Implied Space, Article Critique Example

Introduction

Space has been of great concern in art throughout history. The concern has been due to the definitions of space by different artists and scholars. There is difference in space in art, space in mathematics and space in English. In art, creation of space is however seen as the principal goal of art (Cavanaugh 260). Artists are supposed to create space that is not compromised by decoration or an illustration but instead create space within which the subjects of painting can live. Creation of perception of depth in paintings, sketches and photographs is very challenging and cannot be completely solved (Arnheim 156).

Raphael uses many different techniques in his paintings and drawings to give them a sense of depth. Raphael used various techniques to create the illusion of three dimensional spaces in an image like he did in his paintings from the renaissance period which was titled ‘the school of Athens’. He argued that these techniques would help give paintings, sketches, photographs and other artistic works the illusion of depth (Raphael 170). Overlapping objects is one of the styles or techniques that Raphael brought out in ‘the school of Athens’. He stated that some figures should be in front of others to overlap them. This is because overlapping is the strongest indicator of relative distance.

Another style was variation of the size or scale of similar objects in an image for example making people to appear smaller deeper in the image and bigger when they are close to the viewer. Raphael states that this would help in creating an element of space in the image (Raphael 170). Another style he used was the variation of the intensity of colors or shading. He argues that humans tend to perceive bright warm colors like red as being close and cooler colors like blue as being further away. Another style that he used was the use of diagonal lines and diminishing scale. He argues that the exemplification of diminishing scale and diagonal lines that move towards each other as they move up or down a painting will give an illusion of depth and create an element of space. The techniques brought out in Raphael’s ‘school of Athens’ can be contrasted to the techniques of creating and denying space in images in Picasso’s ‘Les demoiselles d’Avignon.’ Picasso is one of the most celebrated artists in world history. Picasso’s styles were influenced by the impressionist and post impressionist eras and these styles made him focus on subjects of realist nature. Picasso majorly focused on avoiding flatness but instead retaining a sense of solidity and depth in his work as compared to Raphael who focused more on reducing the forms of nature to a flat pattern in a painting.

They both sought to bring out the element of space in their works but Picasso’s approach was different because he used shapes such as cones and spheres to bring out that element while Raphael used the techniques brought out in ‘the school of Athens’. Picasso also used the style of cubism which was focused on breaking down an object into a set of forms and then rearranging them to represent a three dimensional image of the object that he is working on (Okinda 23). He used this style to create Les demoiselles d’Avigon because it allowed him to experiment with various forms of art and space because this style broke down the object into its components and also showed different views of an object simultaneously. He states that with the sue of these style then artists will not only paint the world like it is but also see it like it is (Picasso 483). Both artists therefore seek to create space and illusion of depth but with the use of different methods that will give different results in their paintings.

Works Cited

Arnheim, Rivers. Art and visual perception: a psychology of the creative eye. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 1954. Print.

Cavanaugh, Paul. Reflections in art-spatial vision. New York: McGraw Hill. 2008. Print.

Okinda, Gemmy. Picasso works and its impact on modern artists. Berlin: Springer, 2007. Print.

Picasso, Pablo. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. 1997. Print.