A shape is a flat, enclosed area that has two dimensions

1

• A shape is a flat, enclosed area that has two
  dimensions length and width. We can see a
  shape because a line either surrounds it, or
  because a change in color or value allows us to
  see its edges. When we paint on a flat sheet of
  paper, we make shapes of many kinds.

2
Why learn about shapes?

• Learning about kinds of shapes is an important
  part of art since we always begin with a line and
  with that line we can create a shape.
• Knowing what kinds of shapes you are using in
  your artwork will not only allow you to make
  intelligent decisions about your art, but allow
  you speak intelligently about your work.
• Keep in mind that it is difficult to talk about
  one kind of shape without talking about others.

3
Let us first identify the types of shapes that
are most commonly used by artists..

• Organic Shapes
• Geometric Shapes
• Abstract Shapes
• Positive Shapes
• Negative Shapes

4
Organic Shapes

• All shapes are either geometric or organic.
• Organic shapes are freeform and curved people,
  clouds, animals, trees, flowers, etc.
• It would be impossible to name all the organic
  shapes in the world!

5
Geometric Shapes

• Geometric shapes have hard edges and are precise
  and regular triangles, squares, circles,
  rectangles, and combinations of these shapes.

6
Abstract Shapes

• Abstract shapes are very simplified, flat shapes
  of three dimensional things that we can
  sometimes recognize, but which may not look real.
  They might often seem to be silhouettes of real
  things. Some abstract shapes are just random
  shapes that do not resemble anything we
  recognize. Abstract shapes can either be organic
  or geometric.

7
Positive Negative Shapes

• Shapes are either positive or negative. The
  subject in a work of art is usually the positive
  shape and the background is the negative shape.
  Positive and negative shapes can either be
  organic or geometric.

8

• In the first painting, the artist used both
  geometric and organic shapes in planning and
  creating the large collage. Most of the numbers
  are organic shapes and are placed on rectangles,
  which are geometric shapes. The entire work is
  made of shapes. The bright colors make the
  collage seem like a festival banner she calls
  it Octogenarian Celebration.

9
In this piece entitled, Bond, Escher uses both
Organic and Geometric Shapes in his
composition. His use of positive and negative
shapes are also very evident.
Maurits Cornelis Escher (17 June 1898 27 March
1972), usually referred to as M.C. Escher was a
graphic artist. He is known for his
mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs,
and mezzotints. These feature impossible
constructions, explorations of infinity,
architecture, and tessellations.
10
Metamorphosis also effectively uses organic,
geometric, positive and negative shapes
11
Organic Irregular Shapes

• Shapes in nature are usually organic or irregular
  such as flowers, people, trees, or lakes. If you
  want to draw or paint them, you need to see their
  shapes. In this photo, the leaves are the
  positive shape, and the blue background is the
  negative shape.

12
Contour line drawings follow the edges
of objects. In both of these illustrations, the
lines are all organic except for the cushion the
turtles are on, which is geometric.

• Contour line drawings can help identify organic
  shapes. Changes in color or value can create
  edges that also describe organic shapes. If you
  traced the dark shapes on the turtle, they would
  prove to be organic shapes.

13
Organic Shapes Contour Lines

• In this agate, the colored lines follow each
  other closely.
• These are called contour lines.
• The shape of the rock and the lines are organic.

14
Robert Wood, Flight, Watercolor

• The cliff painting is made of organic earth
  shapes the cliff, rock, sun, bird, water, wave,
  and cloud shapes are all organic shapes. Notice
  the variety of sizes that these different shapes
  have. This allows us to identify the objects.

15
Donna Berryhill Don Mixed Media

• In the figure painting we can see both positive
  and negative shapes. The main object in any
  painting is usually the positive shape, and the
  background area surrounding it is called the
  negative shape. The figure in this painting is
  an organic shape. The rectangular brush strokes
  in the background are geometric.

16

• Shapes are either positive or negative. The
  subject in a representational work is usually the
  positive shape (the sheep), and the background is
  the negative shape. A representational work is
  one in which the subject is easily recognizable,
  in this case, a sheep. Both the sheep and the
  background are organic shapes. The overall shape
  of the painting (square) is geometric).

Wil Bullas A Sheep on the Job Watercolor
17
Positive and Negative shapes using
organic shapes. The leaf is organic in shape.
The backgrounds are organic shapes. The shape of
the paintings are geometric (rectangular).
18
Positive and Negative Shapes using
Geometric Shapes
19
Henri Matisse Shape

• Henri Matisse (December 31, 1869 November 3,
  1954) was a French artist, noted for his use of
  color. He was also known as a draughtsman,
  printmaker, and sculptor, but principally as a
  painter. Matisse is one of the best-known
  artists of the twentieth century. He was
  initially labeled as a Fauve (wild beast), which
  was a short lived group of modern artists called
  Fauvists. They simplified lines, made the
  subject of the painting easy to read, and
  exaggerated perspectives.

In this painting, Matisse uses organic Shapes in
the figure along with irregular geometric shapes
with hard edges in the yellow star like objects
and the circle heart..
His mastery of the expressive language of color
and drawing is apparent in a body of work
spanning over a half-century, and won him
recognition as a the father of modern art.
20

• All shapes are either geometric or organic.
  Organic shapes are freeform and curved people,
  clouds, animals, trees, flowers, etc.
• It would be impossible to name all the organic
  shapes in the world!

Organic Shapes
21
Georgia OKeefe
Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887
March 6, 1986) was an American artist. Born near
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Georgia O'Keeffe was a
major figure in American art from the 1920s.

• Georgia Okeefes paintings are filled with
  organic shapes. Her paintings often bring
  together the elements of earth and sky.

22
Rams Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935
23
Geometric Shapes

• Geometric shapes have hard edges and are precise
  and regular triangles, squares, circles,
  rectangles, and combinations of these shapes.

24
Jasper Johns Geometric Shape

• Jasper Johns, Jr. (born May 15, 1930 in Augusta,
  Georgia) is a contemporary U.S. artist in
  painting and printmaking. is one of the great
  noodlers of modern art. Noodling, a term that
  enjoyed currency at the time Mr. Johns first hit
  the scene in the 1950s, is about fussing and
  worrying images into existence, often with
  monotonous, obsessive repetitions.

In Flags, by Jasper Johns, he uses the geometric
shape of a rectangle in the overall shape of the
flag, the lines in the flag, and also star
shapes. This painting does NOT have organic
shapes in it.
25
Jasper Johns Organic Geometric Shapes

• Here is another painting by Jasper Johns, called
  Nine. He uses the geometric shape of the
  rectangles, and then paints organic shapes of
  number over the top of the rectangles.

26
Abstract Shapes

• Abstract shapes are very simplified, flat shapes
  of three dimensional things that we can
  sometimes recognize, but which may not look real.
  They might often seem to be silhouettes of real
  things. Some abstract shapes are just random
  shapes that do not resemble anything we recognize.

27
Picasso Abstract Shapes

• Pablo Picassos painting, The Three Musicians, is
  an abstract painting in which the three figures
  are simplified to an arrangement of flat shapes.
  The artist used a variety of shapes in creating
  an image that resembles an interlocking puzzle.

Pablo Picasso, (25 October 1881  8 April 1973)
commonly known as Picasso, is one of the most
recognized figures in 20th-century art. He is
best known for co-founding the Cubist movement
and for the wide variety of styles embodied in
his work.
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
Abstract Art Positive Negative Shapes

• In abstract or non objective art, positive shapes
  are usually central or featured elements
  negative shapes surround them. Most of the
  shapes in this painting are geometric.

32
Abstract Simplified Organic Shapes

• Abstraction often reduces things to their
  simplest shapes.
• Margo Hoff has reduced people to flat, organic
  S shapes in simplifying the start of a marathon
  race to its basic elements.

33
Describe the images in the following slides Using
the following terms Organic Shape Geometric
Shape Positive Negative Shape Abstract Shape
34
1
35
2
36
3
37
4
38
5
39
6
40
7
41
8
42
Shape Review

• Abstract shapes are very simplified, flat shapes
  of three dimensional things

• Shapes are either positive or negative

• Organic or Geometric

• A shape is a flat, enclosed area
• that has two dimensions
• length and width.

• Contour line drawings can help describe organic
  shapes.
• Changes in color or value can create
• edges that also describe organic shapes.