Seamless Victorian Rose Pattern

I love the delicate simplicity in this Victorian Rose pattern. It seems difficult to duplicate such a pattern, turning the roses around at a precise angle and making sure they all fit in a way that doesn't make it looked too "stuffed" or too empty in a single area. I also like the focus in the center, the faded swirl and the lighting upon this piece that gives it its antique feeling.

Pattern Assignment

Hello all! Here are a couple of examples of appropriate pattern samples for Friday's class. (Yours should be 3" x 3" each and be taped to a single sheet of paper so that we can see them all at once) Let me know if you have questions.

White Lines by I. Rice Pereira

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/white_lines_i_rice_pereira/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=18&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=21&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=21&OID=210008364&vT=1


This piece is called "White Lines" by I. Rice Pereira. I found it on the website for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In the center there is a black background that has several white lines including horizontal lines, vertical lines, diagonal lines, and many of the lines intersect at one point or another. Surrounding the white lines in the center is what could be described as an upside down U. This "U", is created through three rectangles which are shaded in with more lines inside.

I think my eye was first attracted to the stack of horizontal lines in the center. It almost looks like a stack of plywood at a hardware store. This stack repeats a couple more tim3es throughout the piece. All the white lines in the center at first may seem like they are going in random directions, but once you take a closer look, you can see that they begin to form different shapes. For example the lines in the bottom right corner. There is a diagonal line going towards the top left, and it has a semi-circle connected to it which is then shaded in. This looks like a golf club to me.

Line Art

Study for Wartime Evacuation
Dean Cornwell
Pencil and conté crayon on paper.



I was initially drawn to this piece by its incompleteness. I love pieces that look like they're half way though production because it allows one to see the process and effort that an artist undertakes and exerts in making a piece, respectively.

The bold use of organic lines in this piece really make the faces come alive, to become almost caricaturesque figures.

Composition - Willi Baumeister 1948

The obvious place to start is with this piece is the fairly overt human form on the left. One armed and disjointed as it is, these indistinct shapes do imply human form. The lines consist mainly of contours that vary in weight only slightly along certain edges of the shapes. Very light lines intersect with the more bold shapes in what I'll refer to as the foreground. What it makes me think of is as if a 2d slice of a 3d person was put on display and another was taken as they started into motion.

The lines, with their abstract shapes and varying widths, are fairly organic. Likewise, the shapes imply motion or passage of time if one were to see the lighter lines as a snapshot of where this strange creature had been moments ago.

The varying shapes on the left confuse me somewhat, almost interjecting a more static element to a piece that evokes movement and change. The texture seems to jump out of the page and is somewhat jarring.

"Houses among Trees" by Vincent Van Gogh

This piece is entiled "House among Trees" which is drawn by Vincent Van Gogh in July 1890. It is currently located at Van Gogh Museum. I chose this picture because it looked like the artist was having hard time while he was drawing this piece. He seemed to use black charcoal and India ink to make these fuzzy and straight lines. He also seem to use different thickness of the line. Even though I felt depressed when I first look at this picture, I liked how he drew by using only one color.

This piece was done by Alexander Calder and was held in the MoMA from 2007-2008. I, personally, am really moved by this sculpture. The line here is used in such a way that portrays emotion very well and intentionally. The expression in the face is something that everyone can understand and the openness of the body towards the audience allows us to see everything very clearly. I believe that this piece was done all with one piece of wire, which is just amazing and must have taken much hard work. This sculpture is just all around intriguing and artistic and exemplifies line in such a great way.

“brushstrokes cut into 49 squares and arranged randomly”

The piece is entitled “brushstrokes cut into 49 squares and arranged randomly”, and is by Ellsworth Kelly. I guess i chose this piece because it looked like the artist had fun with it. He used what appears to be India ink (?) to make all these 'stray' lines and then chopped up his canvas into small pieces so he could rearrange them. I think there is a kind of carefree enjoyment you get from looking at this piece- the way the lines don't share even widths, how the brushstrokes aren't neat and the different directions the strokes curve in - all amplified by how the 49 square have been re-arranged.

Lady Gaga's Dress; Johan Hagemeyer

http://www.popsugar.com/Photos-Lady-Gaga-Grammys-7234651?page=0,0,0

I know it's not traditionally considered art, but fashion is now in museums on display as art. Lady Gaga is basically a walking work of art. The artist of the dress is actually the couture designer, Giorgio Armani.

When I saw her dress the first thing I noticed was the use of line, which includes not only the obvious 'hoops' on her dress but also her star. This is 3d art, much like a sculpture, and designed to go on the human body.

The lines in her dress are gestural, and interconnected as they go from the top of her body and down, and draw your eye both ways. The color is light and frivolous, the lines are energetic and unbalanced - they are mostly horizontal. on the star, they are both horizontal and vertical, and are very stable and straight as well as symmetrical whereas the dress is asymmetrical. The dress gives a feeling of being weightless and yet structured.

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In more traditional art, this piece is photography line art:

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/photographs/utility_lines_johan_hagemeyer/objectview_enlarge.aspx?page=522&sort=0&sortdir=asc&keyword=&fp=1&dd1=19&dd2=0&vw=1&collID=19&OID=190017384&vT=1



In this print, the feeling is of rigid confinement and structure, which defines the industrial revolution. The utility pole is coming inward and your eye is drawn from the bottom to the top, then to the left with the thinner lines. They are contoured lines and some cross-hatching occurs with the other pole's lines intersecting, to create diamond and triangular shapes - a lot of geometric shapes are in this piece. The utility pole looms over the building (?) which is stifled and almost shrinking to the pole. The message or feeling is that this sort of technology is strong, and is gaining power or on the rise. In the description it says it is telephone wires. The advent of the telephone increased the ability for communication across large distances. These wires span the horizon and stretch beyond the frame of the print to give an illusion of continuity.

[I wasn't sure if the dress was considered art so I placed both items in this post].

Modular Structure by Sol LeWitt

I like this because of the intricacies of the cross-hatching lines. How the lines are more concentrated in the center giving it depth, and less concentrated on the outside, bringing the eyes to the center, and how they change depending upon the angle you're looking at it from. Some of the lines blend together more than others, and if you relax your eyes the picture begins to look two-dimensional, giving the design of the cross hatches a different character.

Whale

from Moma homepage,(moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/323)Gabriel Orozco. Mobile Matrix. Graphite on gray whale skeleton. 196 x 1089 x 266 cm. I think this 3D art can be the lines. Its each born and whole shape and making some lines and have their own gesture, contour, and even some hatch. Also bones have lines on them and these make the whole thing more beautiful.

It is really great because when we see or take picture in different angles, distances, and brightness, we can find different effects of lines. It is very active, natural and delicate. It has much kind of lines, diagonal, horizontal and vertical.

Onement III by Barnett Newman

I selected this painting for the simplicity of it. It consists of one line. painted with oil on canvas, and it is painted roughly. not a consistent line, but broken. I have the feeling that a painting like this is seen two different ways. One, as an effortless piece that anyone could compose, and i guess in a sense that could be correct. Or two, a simple painting, that is trying to say much more with projecting much less. perhaps this is a glimpse in to the mind of a man trying to speak a feeling, could be loneliness. Or that is just the feeling i seem to see or experience when i look at it.

Jay DeFeo Persephone

I found this work by Jay DeFeo called Persephone, 1957 on MOCA site. The materials she used include oil, graphite and charcoal. Looking at this picture I imagined a strand of hair especially with the color tone DeFeo used for the bakround which reminds me a color of skin; but the delicate vertical graphite lines can also depict grass or perhaps something more imaginary as a flowing river.