Definition of Painting
In art, the term painting describes both the act of capturing an image, of a person, an animal, an object, a situation or fact (using a brush or another instrument, such as a brush, spatula, sponge, airbrush to apply painting), and the result of the action is defined as a work of art.
Painting is also defined as an image (art) created with pigments (color) on a surface (substrate) such as paper or canvas. The pigment can be in a wet form, such as paint, or in a dry form, such as pastels. Thus, painting can also be a verb, the action of creating a work of art.
The elements of painting are the basic components or building blocks of a painting. In western art they are generally considered to be: the tone of Color (or value), of line (a narrow mark of a brush or a line of meeting between two things), of shape (2D, it can be positive or negative) and (3D), space (or volume), texture (or pattern) sometimes these elements are also added to the composition list. Also valued in painting are elements such as direction (vertical, horizontal, inclined), time, size and movement (how the viewer perceives and sees the painting). Similarly, special consideration and knowledge about the composition of the work must be taken. Therefore, this concept is described below.
Paintings Features
Painting is the expression of ideas and emotions, with the creation of certain aesthetic qualities, in a two-dimensional visual language. The elements of this language, its shapes, lines, colors, tones and textures, are used in various ways to produce sensations of volume, space, movement and light on a flat surface.
These elements are combined in expressive patterns to represent real or supernatural phenomena, to interpret a narrative theme, or to create totally abstract visual relationships. An artist’s decision to use a certain medium, such as tempera, fresco, oil, acrylic, watercolor or other water-based paints, ink, Gauche, encaustic, or casein.
The choice of a particular shape, such as a mural, an easel, a panel, a miniature, a manuscript illumination, a scroll, a screen or fan, a panorama, or any of the various modern shapes, is based on the qualities sensual, expressive possibilities and limitations of those options. The options of medium and form, as well as the artist’s own technique, combine to create a unique visual image.
The earlier cultural traditions of tribes, religions, guilds, royal courts, and states largely controlled the craftsmanship, form, images, and subject of painting and determined its function, whether it was ritualistic, devotional, decorative, entertaining, or educational. .
Painters were employed more as skilled craftsmen than as creative artists. Later, the notion of the good artist developed in Asia and in Renaissance Europe. Outstanding painters were granted the status of scholars and courtiers, who signed their works, decided their design and often their subject and images, and established a more personal, though not always friendly, relationship with their patrons.
The composition
is the term used to describe the arrangement of the visual elements of a painting. It is how the elements of art and design, such as line, shape, color, value, texture, and space, are organized according to the principles of art and design, to achieve balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm. , unity / variety in the work. As well as, these elements of the composition, give the structure of the painting and allow to transmit the intention of the artist.
Therefore, the composition is different from the subject matter of a painting. Every painting, whether abstract or figurative, regardless of the subject, has a composition. Whereas, a good composition is essential for the success of a painting. Hence, successfully done, a good composition draws the viewer in and then moves the viewer’s eye through the painting so that everything ends up finally focusing on the main subject of the painting. Thus, in his notes, the painter Henri Matisse defined composition as the art of decoratively arranging the various elements at the command of the painter to express his feelings.
Composition Elements
Compositional elements in art are used to organize visual components in a way that is pleasing to both the artist, and hopefully, the viewer. They help give structure to the design of the painting and the subject matter presented. They can also stimulate or lead the viewer’s eye to wander through the entire painting, to come to rest at the focal point.
In Western art these are the elements of composition generally considered:
Unity: all parts should give the feeling of composition, that is, they belong to the work. Therefore, the unit allows to differentiate when something or something feels awkward, or is out of place.
Balance: It is the sense of painting, since having a symmetrical arrangement adds a sense of calm, while an asymmetrical arrangement creates a more dynamic feeling. A painting that is not balanced creates a feeling of discomfort.
Movement: There are many ways to give a sense of movement in a painting, such as the arrangement of objects, the position of figures, the flow of a river. Leading lines (photography applicable to painting) can be used to direct the viewer’s eye around the painting. Main lines can be real lines, such as railroad lines, they can also be implicit lines, like a row of trees or a curve of stones or circles.
Rhythm: It largely does the same as in music, so that a work of art may have an underlying rhythm or beat that leads the eye to see the work of art at a certain rhythm. Looking for the big underlying shapes (squares, triangles) and the repeating color.
The Focus (or emphasis): The eye of the viewer, in short, wants to rest on the focal point that is the most important point of the painting, otherwise the eye feels lost, wandering in space.
Contrast: Paintings with strong differences between light and dark, high contrast, for example, have a different feel from paintings with minimal contrast in light and dark. In addition to the light and dark contrast, there may be differences in shape, color, size, texture, line types, among other aspects.
The Pattern: It is a regular repetition of lines, shapes, colors or values in a composition.
Proportion: It has to do with the way things fit and relate to each other in terms of size and scale; whether it is large or small, close or distant.
History of painting
The term history of painting was introduced in the 17th century to describe paintings with themes drawn from classical history, mythology, and the Bible, in the 18th century. It was also used to refer to more recent historical themes.
The term, also, was introduced by the Royal French Academy in the seventeenth century, since it was considered the most important type (genre) of portrait painting, the representation of scenes from everyday life, such as genre painting, painting of landscapes and still lifes.
Painting techniques
Whether a painting is completed by careful steps or executed directly by a “hit-or-miss alla prima” method (in which pigments are applied in a single application) was largely determined in its day. , by the ideals and established techniques of the cultural tradition.
For example, the meticulous procedure of the medieval European illuminator, whereby a complex linear pattern was gradually enriched with gold leaf and precious pigments, was contemporary with the Chinese artists’ practice of immediate calligraphic brush painting after the contemplative period of spiritual preparation.
Importance of painting
The contribution of painting in the modern and postmodern era is that since the Renaissance, it allowed civilizations to be free from an understanding of the universe where the human being was only defined in terms of a larger cosmic order which, in turn, was the assumption, manifested in the word of God. The new modern vision, on the other hand, also allows the human being to make a self-definition. However, from this point of view of illumination that is still shared by the human being as a subject, the world is seen as a set of neutral objects, which can be observed, measured or manipulated. Likewise, as artists, it has been possible to achieve the achievement of self-defined subjects, a historical achievement in fact. But it has also allowed the human being to become a creative subject who feels separate from the objects he paints, and that is the part of the achievement that is still worrisome, it means that the artist’s task lies largely in observing and commenting on the world, recording his observations or comments on canvas (or not). The miracle or important truth that is being talked about pushes to this self-understanding of oneself as a subject, that is to say, to self-definition, a step further, very important. In this understanding, life is seen as an expression where the human being realizes in his work, something to feel or desire, by virtue of his own activity. To put it more bluntly, in expressions, the human being realizes who he is because it is only through the effort of expressing himself that he clarifies and makes distinctive what he is and what he is becoming. means that the artist’s task is largely to observe and comment on the world, recording their observations or comments on canvas (or not). The miracle or important truth that is talked about pushes to this self-understanding of oneself as a subject, that is to say, to self-definition, a step further, very important. In this understanding, life is seen as an expression where the human being realizes in his work, something to feel or desire, by virtue of his own activity. To put it more bluntly, in expressions, the human being realizes who he is because it is only through the effort of expressing himself that he clarifies and makes distinctive what he is and what he is becoming. means that the artist’s task is largely to observe and comment on the world, recording their observations or comments on canvas (or not). The miracle or important truth that is being talked about pushes to this self-understanding of oneself as a subject, that is to say, to self-definition, a step further, very important. In this understanding, life is seen as an expression where the human being realizes in his work, something to feel or desire, by virtue of his own activity. To put it more bluntly, in expressions, the human being realizes who he is because it is only through the effort of expressing himself that he clarifies and makes distinctive what he is and what he is becoming. The miracle or important truth that is being talked about pushes to this self-understanding of oneself as a subject, that is to say, to self-definition, a step further, very important. In this understanding, life is seen as an expression where the human being realizes in his work, something to feel or desire, by virtue of his own activity. To put it more bluntly, in expressions, the human being realizes who he is because it is only through the effort of expressing himself that he clarifies and makes distinctive what he is and what he is becoming. The miracle or important truth that is being talked about pushes to this self-understanding of oneself as a subject, that is to say, to self-definition, a step further, very important. In this understanding, life is seen as an expression where the human being realizes in his work, something to feel or desire, by virtue of his own activity. To put it more bluntly, in expressions, the human being realizes who he is because it is only through the effort of expressing himself that he clarifies and makes distinctive what he is and what he is becoming.
From this point of view, when a mark is made on a canvas, it becomes possible not only to create a thing, but to become a human being. It is possible, then, not simply to make an image of something, but to create and recreate oneself through art. Thus, if you had to look at a painting by Paul Cézanne, for example, you could see the apples, but that is the superficial thing. Nobody cares about apples or the sunset or the thing called painting except insofar as it can move, in a way that is somewhat inexplicable. That is to say that the value of the painting, and here we do not talk about the market value or the value of the investment, it is that through it Cezanne specifically, continues to speak and reaffirm his viewers.
Therefore, to capture an idea, a thought, a feeling on a canvas is to open the door to the possibility of being deeply moved and moving others. This approach to painting comes directly from what can be described as the golden age of painting (expressionism). It was the central focus to the rejection of the academic claim that the world’s artists skillfully recorded. Thus, certain American artists found their way to Paris in the 19th century and returned home to pass on this set of beliefs, as well as a set of practices and techniques, expressed later, from this point of view.
Legacy of Painting in Art
One of the most important legacies of painting in general, are the criteria and different genres with which it has been possible to identify and classify this art. Thus, Chinese painting is different from Western oil painting. The two cannot be judged with the same criteria. Before experiencing the renewal of Chinese painting, it is necessary to study its historical essence to reveal the beauty without losing the original spirit. In fact, the traditional painting of the literati represents not only an aesthetic school, but also the presence of the philosophical mentality of the Chinese people, in this case. The painter Li I-hung, one of the best in contemporary Chinese painting, quotes the words of a Belgian Sinologist when explaining this phenomenon, stating that to understand Chinese philosophy, You must first know Chinese landscape painting. On the other hand, for someone who is on the fringes of Chinese philosophy, faced with a Chinese ink painting, he is unable to grasp the underlying meaning beyond the background of floating clouds. All paintings will look the same to you. However, the subject of landscape, after the Five Dynasties (around the 10th century AD), became the mainstream of Chinese painting.
The aesthetic transformation whose origin had to do with the philosophical mentality of that time, sprang up due to the constant wars and social upheavals from year to year, the most enlightened talents of intellectual society, resigned and defenseless in the face of this chaotic situation, inspired them the mystical thought of the sages Lao-tze and Chuang-tze of joining with nature as a form of retreat. Therefore, for example, Chinese painting has influenced other paintings in the region, such is the case of Taiwanese painting with a strong contemporary nuance and local colors. Unlike the soft tonality and metaphorical sense of literary traditional Chinese painting, today’s Taiwan painting is more striking, moving, and changing. The trends are sketched like a Chiang Ming-shyan drawing, mixing the materials, such as oil, acrylic, watercolor, or Japanese jiaocai on top of the India ink layer. It is no wonder that when people see these pictorial works, they are surprised to wonder if they are really India ink paintings. Similarly, the traditional landscape painting of the literati is the product of agricultural society, added by Mr. Lo. In ancient times, artists lived in the countryside, soaking up the natural environment around the mountains and waters; Whereas today, we live in a super industrialized society or the so-called postmodern, surrounded by science and high technology, it would be anachronistic to continue painting those landscapes. Faced with this crossroads of social change, the millenary tradition of Chinese painting has also reached its moment of transformation. Therefore, more and more in painting trends and cultures from different countries and cultures are intermingled. Therefore, painters are increasingly daring to use colors, with abundant western sketches or the watercolor technique and mixed materials, such as torn newspapers, collage, painting with the spray or the brush, even abandoning some techniques and taking others that allow them to transform this art, which has left a certain bitter taste to art critics. Thus, the particular characteristics, for example, of Chinese painting are the vigor and delicacy of the brushstrokes. However, if you want to express color and texture, oil is better, and to highlight the sketch-type technique, watercolor is better. In fact, With the advance of modern Western art and artistic schools such as Picasso and the Cubists, Matisse and the Fauvists or Miró and abstractionism, the flow of Chinese ink painting has expanded. Painters have begun to reconstruct concrete landscapes and integrate more abstract elements. Therefore, the works are being carried out making new experiments reveal a new vitality and richness of the art of painting.
Types of painting
Egyptian paintings
Known as one of the oldest and richest civilizations to ever exist, the Egyptian civilization has so far withstood the test of time. With its pyramids that are close to the sky and the monumental sphinx that watches over the tombs of the pharaohs, it tends to forget another subtle but very important part of the ancient Egyptian culture that exists alongside the pyramids and the sphinx, such as ancient Egyptian paintings. .
Prehistoric painting
Prehistoric paintings have been discovered as cave paintings in many parts of the world, from Europe and Africa to Australia. Africa has some of the earliest safely dated rock paintings and carvings, thousands of years old, some discovered in 1969 in the rock wall of a cave near Twyfelfontein in Namibia.
But the most numerous and sophisticated of prehistoric paintings are on the cave walls of southwestern France and northern Spain.
Roman paintings
The history of Roman painting is essentially a history of plaster wall paintings. Although ancient literary references report Roman paintings on wood, ivory, and other materials, the works that have survived are found in the enduring medium of the fresco that was used to adorn the interiors of private homes in Roman cities and in the countryside.
Action Paintings
This painting is framed within the abstract expressionism of the United States, which began in the 40s, in the 20th century, from this country it spread to Europe, it is characterized by being completely abstract and gestural, so , in the finished work the speed, fury and intentionality of the creator is evidenced in each of the splashes.
Indian paintings
The main aim of the Indian painter artist is to create beauty and while working on a particular painting he keeps this in mind. That is why the Indian arts have a distinctive position in the global arena. Comparing with other art forms such as dance and music, Indian paintings are capable of portraying the feelings and emotions of the artist, they also have the ability to portray human emotions and hold them for a longer period.
European paintings
European painting is considered among the most outstanding arts, in which there are important paintings by old masters, including a rare group of Spanish, Italian and Northern European paintings from the 15th century, paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries of the most European nations, and El Greco’s most renowned painting in the United States, the Assumption of the Virgin.
This collection of paintings is recognized worldwide for its extensive and outstanding holdings of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.
Greek paintings
Greek painting has survived mainly as ceramic decoration. The few Greek murals that have survived are remarkable, showing significant advances in realism techniques such as shading and perspective.
The origin of Greek culture including painting, was Athens, this fact is evident even in the Greek Dark Ages, during which Athens, like all other Greek settlements, had not yet become a city.
Western paintings
Western painting should be considered to mean painting not only in Europe but also in regions outside Europe that share a European cultural tradition, such is the case of the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin and, later, the New World countries.
Western painting is generally distinguished by its concentration on the representation of the human figure, either in the heroic context of antiquity or in the religious context of the Christian and early medieval world.
Oriental paintings
The Orient calls for images of sages, rich spices, luxurious tapestries, and incense. Paintings from the East evoke the rich culture in wonderful colors and details. Similarly, oriental art includes in its unusual paintings, bridges, majestic birds, extravagant images, Middle Eastern landscapes and calm goldfish.
Representatives of paintings in the ages
This is the name given to the works of art, which marked a milestone in painting. For example in the Renaissance great works were produced during the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe under the combined influences of a greater awareness of nature, a revival of classical learning, and a more individualistic view of man.
Renaissance paintings show the interest in nature, humanistic learning and individualism that were already present in the late medieval period and became dominant in Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries.
Universities of paintings
In painting universities, the structure of the course depends on the type of art degree you want to study. For example, art history degrees are likely to be much more essay-based than fine art degrees, which are likely to be practical in nature and perhaps taught in studios or workshops.
Fine arts degrees are also more likely to conclude with an evaluation through a project or portfolio of works that can be exhibited to the public, although some courses have the traditional supervised dissertation or research project more commonly found in degrees. of art history.
The duration of the art degree also varies depending on the country in which you choose to study. For example, most undergraduate courses in the UK last three years, while in the US four years is the norm.