Line and Shape:

An Interdisciplinary survey of the

symbolic use of line and shape in art and music

OBJECTIVES:

1. Learn the different kinds of lines used in the art forms, and be able to identify them in the visual arts and in music through listening and looking at scores.

2. Learn the emotional affect produced by various kinds of lines.

3. Learn the different kinds of shapes used in the visual arts and be able to identify them.

4. Be able to identify the musical analogues to shape in the visual arts.

OUTLINE

I. Introduction to the elements of art

slide: Van Gogh: Vase of Roses

A. line

B. shape

C. space

D. texture

E. light

F. value

G. color

II. Line

A. Definition

B.outlines: Matisse Back (lithograph) Keith Haring Subway Drawing

C. Short choppy lines: energy, noise

*example from art
*example from music:
staccato (Brahms op. 76 n. 2) and short rhythms (Beethoven, Pathetique Sonata)

D. Lines imply movement:

Slides:
*Nave of Chartres Cathedral
*spiral lines at Newgrange
*Gustav Klimt Expectation
*example from music: the swirling Chopin Harp etude

E. wavy lines also imply motion:
Van Gogh: Cypresses with Two Women
*Walter de Maria: Lightning Field
*Munch The Scream
*musical analogue: Chromatic scale (Beethoven Pathetique)

F. Diagonal Lines Slides:
*Gericault's Raft of the Medussa
*example from music: Lizst concerto in E flat

G. horizontal lines
Slide: Eakins: Biglin Brothers Racing
*music: Gregorian Chant

I. Summary: Jackson Pollack Guardians of the Secret

J. Types of lines:

a. actual lines
*Roy Lichtenstein Still Life With Crystal Ball
b. Implied lines:
*Raphael Madonna of the Meadows

III. Shape

A. 2D and 3D

B. Introductory overview: *Frank Stella: two slides

C. The Square: Aids Quilt

Soo-ja Kim, Portrait of yourself

D. Triangle

Judy Chicago's Dinner Party
The Egyptian Pyramids

E. The Circle

* The Pantheon, Rome
*The Coliseum, Rome
*Stonehenge, Great Britain
*Ifa Divination Board, Benin
*Shigeko Kubota Duchampian Bicycle Wheels
*Musical equivalent: sonata/allegro form
*Musical equivalent: a round

F. Equidistant Cross:
*Cathedral of St. Sernin, Toulouse, France

G. Rectangles: Pedro Los Perez Marielitos

IV. Summary

*class analysis of Picasso Girl before a Mirror

IDST 2310 Conclusions   | Data at a Glance  |  Project Overview  |  About the Author

Explorations in Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Home Page