for the foolishness of mankind to be repeating the same mistakes over and over again.  I can relate to such feelings, because I’ve also had times when I was asking why I was making the same mistakes.  Perhaps Neri thought to express his own emotions through his art, and chose to create it in the manner that he did.  He did it to express his own feelings, by showing how he saw himself.

By showing his own feelings, I believe that this work has a good amount of intrinsic value.  It presents a good social message, and makes the viewer wonder why there still needs to be penance in what we do.  It makes us ask why we never learn when we make the same mistakes repeatedly.  The work has worth that it connects to the guilty and sad feeling inside we have when we do something wrong, and we have that desire to repent and ask forgiveness.  I also think that Neri’s sculpture has value because it could be beneficial to other artists and sculptors who look at this piece.  They are given a way to express themselves the way Neri did, to use color, texture, and the position of the figure to show how the artist themselves really feel.  It communicates an idea that certain artists may have not known before, which is why Neri’s “Penance No. 3” is not only a wonderful piece of art, but also an important and valuable sculpture that helps to express one’s true feelings of sorrow and one’s desire for forgiveness.