Imagine that you have a sheet plane in front of you, absolutely not filled with any image elements. In other words, a clean slate. How is it perceived by us? Naturally, the plane of the sheet does not carry any information, it is perceived by us as meaningless, empty, not organized. But! One has only to put on it any spot, or a line, a stroke, and this plane begins to come to life. This means that our pictorial elements, any - spot, line, stroke - enter into a spatial connection with it, forming some kind of semantic link. It's easier to say - the plane and any element on it begin to interact, conduct a dialogue with each other, and begin to "tell" us about something.
So we get the most primitive composition, which is even difficult to call such, but this is it.
Further. You and I have one universal tool given to us by nature, these are our eyes, our vision. So, our eye sees and perceives the world around us in proportions and proportions. What does it mean? Our vision is able to feel harmony, and what is not harmonious. Our eye is able to find the difference between the discrepancy between the sizes of individual parts and the whole, or vice versa, to see a complete correspondence. Vision is able to perceive combinations of colors that do not irritate the eye, or vice versa - they can be completely disharmonious. I will say more, our natural instinct from the very beginning, whether you like it or not, strives for a sense of harmony in everything. And subconsciously obliges by feeling to arrange objects and their parts so that not a single part of the composition is alien or disproportionate. You only need learn to listen to your feelings and understand how to achieve harmony, that is, to compose a good composition. Any.
Go ahead. Let's take some shape, for example, a circle and try to place it in different places on the plane of the sheet. We can see, we can feel that in some cases it will take a more stable position, in others it will be unstable. The picture on the left: see how our vision works - it would seem that for a circle the most stable place is the coincidence of its center with the geometric center of the sheet plane (drawing diagonal lines from corner to corner of the sheet, we get the center of the sheet at the intersection of these lines). However, that's not all. Due to an optical illusion (the eye somewhat overestimates the upper and underestimates the lower part of the plane), the circle is perceived to be slightly shifted down. Do you feel how the circle is somehow attracted to the base of the square? The circle is not clearly felt either in the middle or below, and this results in a misunderstanding of its position, disharmony is felt. How to achieve harmony? In what position should the circle be in order for us to perceive it harmoniously in the plane of the sheet? Naturally, it needs to be moved up a little. See picture on the right. Feel the stable position of the circle? He takes exactly his place in the square. Thus, our simplest composition will be more harmonious, and therefore more correct.
Understanding: the plane and the object form a kind of conditional spatial relationship that we can correct.
Our plane initially has a certain conditional structure, even if there is not a single element on it yet. The plane can be divided into axes - horizontal, vertical, diagonal. We get the structure - look at the picture on the left. In the center of the plane (geometric center), all the forces of this hidden structure are in a state of equilibrium, and the central part of the plane is perceived actively, while the non-central parts are perceived passively. This is how we feel. Such a perception of conditional space, so our vision seeks to find peace. Understanding this is rather arbitrary, but true.
The eye seeks to see harmony in what it observes - it determines the center of our composition, which seems to it more active, everything else is more passive. This is what only the study of one clean sheet plane can give us. Moreover, this is what only the study of one square-shaped leaf plane can give us. But the principle is the same. This is what concerns the structure of the sheet plane.
But this would be - completely insufficient - to dismember the plane or to compose a composition from one element on the sheet. It's boring and no one needs it, neither you nor the viewer. There is always more, more varied and much more interesting.
Now let's try to compose another composition, but with several participants. See picture on the left. What do we see, what do we feel? And we feel that our composition is not harmonious, because its individual parts are not balanced. The objects are strongly shifted to the left, leaving an empty, unnecessary, unused space on the right in the composition. And the eye always strives to balance everything and achieve harmony. What do we need to do here? It is natural to balance the parts of the composition so that they harmoniously make up one large composition and are part of one whole. We need to make sure that our vision is comfortable.
Look at the picture on the right. Is that how you feel more harmonious? I think yes. What does it mean? In the visual perception of the elements and the plane of the sheet and in the analysis of their relationships: the influence of the internal forces of the structure of the plane on the behavior of the pictorial elements is felt. What does it mean? Our elements participating in the composition interact with conditional diagonal, vertical and horizontal axes of the plane. We have achieved a stable visual balance of all components of the composition relative to the geometric center. Even if not a single figure is in the middle here, they balance each other, forming together a center where vision expects it, and therefore it is more comfortable to look at this drawing than at the previous one.
And if you add a few more elements, then in this case they should be somewhat weaker in size or tone (or color) and in a certain place, so as not to visually knock down the geometric center of the composition, otherwise you will have to change the arrangement of the elements in order to achieve harmony. again, that is, harmonious perception. This is about the concept geometric center of the composition, which we have now introduced into the study.
You always need to strive for a stable visual balance of all components of the composition in its various directions - up and down, right and left, diagonally. And the composition should be harmonious from any position, in any turn - turn your composition upside down, or 90 degrees, it should also be pleasant to view, without any hint of discomfort. And it is easier to consider that the geometric center of the composition is located at the intersection of diagonal lines or a little higher, it is in this place that the eyes, after viewing the composition itself, whatever it may be, eventually stops and finds “rest”, calms down precisely in this place, even if there is no object on it. This is a conditional place. And a harmonious composition is one when it is no longer required to either introduce new elements or remove any of it. All acting "persons" participating in a holistic composition are subordinated to one general idea.
Fundamentals of composition - static balance and dynamic balance
The composition must be harmonious and its individual sections must be balanced. Let's go ahead and understand the following concepts:
Static balance And dynamic balance. These are ways to balance the composition, ways to create harmony. The methods are different, as they affect our vision in different ways. Let's say we have two compositions. We look at the picture on the left: what do we have? We have a composition in which a circle and stripes participate. This shows the static balance of the circle and the stripes. How is it achieved? Firstly, if you look at the hidden structure of the composition sheet, you can understand that it is built primarily along the horizontal and vertical axes. More than static. Secondly, static elements are used - a circle and stripes, the circle is balanced by stripes and does not fly out of the plane, and the conditional geometric visual center is located at the intersection of the diagonals, and the composition can also be viewed from all sides, without giving rise to disharmony.
Now look at the picture on the right. We see a dynamic balance of several semicircles and circles with highlighting of the dominant color. How is dynamic balance achieved? If you look at the hidden structure of the sheet, then in addition to the horizontal and vertical axes of the composition, you can clearly see the use of the diagonal axis. Its presence, use, gives out a red circle, which in this composition is a dominant, a dominant spot, the area to which the eye pays attention first of all. We introduce the concept composition center.
Composition Center. Dominant
Compositional center, dominant, as it is understood: in the composition on the left there is a certain compositional center, or dominant, which is the beginning of the composition and to which all other elements are subordinate. We can say more: all other elements enhance the significance of the dominant and "play along" with it.
We have the main protagonist - the dominant and secondary elements. Secondary elements can also be divided by importance. More significant - accents, and less significant - secondary elements. Their significance is determined only by the content of the story, the plot of the composition, and so all the elements of the composition are important and must be subordinated to each other, "twisted" into one whole.
The compositional center depends on:
1. Its size and the size of other elements.
2. Positions on the plane.
3. The shape of the item, which is different from the shape of other items.
4. The texture of the element, which is different from the texture of other elements.
5. Colors. By applying a contrasting (opposite color) to the color of secondary elements (bright color in a neutral environment, and vice versa, or a chromatic color among achromatic ones, or a warm color with a general cold range of secondary elements, or a dark color among light ones ...
6. Developments. The main element, the dominant, is more developed than the secondary ones.
Compositional and geometric centers of the composition
Let's continue... This dominant, a conspicuous active element, is located at least not in the center of the sheet, but its weight and activity is supported by many secondary elements located diagonally further, opposite this dominant. If we draw another diagonal, then on both sides of it the "weight" of the composition will be conditionally the same. The composition is balanced both vertically and horizontally, and diagonally. Elements are used that differ in activity from the previous composition - they are more actively located and more active in shape. Although they are arranged elementarily, according to a conditional grid, and the structure of the composition is simple, but besides this, the composition has a dynamic balance, as it leads the viewer along a certain trajectory.
Note: the composition on the right is not at all created with the help of paints on paper, but I really liked it, and in essence, by and large, this does not change. This is also a composition. We continue...
You say, where is the geometric center of the composition? I answer: the geometric center of the composition is where it should be. Initially, it may seem that it is located where the dominant is located. But the dominant is rather an accent, the plot of the composition, that is, the compositional center. However, we do not forget that there is also a hidden structure of the composition, the geometric center of which is located, as in the composition, on the left. The first glance the viewer turns to composition center, dominant, but after considering it, and further after reviewing the entire composition, your eye nevertheless stopped at geometric center, right? Check it out for yourself, follow your feelings. He found "calm" there, the most comfortable place. From time to time, he again examines the composition, paying attention to the dominant, but then again calms down in the geometric center. That is why such a balance is called dynamic, it introduces movement - visual attention is not scattered evenly throughout the composition, but follows a certain course that the artist created. Your eye will find movement in the compositional center, but will not be able to rest there. And it is precisely with the successful construction of the composition, namely, the correct use of the geometric center, that it is harmoniously visible from any turn. And the compositional center - from it the composition begins to conduct a dialogue with the viewer, this is the section of the composition that allows you to control the viewer's attention and direct him in the right direction.
Static composition and dynamic composition
Here we come to the following terms that we need to consider with you. These terms differ in meaning from static equilibrium and dynamic, meaning: you can balance any composition by nature in different ways. So... What is static composition? This is the state of the composition, in which the balanced elements as a whole give the impression of its steady immobility.
1. A composition based on which one can visually clearly observe the use of a hidden sheet structure for building. In a static composition, there is a conditional order of construction.
2. Items for a static composition are chosen closer in shape, weight, texture.
3. There is a certain softness in the tonal solution.
4. The color scheme is based on the nuances - close colors.
dynamic composition, respectively, can be built in the opposite way. This is the state of the composition, in which elements balanced among themselves give the impression of its movement and internal dynamics.
I repeat: but, no matter what the composition is, you should always strive for a stable visual balance of all components of the composition in its various directions - up and down, right and left, diagonally.
And the composition should be harmonious from any position, in any turn - turn your composition upside down, or 90 degrees, with general masses and color / tonal spots, it should also be pleasantly viewed, without any hint of discomfort.
Composition basics - exercises
Additional exercises can be done with gouache, as an application, colored pencils and other materials with which your soul wishes to work. You can do from the exercise that you find easiest or most interesting to the most difficult.
1. Balance on a square plane a few simple-shaped elements. Follow the same principle to compose a simple landscape motif.
2. From simple stylized motifs of natural forms, sketch a closed composition (not going beyond the picture), enclosed in a sheet format. Closed composition - the action only spins in the space that you use, full disclosure. In the compositions there is a move in a circle.
3. Organize several triangles and circles according to the principle of dynamic composition (asymmetric arrangement of figures on a plane), varying the color, lightness of the figures and the background.
4. Applying the principle of dividing the elements of the composition, balance several figures of various configurations in a rectangular format. According to this principle, perform a simple composition on an arbitrary topic.
5. From simple stylized motifs of natural forms, using the principle of division of elements, sketch an open composition. An open composition is a composition that can be developed further - in breadth and height.
6. Divide the plane of the sheet into a conditional structure according to sensation and compose a composition based on it: a black and white solution.
Expressive means of composition
The expressive means of composition in decorative and applied arts include line, dot, spot, color, texture ... These means are at the same time elements of the composition. Based on the tasks and goals set and taking into account the possibilities of a certain material, the artist uses the necessary means of expression.
The line is the main shaping element that most accurately conveys the nature of the outlines of any shape. The line performs a dual function, being both a means of representation and a means of expression.
There are three types of lines:
Straight: vertical, horizontal, oblique
Curves: circles, arcs
Curves with variable radius of curvature: parabolas, hyperbolas and their segments
The expressiveness of the associative perception of lines depends on the nature of their outline, tonal and color sound.
Lines transmit:
Vertical - striving up
Inclined - instability, fall
Polylines - variable movement
Wavy - uniform smooth movement, swing
Spiral - slow rotational movement, accelerating towards the center
Round - closed movement
Oval - the aspiration of the form to tricks.
Thick lines protrude forward, while thin lines recede into the depths of the plane. Performing sketches of the composition, they create combinations of certain lines, spots, stimulating the manifestation of its plastic and color properties.
Dot - as one of the expressive means is widely used in many works of decorative and applied art. It helps to reveal the texture of the image, the transfer of conditional space.
The spot is used for the rhythmic organization of non-pictorial ornamental motifs. Spots of various configurations, organized into a certain composition, acquire artistic expressiveness and, emotionally influencing the viewer, evoke an appropriate mood in him.
Artists in their works often use as pictorial elements geometric figures: circle, square, triangle. Compositions from them can symbolize the movement of time, the rhythms of human life.
The rhythmic organization of ornamental motifs from non-pictorial elements (spots of abstract configuration, silhouettes of geometric figures), combined into compositional structures, becomes a means of artistic expression.
More composition tools
1. Subordination: a person in the first second begins to perceive the composition as a silhouette image against a certain background: the area of the silhouette, the pattern of the contour line, the degree of compactness, tone, color, surface texture, and so on.
2. Symmetry and asymmetry: An effective means of achieving balance in the composition is symmetry - the regular arrangement of form elements relative to a plane, axis or point.
Asymmetry - the harmony of an asymmetric composition is more difficult to achieve, it is based on the use of a combination of various patterns of composition construction. However, compositions built on the principles of asymmetry are in no way inferior in aesthetic value to symmetrical ones. When working on its spatial structure, the artist combines symmetry and asymmetry, focusing on the dominant patterns (symmetry or asymmetry), uses asymmetry to highlight the main elements of the composition.
3. Proportions are the quantitative relationship of the individual parts of the composition with each other and with the whole, subject to a certain law. A composition organized by proportions is perceived much easier and faster than a visually unorganized mass. Proportions are subdivided into modular (arithmetic), when the relationship of parts and the whole is formed by repeating a single given size, and geometric, which are built on the equality of relations and manifest themselves in the geometric similarity of divisions of forms.
4. Nuance and contrast: nuance relationships - slight, weakly expressed differences in objects in size, pattern, texture, color, location in sheet space. As a means of composition, nuance can manifest itself in proportions, rhythm, color and tonal relationships, and plasticity.
Contrast: it consists in a pronounced opposition of the elements of the composition. The contrast makes the picture noticeable, distinguishes it from others. There are contrasts: directions of movement, size, conditional mass, shape, color, light, structure or texture. With a contrast of direction, the horizontal is opposed to the vertical, the slope from left to right is the slope from right to left. With a contrast of size, high is opposed to low, long to short, wide to narrow. With mass contrast, a visually heavy element of the composition is located close to the light one. With the contrast of the forms, "hard", angular forms are contrasted with "soft", rounded ones. With the contrast of light, light areas of the surface are contrasted with dark ones.
6. Rhythm is a certain ordering of single-character elements of a composition, created by repeating elements, their alternation, increase or decrease. The simplest pattern on the basis of which the composition is built is the repetition of elements and intervals between them, called modular rhythm or metrical repetition.
The metric series can be simple, consisting of one element of the form, repeating at regular intervals in space (a), or complex.
A complex metric series consists of groups of identical elements (c) or may include individual elements that differ from the main elements of the series in shape, size or color (b).
The combination of several metric series, combined into one composition, greatly enlivens the form. In general, the metric order expresses static, relative peace.
A certain direction can be given to the composition by creating a dynamic rhythm, which is based on the laws of geometric proportions by increasing (decreasing) the size of similar elements or on a regular change in the intervals between the same elements of a series (a - e). A more active rhythm is obtained by simultaneously changing the size of the elements and the intervals between them (e).
With an increase in the degree of rhythm, the compositional dynamics of the form intensifies in the direction of thickening the rhythmic series.
To create a rhythmic series, you can use a regular change in color intensity. Under conditions of metric repetition, the illusion of rhythm is created as a result of a gradual decrease or increase in the intensity of the color of an element. When the size of the elements changes, the color can enhance the rhythm, if its intensity grows simultaneously with the increase in the size of the elements, or visually balance the rhythm, if the color intensity decreases with the increase in the size of the elements. The organizing role of rhythm in a composition depends on the relative size of the elements that make up the rhythmic series, and on their number (to create a series, you need to have at least four or five elements).
Warm bright colors are used to bring out the active elements of the composition. Cool colors visually remove them. Color actively affects the human psyche, is able to cause a variety of feelings and experiences: to please and upset, invigorate and oppress. Color acts on a person regardless of his will, since we receive up to 90% of information through vision. Experimental studies show that the least eye fatigue occurs when observing a color belonging to the middle part of the spectrum (yellow-green region). The colors of this region give a more stable color perception, and the extreme parts of the spectrum (violet and red) cause the greatest eye fatigue and irritation of the nervous system.
According to the degree of impact on the human psyche, all colors are divided into active and passive. Active colors (red, yellow, orange) have an exciting effect, accelerate the vital processes of the body. Passive colors (blue, purple) have the opposite effect: they soothe, cause relaxation, and reduce efficiency. Maximum performance is observed when the green color is active.
The natural human need is to color harmony = subordination of all the colors of the composition to a single compositional idea. The whole variety of color harmonies can be divided into nuance combinations based on rapprochement (identity of tonality, lightness or saturation), and contrast combinations based on opposition.
There are seven variants of color harmony based on similarity:
1. the same saturation with different lightness and color tone;
2. the same lightness with different saturation and color tone;
3. the same color tone with different saturation and lightness;
4. the same lightness and saturation with a different color tone;
5. the same color tone and lightness with different saturation;
6. the same color tone and saturation at different lightness;
7. the same color tone, lightness and saturation of all elements of the composition.
With changing tonality, harmony can be achieved by combining two main and intermediate colors (for example, yellow, green and mustard) or by contrasting tonality. Contrasting combinations are made up of complementary colors (for example, red with cool green, blue with orange, purple with yellow ...) or from triads that include colors equally spaced on the color wheel (for example, yellow, purple, green-blue, red, green and blue-violet). Color harmony is formed not only by combinations of chromatic colors, but also by saturated chromatic with achromatic (blue and gray, brown and gray, and so on).
More exercises...
1. Draw a natural motif with a line and a spot
2. Perform a thematic composition using graphic means of expression - line, spot, dot
3. From objects freely placed in space, make a balanced still life composition, without resorting to perspective reductions of objects and spatial plans
8. Dismember the plane of a circle inscribed in a square (black and white solution), and make a rappoport composition from the dissected circles. You can do the same with other geometric shapes.
Artist and composition
Now we will not talk about how to compose a composition, but rather about the forces that impel us to create it. These forces are much stronger and more efficient, than you would thoroughly and spending many hours studying the technical aspects of its creation, but sparingly investing even a drop of your soul into the process. It is a strong motivation, an impelling force. You are an artist, regardless of what knowledge and skills you have and at what stage of development you are. You are an ARTIST, a creative person. Before creating a composition, any, you hatch an idea, think, feel emotions, observe its creation even within yourself. Some of us dream about it, some of us day by day are under the influence of this magical process, sometimes it just prevents us from living like all ordinary people, because we create it from the very beginning still inside ourselves. Any composition, any creation is a sublimation of those sensations and experiences that accompany the artist and grow in him, in his mind. And then, one day, at one moment, you understand that here it is, creation, it can now be born into the world, and you finally understand what you must do. And the composition is born. Now nothing can stop your creative process. But by and large, the composition is the mood of the artist, thoughts, the very idea that he splashes onto the lifeless plane of a sheet or canvas, forcing them to LIVE their own, original life, unlike everyone else. And even if the artist is not very strong in studying the laws of drawing up a composition on a sheet, the creative power of creation is many times stronger, everything else will come with time. Don't be afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Daring and simple, mysterious and evil, joyful and fantastic.... no one will tell about your thoughts better than you.
Federal Agency for Education R.F.
State educational institution
Higher professional education
"Altai State University"
Faculty of Arts
Department of the history of domestic and foreign art
The theory of composition in the theory of N.N. Volkova
(control work on the course "Theory of Art")
Completed: 6th year student
group 1352, OZO
Tyutereva Yu.V.
Checked by: Associate Professor of the Department
history of the national
and foreign art
Ph.D. in History of Arts
Divakova N.A.
Barnaul 2010
Introduction
The problem of the theory of composition in painting is relevant, since the issues of composition cannot be considered without connection with the general issues of the theory of art, especially painting.
A number of art critics dealt with the problem of composition theory.
Shortly before the revolution and in the first years of Soviet power in our country, extremely interesting art criticism works were created and published in the form of small brochures, which undoubtedly had a resonance in professional artistic circles.
The work of Volkov N.N. "Composition in Painting" is devoted to the forms of composition. The clarity of the content of a painting depends primarily on the clarity of the composition. The darkness or poverty of content is expressed primarily in the looseness or banality of the composition.
The book contains the experience of solving the main issues of the theory of composition. In the methodology of the social sciences, the principle of historicism is emphasized. The task of the theory of composition is to develop a system of concepts related to it and to solve related issues. The theory of composition is necessary for a developed and justified historicism. But it is also possible as a separate discipline. Indeed, a work of art expresses a certain historically conditioned content. But other arts express similar content in their own way. For example, literature. The content and time of creation of a work can be close, but the forms, and in particular the compositional forms specific to a given type of art, are different. Each art uses its own arsenal of forms. The narrative creates a compositional whole as a string of sentences and words one after the other. The compositional whole in the picture is closed in the canvas format. On the canvas - spots and objects are distributed one next to the other. In the narrative, the composition is limited linearly - the beginning and the ending. In the painting, the composition gathers the image around a circular constraint. The narration is forced to abandon the visual completeness and multidimensional spatial connections of the image, creating only a few reference points for the imagination of visual completeness. In the picture, on the contrary, space, color, furnishings, figures of characters are openly given. Everything is clearly localized for contemplation.
V.A. Fovorsky, in his article “On Composition”, defines composition as the desire to perceive and depict the multi-spatial and multi-temporal as a whole, bringing the visual image to the integrity, and considers time as the main compositional factor.
Yuon K.F. in the work "On Painting" he speaks not only about the synthesis of time, as a sign of composition, but also assigns a subordinate role to space as a means that only complements the composition.
According to L.F.Zhegin and B.F.Uspensky, the problem of composition in painting is the problem of constructing space.
E. Kibrik in his work "The Objective Laws of Composition in the Fine Arts", examining the theory of composition, reveals contrast as the basic principle of the composition of a picture and a graphic person. Ioganson, in his analysis of the composition of Velasquez's painting "Surrender of Breda", deepens this idea, speaks of the contrasts of adjacent light and dark spots that divide and connect the composition.
The object of the research is the problem of composition in painting.
The subject is the concept of composition by Volkov N.N.
The purpose of the work is to reveal the features of the concept of composition by Volkov N.N.
Tasks of control work:
- Define the concept of "composition" according to the theory of N.N. Volkova
- Determine the value of space as a compositional factor according to the theory of Volkov N.N.
- Consider the concept of "time" as a composition factor according to the theory of Volkov N.N.
- Determine the role of the subject construction of the plot and the word according to the theory of Volkov N.N.
In the study of the concept of Volkov's composition, the historical and biographical
Chapter 1. About the concept of composition
Before starting a conversation about composition, it is necessary to define this term.
V.A. Favorsky says that “One of the definitions of composition will be the following: the desire for compositionality in art is the desire to wholeheartedly perceive, see and depict the multi-spatial and multi-temporal ... bringing the visual image to integrity will be a composition ... ". Favorsky singles out time as a compositional factor.
K.F. Yuon sees in the composition a construction, that is, the distribution of parts on a plane, and a structure that is also formed by plane factors. Yuon not only talks about the synthesis of time. As a sign of composition, but also assigns a subordinate role to space as a means that only complements the composition
L.F. Zhegin, B.F. Ouspensky believe that the central problem of the composition of a work of art, which unites the most diverse types of art, is the problem of "point of view". "... In painting ... the problem of point of view appears primarily as a problem of perspective." In their opinion, works in which many points of view are synthesized have the greatest compositionality. Thus. The problem of composition in painting is the problem of constructing space.
Volkov N.N. believes that in the most general sense, the composition and arrangement of the parts of the whole, satisfying the following conditions, could be called a composition:
Obviously, the abstract definition of composition is suitable for such works as easel painting and easel sheet. It is known how difficult it is to fragment a picture. The fragment often looks unexpected, unusual. Even magnifying the picture on the screen, when the secondary pieces seem completely empty, or reducing it on a reproduction, when the details disappear, even a mirror copy, for some reason change the whole.
The above formula, according to the author, is too broad to be a definition of composition. It lists only its necessary features that are included in the general concept of integrity. Using this formula, it is impossible to distinguish compositional unity from non-compositional unity in a particular phenomenon.
“In order to create a composition or to see a composition in random groups. It is necessary to bind all groups by some kind of law, by an internal connection. Then the groups will no longer be random. You can organize the rhythm of the group, make a pattern, achieve the similarity of groups of grains of sand with objects, and finally take the path of a picture image. In doing so, we are pursuing the goal of uniting the elements of random unity with connections that create a regular whole.
So, the composition of the picture is created by the unity of meaning that arises in the pictorial presentation of the plot on a limited piece of the plane. In art history literature, one usually talks about the unity of form and content, about their dialectics. Individual content components can serve as a form of other content components. Thus, in relation to the "geometric" forms of the distribution of spots of color on a plane, color acts as content. But he himself is also an external form for the transfer of subject-expressive content, space. Subject content, in turn, can be a form of ideological content, a form for abstract concepts. Unlike the subject components of the content, the meaning of a picture exists only in its language, in the language of its forms. Meaning is the inner side of a holistic image. The verbal analysis of meaning can only be an interpretation: an analogy, a contrast, a juxtaposition. Understanding the meaning of a picture is always richer than its interpretation.
According to Volkov N.N., it should be considered insufficient to analyze the composition as the composition and arrangement of parts of the image and the system of image means, regardless of its meaning. The stylistic understanding of the laws of composition as the laws of the unity of external, including constructive forms, does not penetrate into its formative code.
In addition, he considers insufficient the analysis of the composition only from the side of the subject-pictorial content. This is, of course, the most important component of the painting as a fine art. But the content of the picture certainly includes emotional content. Sometimes the content becomes symbolic. Sometimes the picture becomes an allegory. Behind one subject content, another is hidden in the subtext. However, no matter how difficult the content. It is certainly assembled into a single image, connected by a single meaning, and this connection finds its expression in the composition.
“The nature of compositional means depends on the nature of the content. In the complex unity of the pictorial, ideological, emotional, symbolic, individual components of the content may be the main ones, while others may be secondary or absent altogether. If the allegory is present in the landscape, it is ridiculous to look for a symbolic subtext, an allegory. If the allegory is present in the landscape, then the type of composition and compositional connections will be different. At the same time, the lyrical sound, the emotional tone in the range of contemplation, admiration will lose its strength.
Volkov N.N. considers non-figurative painting as an example of the limited compositional means due to the inferiority of the content. He believes that in a work of non-figurative painting there is no compositional knot, because there is no semantic knot. At best, the meaning is guessed in the author's title. In a well-composed picture, the compositional and semantic center is easily found, regardless of the author's title. The experience of constructing the laws of composition on samples of the geometric version of non-figurative painting reduces compositionality to correctness, regularity, and balance. The composition of the picture is most often unexpected, does not seek a balance of elementary forms, sets new rules depending on the novelty of the content. This is the case when the form, as the "transition" of content into form, becomes a pure form, denying its essence to be a "form of content". This is the case when constructive connections are meaningless, when the construction is not needed to express meaning.
The painting, like other works of art, N.N. Volkov believes, consists of various form components soldered together. Some of them work for meaning, others are neutral. Some components of the form actively build compositions, others "do not work" for the meaning. Only those forms and their combinations that work for meaning in any of its sections that are essential for meaning should be taken into account in the analysis of the picture as compositionally significant forms. This is the main thesis and the main position of the author.
The linear-planar arrangement of groups is a traditional motif of the art criticism analysis of the composition. However, both linear means and flat geometric figures that unite groups of characters can be both compositionally important and compositionally neutral if the unifying line or outline of the flat figure is not very clear. Any picture can be drawn with geometric schemes. It is always possible to find simple geometric figures into which separate groups approximately fit; it is even easier to find unifying curves, but Volkov N.N. believes that these figures are not essential for the general meaning of the picture.
Planar factors become means of composition if they work for the content, highlighting and collecting the main thing in the content. Perhaps it is the clear symbolic and emotional echoes of characteristic formats that prevent such overbalanced formats as the exact square and circle, if they are not imposed by architecture.
“The organization of the picture field in the interests of the image solves the following constructive tasks:
The organization of the picture field is the first constructive basis of the composition. By distributing the plot on a plane, the artist paves the first paths to meaning.
We call the compositional node of the picture the main part of the picture, which connects all other parts in meaning. This is the main action, the main subjects. The purpose of the main spatial course or the main spot in the landscape that collects the color system.
The position of the composite node in the frame in connection with the function of the frame, says N.N. Volkov, in itself can become the reason for its selection. Of course, the position of the compositional node in the center of the picture is not accidental in the Russian icon, and in the compositions of the early Italian Renaissance, and in the late Renaissance, and in the Northern Renaissance and beyond. So the picture, in any way of depicting space, is built inside the frame, the coincidence of the central zone with the first and main zone of attention, Volkov believes, is completely natural. Starting from the frame, we strive to cover, first of all, the central zone. This is the constructive simplicity of the central compositions. For the same reasons, central compositions are almost always approximately symmetrical about the vertical axis. Such, for example, are the various versions of the Old Testament "Trinity" in Russian and Western painting.
But the center of the composition is not always figuratively filled. The center can remain empty, be the main censorship in the rhythmic movement of groups on the left and right. The incompleteness of the center stops attention and requires reflection. This is a compositional sign of a semantic riddle. This is how many conflicts were resolved. As an example, Volkov N.N. gives variants of the scene "Francis renounces his father" by Giotto and artists of his circle.
“The center of the frame is a natural area for placing the main subject, the action. But compositional dialectics also suggests the expressiveness of violations of this natural compositional move. If the meaning of the action or symbolism require the displacement of the compositional node outside the central zone, then the main thing must be highlighted by other means.
It is impossible to create a completely indifferent, completely disordered mosaic of spots and lines.
In any disorderly patchwork of spots, perception always finds some order against its will. We involuntarily group spots, and the boundaries of these groups most often form simple geometric shapes. This reflects the initial generalization of visual experience, its peculiar geometrization.
Volkov N.N. argues that in art history analyzes of composition and in compositional systems, we constantly encounter the principle of highlighting the main thing, united by means of a simple figure, like a triangle, and a triangular group of spots will immediately come out, stand out. Everything else in relation to it will then become a more indifferent field - the background.
“A classic compositional triangle or circle simultaneously performs two constructive functions - highlighting the main and uniting”
In the analysis of composition, we most often meet with these two geometric figures and with the indispensable desire of art historians to find either one or the other. Meanwhile, there are, of course, many more geometric schemes for unification and division, and the desire to necessarily find one of these two schemes easily leads to the selection of false figures that are not justified by the content of the picture.
The author also singles out such a concept, which is of no small importance in the composition, as rhythm. The complexity of the problem of rhythm in a picture and the complexity of its schematic representation lies in the fact that not only construction on a plane is rhythmic. But also building in depth.
Volkov N.N., in addition, notes that the complexity of the problem of rhythm in the picture and the complexity of its schematic representation lies in the fact that not only the construction on the plane is rhythmic, but also the construction in depth. Curves that visually express the rhythm in the frontal plane should in many cases be supplemented by curves that express movements and grouping "in plan".
It is easier to talk about rhythm in painting in cases of simultaneous distribution of objects, characters, forms, it is easy to justify the difference between a clear rhythmic construction and a rhythmically sluggish one. In the case of a two-dimensional distribution over the entire plane, one has to rely on a hidden metric, on a scale, and even on a single law of some form of the prototype, felt in its mobile variations.
Volkov sees a natural analogy to such rhythmic phenomena in the pattern that rhythmically oncoming waves leave on the sand. It is the result of both the interval between the waves, and the height of the wave, and the shape of the sandbar.
“Along with the rhythm of lines, spreading over the entire plane of the picture, one should also talk about the rhythm of color - color rows, color accents and the rhythm of the strokes of the artist’s brush, the uniformity and variability of strokes across the entire plane of the canvas”
The brightest example of linear and color rhythm is the painting of El Greco. The single principle of shaping and the variability of forms of a clearly constructive and, of course, semantic nature make his canvases examples of a through rhythm throughout the plane.
The rhythm of strokes of the brush is pronounced in masters with an "open" texture, for example, in Cezanne. And this rhythm is also subordinate to the image.
Thus, according to the theory of N.N. Volkov, the composition of the picture is created by the unity of meaning that arises in the pictorial presentation of the plot on a limited piece of the plane.
Chapter 2 Space as a Compositional Factor
The picture, according to Volkov N.N., is, first of all, a limited piece of the plane with spots of paint distributed on it. This is her immediate reality. But no less real is the fact that it is not a picture of spots distributed on its plane, but of objects, their plasticity, space and planes in space, actions and time. A painting is a constructed image. And when we say “what a picture has opened”, referring to the real landscape, we also mean some construction in the very perception, readiness for the image, picturesqueness.
“The image (picture) is a real plane, and it is also an image of another reality. The concept of "image" is dual, just as the concept of "sign" is dual, just as the concept of "word" is dual. The image embodied by the artist in the picture is a link - the third between the picture as a real plane and the depicted reality. This third is given by means of spots and lines of the plane, just as the meaning of a word is given by means of its sound carrier, and as words with their meaning we perceive not in the same way as we perceive the narrated reality itself, the object of verbal description, and not in the same way as we perceive the object of the image, and not in the same way as the spots and lines that represent nothing"
And the composition of the picture is, first of all, the construction of the image on a real plane, limited by the "frame". But it is also the construction of an image. That is why Volkov N.N., speaking about the construction on the plane, all the time had in mind the construction not of spots on the plane, by themselves, but the construction - spots and lines - of space, groups of objects, the action of the plot.
Among the compositional tasks required in a painting or drawing, the task of constructing space, the author claims, is one of the most important. The space in the picture is both the scene of action and an essential component of the action itself. It is a field of clashing physical and spiritual forces. At the same time, it is also the environment in which objects are immersed, and an essential component of their characteristics. In this environment, things and people can be cramped and spacious, cozy and deserted. In it one can see life or only its abstract image. There is a world into which we could enter, or a special world, directly closed to us and open only to the "mental" gaze. The words "compositional task" underline the following idea. We are talking about the nature of the real space to be depicted, and about the construction of space on the image, therefore, about figurative space. The connection between the one and the other, as well as the difference between them, is emphasized by the duality of the very concept of "image".
We perceive the plasticity of an object depicted on a plane and three-dimensional space differently than real space (we perceive it through reduced signals and altered mechanisms, thanks to a special experience in visual activity). And this experience determines both the general feature and the type of spatial and plastic synthesis in the picture.
The author established another fundamental thesis. “You cannot depict one space, a space for nothing. The image of space depends on the image of objects. The depiction of architecture and especially architectural interiors required a new understanding of space (the conquest of linear perspective). The natural landscape required the development of the spatial values of plein air painting (aerial perspective). It can even be said that the space in the image is often built by objects, their arrangement, their forms, and the nature of the presentation of the form, and is always built for objects. It is fair to say that the relationship of the artist to the subject is also his relationship to space. That is why non-objective painting naturally turns into spatially indefinite and formless painting, because the form is always directly or indirectly connected with the object, and the object with space, the absence of figures in the image, is at the same time the absence or disorder of space. Non-figurative painting is not even a "pattern" of spots that retains decorative value, but a random set of shapeless spots in an indefinite space.
However, no matter how important the idea of the exceptional importance of the spatial task for the visual arts, the recognition of its leading role is an exaggeration.
A great confusion was introduced into art history by the mixing of direct perspective with the construction of the space of the picture, the figurative space. According to Volkov N.N., direct perspective is only one of the means for figurative construction of space on a plane, it is also good for an ugly architectural drawing, if such a drawing claims to be a visual representation of how a building will look like in nature from a given specific point of view .
The author breaks the usual course of studying the space of the picture, and just as on the plane purely constructive associations and arrangements of objects in flat simple figures were interpreted by us as meaning-bearing, created not only for organizing perception, but also for meaning, so the author considers the spatial structure based on from its semantic function, as a carrier of semantic connections.
The space of an easel painting exists for possible action, sometimes seeks action and objects, and is always oriented towards a more or less strong development in depth. The action deployed in only one frontal plane is limited in its expressive possibilities.
Volkov N.N. distinguishes two main types of division of space in the picture: 1) division into layers and 2) division into plans.
“The division into planes developed from a tight layered space, where the main depth-building factors were occlusion and the corresponding arrangement of objects and figures above and below it on the plane. Here there is earthly and spiritual, simultaneous and non-temporal. Here, according to the meaning of the image, the scales of the figures are violated. There is no scene for action yet. The figurative meaning of such a space is in the complete freedom of metaphorical and symbolic comparisons"
The author emphasizes the dialectical transformations of the principle of plans and the richness of the types of construction of a spatial order when dividing it into plans. The geometry of a picture is figurative geometry, and the construction always finds its justification in the figurative sense of the whole.
Thus, the composition of a picture is, first of all, the construction of an image on a real plane bounded by a "frame", but the construction is not of spots on the plane, in themselves, but the construction - spots and lines - of space, groups of objects, the action of the plot.
Chapter 3
According to Volkov N.N., time in connection with the picture can be spoken of in four aspects: as creative time, as the time of its perception, as the time of localization in the history of art and in the creative life of the artist, and, finally, about depicting time in a painting.
Creative time.
“Of course, time is an important characteristic of the creative process. The sequence of stages of creativity, their duration is a time series, each time in a special way located in real time duration. Apart from the purely technical side of things, the process of creating a painting is hidden in the final product. Without resorting to special technical means, it is impossible to reliably judge the presence or absence of corrections, it is impossible to judge the number of color spots superimposed on each other. All intervals in the creative process are completely hidden from us, all the durations of individual stages, all the time when the artist thinks, observes all the processes of the internal maturation of the image, all its drama.
In happy cases, materially imprinted preparatory stages of work have been preserved - sketches, diagrams, sketches, variants. From them you can partly judge how this composition came about, but in the final product, the creative time is still hidden.
Volkov N.N. argues that creative time is not included in this topic, except for the structure of the pictorial image itself as a process, confusing questions of the psychology of creativity with questions of analysis of the picture and its main form of composition.
Perception time.
“The question of the time of perception also lies on a different plane than the problem of composition. The time of perception from the side of duration is quite individual, and cannot be taken into account. We see the picture as a whole, and its decoding at the analytical stage of perception is a search for meaning and a compositional scheme. There is also an extremely general calculation for the duration of perception, expressed in the nature of the composition. This refers to paintings "for looking at" - with many plots and with equal fullness of details, such as Bosch's "Garden of Delights", and paintings designed for direct catchiness, such as Monet's "field of poppies".
This is one of the possible themes in the problem of composition"
Time as the fourth coordinate.
specific historical time.
Volkov N.N. claims that we divide time into calendar segments, years, days, based on the uniformity of the earth's movement around its axis. In such a time, even a work of art has a solid localization. In the work of art itself, however, such an abstract localization is not reflected. But time is, moreover, a multilateral path of development. This time is historical and the time of the artist's history. This time is uneven, with gaps, accelerations and decelerations, knots, beginnings, climaxes and ends.
In relation to a specific historical time, we are talking, according to the author, about antiquity, the Middle Ages, etc., or in another division - about the era of slavery, feudalism, the beginning of capitalism, its heyday, decline, the birth of socialism; especially in art, such stages as the Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, Romanticism, and separate branches of development are distinguished: the movement of the Wanderers, impressionism. In contrast to abstract time, concrete time is obviously reflected in such a sensitive resonator of feelings and ideas as art. It is reflected, of course, in the features of the composition. For example - even in the rejection of compositional tasks.
“It would be quite natural to consider the types of compositions historically. But right there, one would have to face national peculiarities and translate the study into a historical and art history path. Without a theoretical study of composition, the researcher on such a path will be deprived of analytical weapons and terminology associated with analysis. Volkov's work does not tie the types of compositions to historical time, although this connection is quite obvious in a number of issues.
Compositional tasks also change in the creative history of an individual artist, but this work bypasses this biographical aspect as well.
So, the fundamental problem remains, the problem of the image of time and the meaning of the image of time for the composition of the picture.
According to Volkov N.N. instructive are the difficulties of organizing the canvas to convey movement from the bottom up, takeoff, slow ascension. Here, there can be no question of any combination of moments of movement, for “ascension” does not imply a change in silhouette. But the transmission of just such a movement can be the goal of the composition.
On the canvas by El Greco, “Resurrection”, the central vertical is highlighted in a light tone and pattern. It is made up of a figure of a defeated guard below and a calm, elongated figure of an ascending Christ with a white banner. In Greco's picture, the analogy of three hands is striking - the hand of Christ and the hands exorbitantly upwards of the figures on the right and left, hands raised palms up, as if supporting or accompanying the movement. The direction of the gaze of these figures is also significant - upwards, above the head of Christ, as if he were already there. A tangled tangle of shapes at the bottom of this vertical canvas weighs down the bottom. A simple, elongated figure of Christ, a white banner and purple-pink fabric make the top look light. Undoubtedly, the dynamics of color is also involved in the construction of movement. Thus, we again have an interweaving of various signs of movement associated with the presentation of the plot in the picture.
It is difficult to achieve a vertical take-off image. The object will always appear to be falling. The forces of gravity counteract the takeoff not only in reality, but also in the visual effect on the image.
“If the effect of three-dimensional space in the picture is mediated by purely visual features and we say that we see it in the picture, then the effect of movement is mediated by heterogeneous features and connections, visual and subject-semantic and emotional. A sharp and blunt form, elongated in the direction of movement and compressed into a ball, a bird and a branch torn off by the wind, a cone standing on a point and a pyramid resting on the ground with its base, heavy and light, heavy and light by the nature of the object, and "heavy and light" in shape and color"
The perception of the movement of a picture seems to depend on the outermost signal layer, in addition to the meaning of the image, namely, on the habitual movement of the eyes when reading a literal text.
Thus it is Volkov N.N. considers creative time, time of perception, specific historical time and features of the image of time in the picture. The image of time, on a motionless picture, according to the theory of Volkov N.N. difficult indirectly: 1) the image of movement; 2) the image of the action; 3) the context of the depicted event; 4)depicting the environment of the event.
Chapter 4
The plot, Volkov N. N. believes, should be considered as common in various forms of presentation, in particular - presentation in the languages of various arts. The plot of the picture can be told in words. In many cases, the picture is written on the plot, told in words. The text of the same story contains the plot of many written and yet unwritten paintings. In this sense, a natural motive, a city, a group of things, and a person represent a plot - each for many different works and different paintings.
In art history, however, the word "plot" is often understood in a narrower sense, as an event in human life. In this sense, the concept of "plot picture", embracing in turn a number of genres, is opposed to landscape, still life and portrait.
“You should not confuse the plot and the plot content of the picture. In the choice of subject content for a given plot, the interpretation of the plot is already evident. The fact of choosing a subject and subject connections for presenting the plot, such a choice that participates in the creation of meaning and, in addition, ensures the credibility of its presentation with colors on a limited piece of the plane, that is, in painting, speaks of the essential compositional function of objective forms of plot construction.
Undoubtedly, the author claims, this applies not only to the plot picture. A comparison of a real landscape scene with a painting would show that the color and light ranges of the scene have been transposed in the picture, that the space is built according to this or that image system, but also that their emphasis is sometimes significantly changed in the picture.
According to Volkov, the study of composition should be oriented towards the compositional forms of the plot picture as the most developed. The subject construction and the forms of this construction in the subject easel painting serve as prototypes for similar forms in landscape and still life. Earth (sky) is the scene of our actions, things are our things. Human plot connections are reflected in the image of space as a space of human activity, and in the image of things as objects of activity.
“Remember Levitan's landscape “Spring. Big water. The birch trunks in this picture form a complex, unfolded, ruled cylindrical surface. But it can also be said that, repeating the construction of a circular action, the birch trunks form an opening round dance.
The plot picture, with its forms of constructing subject content, serves as a prototype for still life as well.
In still lifes, we see either groups - subordination to the main subject, or alignment of objects in a lily - as if their procession, or dispersion, balanced only on a plane. Each group has its own action. Every thing has its own life.
The number of plots forms a practically unlimited and always open set. The time of religious isolation of plot diversity, as well as the time of isolation of the circle of mythological plots, has long passed. Plots are now supplied by the whole history of man and all continuously developing life. The number of plot paintings - pictorial presentations of plots is also great and constantly increasing.
But a picture is a color image on a plane, and its inevitable limitations as images on a plane require special forms of constructing subject content. The number of such forms is limited, just as the number of techniques for applying a paint layer is limited - both progressive and repeating in history.
From the side of the features of the plot construction Volkov N.N. distinguishes three groups of compositions: one-figure, two-figure and mongo-figure compositions. In each of these groups, the artist faces special tasks from the side of plot construction.
Unlike portrait compositions, one-figure plot compositions are built on the connection of a figure with an event, action, the environment of the action, and, in particular, with the objects that determine the action. One-figure compositions always contain internal action - "character's monologue"
And for the meaning of a monologue, it is essential both where it is pronounced, and that. When in the course of action, and in what environment, and its prehistory.
One-figure plot composition, says Volkov N.N. - a vivid type of construction of subject content with subject relations that go beyond the image. Much is given in an indirect image. the depicted objects serve as signs of the environment of action and time, taken out of the canvas. Connections with the environment in one-figure compositions are the main connections.
The author once again emphasizes the form of folding the story in one-figure compositions, replacing the broad story with subject features, taking part of the story out of the canvas. Fine "reduction" of the story can be anything, as long as it is preserved, which means that the monologue of a person would be expressed more clearly.
Less obvious as plot paintings are one-figure compositions, where there is no external action at all, events, at least taken out of the canvas.
So, Volkov N.N. sums up, the plot one-figure composition can be deprived not only of the depicted action, but also of the implied action. The connection of a person with the environment reveals the state of a person and helps to understand, to feel the wide time in which a pictorial monologue is pronounced.
As some outstanding examples of one-figure compositions show, an even more radical reduction in the pictorial story is possible, turning the “monologue” of the character into a polysemantic riddle.
“In two-figure compositions of connection with the environment, the expression of a separate figure, speaking objective signs do not lose their constructive function. However, the problem of the interaction of figures or the problem of communication comes to the fore. Just as the means in relation to the figure in a one-figure composition cannot be simply a background, so the second figure in relation to the first figure cannot be only the second figure in a two-figure composition. The figures must communicate with each other, defining the action that binds them.
In a one-figure composition, the compositional center that immediately grabs the attention of the viewer is obvious. It is also a semantic compositional node. Everything is related to the human figure. In most cases, the figure is in the middle of the picture field or close to it, often occupies almost the entire field.
In two-figure compositions, both figures are important, both attract attention, even if one of the figures is secondary in meaning. Therefore, the semantic compositional knot in the two-figure solutions of the plot often becomes a caesura between the figures - a kind of exponent of the nature of communication. - the caesura is sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, sometimes filled with subject details, sometimes empty, depending on the nature of communication. There can be two compositional centers. In all variants of two-figure compositions, the task of expressing communication (or separation), commonality (or internal contrast) remains the main one.
According to Volkov N.N. the connection between the nature of communication and the mutual position of the characters should not be understood as an unambiguous connection, according to the type of connection “sign - meaning”, the dialectic of the image always allows and requires inversions of expression for certain tasks. A large caesura between the figures may express not a gap, but the striving of the characters towards each other. Prompted by the expressiveness of the movements, the striving of the figures towards each other then the uncertainty of the distance. The greater the distance, the stronger the dynamics of its overcoming. The aversion of the figures from each other can express their disunity, yet their inner silent appeal. Disunity is the antithesis of communication and, at the same time, another type of communication within the dialectic of communication.
Volkov draws attention to the fact that the problem of communication does not seem to be facing our artists lately. All figures are placed facing the viewer. Turns and movements do not go beyond a purely external connection, at best, a connection by an external action. Thus, the expression of time, and the psychological subtext, and the innermost meaning that cannot be translated into words, the meaning around which the words of an art critic-interpreter only circle, are lost. About the five miners posing facing the viewer, everything can be adequately said in words. But you can’t adequately describe the silence of Alexei in Ge’s picture, nor about the poor people of Picasso.
“Multi-figure compositions, no matter how fully the image of the action itself is solved in them, does not free the artist from the task of creating an environment within the canvas or beyond it, an environment depicted or implied. The abbreviations inevitable for a pictorial text, which are obvious in one-figure compositions, are also evident in multi-figure compositions.
It is also necessary in multi-figure compositions to solve the problem of communication, at least between the main characters. Sometimes the communication between the main figures constitutes a deliberately distinguished node of the composition and makes it possible to bring the multi-figure composition closer to the two-figure composition. Then the action in the surrounding crowd sounds muffled, only as a consequence or a suggested circumstance.
“But multi-figure compositions have their own tasks, their own forms of plot construction. Most of the narrative multi-figure compositions in easel painting observe the law of unity of action. The plot is presented in a multi-figure composition in such a way that all the figures are connected by a single action. If, according to the nature of the plot, there should be several actions, several scenes in the pictorial presentation, one action should be the main one and occupy the main part of the picture.
Volkov N.N. considers that the area of forms of plot construction, as well as any forms and plots, is not a closed set. Every time and every creative personality brings new options to this set. Only the principles that follow from the general features and specific limitations of the pictorial presentation of the plot are unchanged. The need to use the connections of the figure with the environment of action, the need to express the "communication" of the figures, the need to create on the canvas a unity of action connected by a common idea, and at the same time the choice of what is concentrated in the picture field, and what is taken out of it.
Painting is often brought closer to music, paying attention to such aspects of it as color, line. From this point of view, color and linear integrity can become the main legitimate composition.
Painting is also brought closer to architecture, emphasizing its external structure, and combining it into simple figures, symmetry, rhythm, volumes. And this can be built into the system of the basic laws of composition.
They also talk about the poetry of painting, meaning its emotionality, but not the composition. The author believes that the deepest basis of the composition is not external harmony, and not external construction, but the word, the story (the visual unity of the story). The meaning of the word for the composition of the picture is now often denied, trying to protect the specificity of painting, but it does not need to be protected, it is itself given in the pictures.
“To characterize the compositional features of a plot picture, the question of the connection between the image and the word is a matter of paramount importance. If every picture is a presentation of the plot, to some extent translated into words, that is, a story, then in relation to plot pictures, one can most often say that the story is developed in them. »
There are cases in painting when the theme, plot, story are only indicated, the author believes. Often these are excellent works. In them, the text turns into subtext, generally speaking, into unspokenness, often into a deliberately dark thought. A multifaceted image emerges. For a plot picture, a detailed story is specific. And here there is no destruction of the specifics of painting. It’s just that the verbal-plot form of the work, which determines the image from the inside, is expanded in such a picture more widely. If it is developed more widely, then the external means are reorganized accordingly and subject to the broad development of the story.
So, the picture and the word, not the picture and its abstract music.
“Most of the paintings have a title, although these titles are often accidental. Often they are not even copyrighted, often they are determined only by genre and form. For example, "Landscape", "Still Life". Often these names are meaningful, but random in relation to this picture.
We, according to Volkov N.N., are interested in paintings whose names give a thread for interpreting the plot, a key that allows us to discover the depth of the image.
The author identifies several types of names. “Let’s say, “We didn’t wait.” We read the signature, and now the question arises - who was not expected? And this is already the key to understanding the composition: we single out the figure of the exile who has entered. This is the name of the situation and the first hint of a social idea.
“Unequal marriage” is also the name of the situation, which immediately draws attention to the unnatural combination of rich old age and submissive youth, which makes understandable the behavior of the young man behind and other characters.
In other titles, the key to interpretation is not so clear, but it is still there. When we see the painting “Boyarynya Morozova” and read the title, we understand that we are not just facing a split scene. It is the concentration of protest in the image of the noblewoman, in the image of a fanatical zealot of the old faith, with whom the crowd of supporters is closely connected, justifies the title of the picture. This is also the key to its understanding and the knot of the composition.
Volkov N.N. brought up another topic.
“In painting, several types of story can be distinguished. This is, first of all, a type of story-narrative, a type of plot story. An example of such a plot-narrative is the same “Boyar Morozova”. There is a plot in the picture, spread in time: into the past and into the future. So, there is a story - a story. But there is also a story-characteristic, there is a story-description, there is a story-poem, built on "lyrical" and "poetic" connections.
For plot compositions, a plot story is characteristic. An example, the author says, is the plot paintings of the Wanderers. The composition of the picture can be studied by considering the value for the integrity of such forms common to all arts as contrast, analogy. Growth repeats. Highlighting the main thing, alternation, the principle of balance, dynamics and statics. These forms of composition are essential to other arts as well. Contrasts, analogies, repetitions are the main forms of musical composition, they also underlie the composition of many architectural monuments, they are in poetry and dance.
E. Kibrik's idea is very convincing that contrast is the basic principle of the composition of a picture and a graphic sheet.
“Along with analogies that enhance the effect of contrasts, it is the contrasts that most often hold the whole together. But contrasts - in what, in what elements and factors of the structure? Ioganson, in his analysis of the composition of Velasquez's painting "Surrender of Breda", also speaks of the laws of contrast, namely, contrasts, namely, the contrasts of adjacent light and dark spots that divide and connect this composition. At one time, color was defined as a system of contrasts coordinated with each other. But we must also talk about spatial contrast, and about the contrast of the speed of movement and time.
Thus, in terms of the features of the plot construction, Volkov distinguishes three groups of compositions: one-figure, two-figure and mongo-figure compositions, in each of which the artist faces special tasks from the side of the plot construction.
Conclusion
To consider the significance of general compositional forms in the specific tasks of the composition of a picture is, of course, a possible way, Volkov argues, then the table of contents would look something like this: ways to highlight the main thing; contrast and analogy; repetitions and build-ups; harmony and balance.
The author chose a different path, distributing the problems of painting composition according to the tasks that the artist has to solve based on the specifics of his work, respectively - according to the factors or systems of the structure of the whole, starting with the distribution of the image on the plane and ending with plot construction.
In the most general sense, a composition could be called a composition and arrangement of parts of a whole that satisfies the following conditions:
- no part of the whole can be removed or replaced without damaging the whole;
- parts cannot be interchanged without damage to the whole;
- no new element can be added to the whole without damaging the whole.
The advantages of this path lies in the ability to establish a cross-cutting connection of the most diverse forms of a work, whether it be the unification and distribution of parts on a plane or the structure of figurative space or forms of movement, signs of time - with the meaning of the whole. The advantages also lie in the close connection with modern discussions about the meaning of individual systems of structure, with the struggle against attempts to unify the structure of the picture, highlighting some tasks and eliminating others.
“As mentioned above, the building of the picture is built into a kind of hierarchy of factors (systems of structure), starting with the systems of distribution of the image on a closed plane - the most external factor - and ending with the construction of the plot and the connection of the image with the word at the level of understanding. This hierarchy should not be understood as a series of superstructures or floors of the whole. Separate systems, intertwining with each other, change each other. Creating a unity of style. Thus, the emphasis on the plane is reflected not only in the color construction, but also in the ways of constructing the plot and time, in the end, in the meaning of the whole. The plot-spatial construction according to the type of theatrical mise-en-scène requires a special attitude to the construction of the picture on the plane, color and time.
The hierarchy of factors does not predetermine the sequence of the creative process. The creative process is capricious. It can begin with a given plot and an idea seen by the artist as some kind of goal. It can begin with a bright color impression, which is immediately associated with a plot that arises only in the fog of consciousness. The distribution of the image on the plane, the color and spatial structure can change in the dialectic of the creative process, breaking the seemingly already established forms.
In the hierarchy, one cannot see a predetermined sequence of perception of the picture, as if always beginning at a purely visual level with the consideration of spots and a linear order on the canvas. Penetration into the image is a smooth process with a regulated sequence, but a flash process. Tearing out with the light of understanding and the light of beauty either one or the other elements - from external to the deepest.
Volkov N.N. reads that the organization of the field of the picture in the interests of the image solves the following constructive problems:
- highlighting a compositional node so that attention is attracted and a constant return to it is ensured;
- dissection of the field such that important parts are separated from each other, making you see the complexity of the whole;
- maintaining the integrity of the field (and image), ensuring the permanent linking of parts with the main part (composition node).
The main thesis of the author about time as a factor of composition reads: “the image of time in a still picture is difficult indirectly: 1) the image of movement; 2) the image of the action; 3) the context of the depicted event; 4)depicting the environment of the event"
Volkov argues that several types of storytelling can be distinguished in painting. This is, first of all, a type of story-narrative, a type of plot story. An example of such a plot-narrative is the same “Boyar Morozova”. There is a plot in the picture, spread in time: into the past and into the future. So, there is a story - a story. But there is also a story-characteristic, there is a story-description, there is a story-poem built on "lyrical" and "poetic" connections.
The book ends with an indication of the role of the word in the picture. Not only on the connection of the image with its real or possible name, but also with a deeper entry of the word, as it were, into its fabric.
List of used sources and literature
- Volkov N.N. Perception of planar linear systems NN Volkov. - M.: Questions of physiological optics, 1948. No. 6
- Volkov, N.N. On the color structure of the picture / N.N. Volkov. - M.: Art, 1958. No. 8-9.
- Volkov N.N. Perception of the object and the picture N.N.Volkov. - M.: Art, 1975. No. 6.
- Volkov, N.N. Color in painting / N.N. Volkov. - M.: Art, 1979.
- Volkov, N.N. Composition in painting N. N. Volkov. - M.: Art. 1977.
- Ioganson, B. Velasquez, "Surrender of Breda" B. Ioganson. - M .: Artist, 1973. No. 9.
- Kibrik E. Objective laws of composition in the visual arts E. Kubrik.- M.: Questions of Philosophy. 1966. No. 10.
- Uspensky, B.A. Poetics of composition / B.A. Uspensky. - M.: Art. 1970.
- Fovorsky, B.A. About the composition of B.A. Favorsky Art - 1933 - No. 1.
- Yuon, K.F. About painting / M.: Art, 1937.
Constant striving to improve the quality of life, including its artistic and aesthetic side updates fundamental research in the field of the foundations of art - composition. Now it is considered in three ways: the expression of the structure of the work itself, the scientific discipline of the architectural, artistic and art history direction about the visual design of the idea in the work, they can also call the finished work as a synonym for the work.
It is also relevant because it is very common contradictory attitude to composition as a set of rules and techniques that can solve all the problems of the artist. As if composition is such a logical, systematic and functional discipline. But it's not. Despite the designated fundamental value of the standard for the unity of training, professional communication and practice according to a common empirical assessment, there is no system in the composition. Although the graphic artist and art theorist N. N. Volkov in his book "Composition in Painting" back in 1977 spoke about the need to create a theory of composition, and also formulated a number of basic tasks that the theory of composition as a science is designed to solve, these thoughts have not acquired their logical solution neither in aesthetics, nor in art criticism, nor in pedagogy. Those interested in composition are faced with an objective problem the absence in the visual arts of a unified normative theory of composition. Historically accumulated experience and knowledge of composition constantly appear in scientific and educational literature, however, each scientist, artist or teacher interprets their structure and content, often unreasonably at their own discretion in their own layout with very different individual content. This can be verified by comparing several studies, textbooks, lecture notes, video courses, etc. Even among reputable scientists there is no agreement. For example, the People's Artist of the USSR and Professor, Academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, E. A. Kibrik, according to the memoirs of another artist, scientist and teacher E. V. Shorokhov, distinguished three basic laws: typification, expressiveness and integrity. The very same honored worker of higher education in Russia, doctor of pedagogical sciences, professor, member of the Union of Artists E. V. Shorokhov in his work “Composition” names such laws as the law of integrity, the law of contrasts, the law of novelty, the law of subordination of all means of composition to the ideological design, the law of vitality, the law of the influence of the “frame”. Further, he refers rhythm, plot and compositional center, symmetry, asymmetry, parallelism of the composition, the location of the main thing in the background to the compositional rules. The scientist refers to the methods of composition the transfer of the impression of monumentality, space, horizontal and vertical, diagonal directions. To the means - a line, dashed lines, a spot (tonal and color), chiaroscuro, the laws of linear and aerial perspective. This begs the question as to the basis for such a classification. Why is contrast, according to E. V. Shorokhov, a law, and not a means (together with rhythm), expressing the compositional center and meaning of a work? Why a line, a stroke, a spot are means of composition when they are morphological elements of all fine art. In other words, the existing classifications do not stand up to scrutiny.
Coming from the problem, the work is chasing target to model a variant of the structure of the composition with an explanation of the content of its elements, both to help students and painters, and to consider the possibility of accepting it as a normative one. In other words, call on artists, art historians and educators to agree once and for all among themselves and propose a model.
theoretical basis the same accumulated experience and knowledge, captured in theoretical works, diary entries, correspondence of artists, teachers, art critics L. B. Alberti, E. A. Kibrik, V. A. Favorsky, K. F Yuona, E. V. Shorokhova, N. N. Volkova, M. V. Alpatova, G. I. Panksenova and others. , R. Arnheim. Methodological base work mainly consisted of an analysis of different theories, their comparison, criticism through the prism of logic and functionality, synthesis, structuring and modeling.
essence author's concept models of composition theory (expressed in the logical-structural diagram in Figure 1), largely based on existing experience and knowledge, expresses a new system of views and approaches to their organization. Art is cumulative in nature (new achievements do not cancel the old ones, but join the common treasury of achievements) and the time-tested experience in creating beauty, with revealed objectively working patterns, facts and ways of expressing conceived ideas, should be included in various groups of structural elements according to the relationship of function and subordinate to the extent of their ability to express the artist's intention.
The most difficult thing to combine in one model is the compositional process (the recommended algorithm for working on a work) and the theoretical propaedeutics of composition, because these are completely different structuring logics. The difficulty lies in the fact that in real life there is a process and there is a theoretical content of the process, and in theoretical knowledge, the algorithm for working on a composition can be considered in the structure of methods for identifying an artistic image. It would seem convenient to classify the stages of the process with its own theoretical content, but it is difficult to do this in view of the fact that the composition is developed as a whole from the very beginning and the stages of conception, decision and execution determine only the degree of elaboration of a work with the same theoretical content. Therefore, the author's decision is to divide theory and practice into two unrelated sections: composition as a process and compositional propaedeutics, although in life they are interconnected. And this is not an ambitious desire to embrace the immensity, but the need for a detailed division and a new generalization, which is necessary to describe the overall picture of compositional knowledge.
Naturally, first of all, like any scientific discipline, compositional propaedeutics should describe the definition, scientific foundations and interdisciplinary connections, the history of development and other necessary elements of the scientific apparatus of the discipline. In this part, it can be argued that the various theories of composition are conceptually the same. One can also agree with the variety of definitions. each of them introduces only specific nuances into the general explanation of the term, which (according to the simplest definition, for example, S. I. Ozhegova), coincides with a direct translation and means composition, arrangement of parts.
Further, the fundamental category for mastering compositional propaedeutics is artistic image. It is he who, logically thinking, determines all the other choices of the artist after the idea, starting from the direction and type of art, ending with specific methods of organizing pictorial elements in a work. In this section of knowledge, one should consider the definition, the history of the development of the concept and the philosophical concepts of its understanding. Based on the definition of the artistic image as a form of interpretation of the world in aesthetically affecting objects, the theory should be divided and considered further in the context of interconnection and differences. Topics works and method its display, since the categories answer fundamentally different questions: the topic is “what to draw”, and the method is “how to draw”. The division helps to identify learning vectors and apply knowledge in practice in critical analysis. The interconnection of the sections is manifested in the fact that the topic largely determines the methods, but the same topic, depending on the preferences of the author, can find its visual embodiment in various methods. In the author's opinion, groups of knowledge that are further useful for composition can be more accurately considered in the paradigm of methods for expressing an artistic image. Thus, the methods include a number of choices related to plot, fine art, (painting, graphics, sculpture), direction(objective art or non-objective), material And technique in which the idea will affect the viewer more effectively. It should be noted that in practice the artist does not set himself the experimental tasks of choosing an art form, direction and genre, but works more or less constantly in a certain genre, material and manner, due to personal interests, inclinations, image-expectation (or pre-created vision) . In other words, the painter rarely turns into a graphic artist, an abstractionist into a realist, etc. As a rule, sketch search is carried out in the direction of the plot and technique. For the sake of completeness of the theory, it is necessary to designate properties of objects of the transferred world, based on the golden rule of image formation, which says that the material of the work, the color in which it is painted and the form itself must harmoniously converge in the work. As for trends in art, the sections devoted to comparing non-objective composition and subject (genre (reflecting any genre of art) or associative (violating classical Aristotelian unities)) are important. In the author's opinion, at the level of initial search sketches, the development of an image in object art may look like a very abstract distribution of dark and light, large and small spots of future objects of the observed world. Consequently, approaches to the presentation of any properties of the composition have both similar features and general recommendations, as well as specifics. Further in the article it is proposed to introduce into the methods means of enhancing imagery which are known from literature: allegory, antithesis, hyperbole, grotesque, litote, metaphor, quotation and others. To varying degrees, they can influence the reading of the plot or the character of each character and in a work of fine art. Separately, the topic for fine art has not been developed, but it has the potential for research. For example, in order to convey the character more strongly, individual traits are shown a little grotesque, strengthened. Let us also recall the famous Russian symbolists M. A. Vrubel and V. E. Borisov-Musatov, as well as G. Klimt, whose images are entirely allegories and personifications. However, the formation of the image may also apply stylization in two main aspects: giving a specific style to the era and country, or the author's interpretation of the form to please the idea. And of course, the method of expressing the image includes a large and difficult to interpret section. composition organization or placement of all pictorial elements in terms of physical or logical boundaries. This section includes and describes principles, laws, rules, tricks, facilities composition, and kinds, types And properties, i.e. specifically, what determines the location of the figurative element in one or another part of the format. Based on the analysis and comparison of various theories, it is in terms of laws and rules that mass discrepancies are revealed. It is understandable, because the correlation of principles, laws, patterns and rules is an actual philosophical and scientific problem for the humanities. Neither political sciences, nor history, nor linguistics, nor ethics, aesthetics and art history establish any scientific laws, but give a causal explanation of the phenomena under study or highlight evaluative statements.
The author's conclusions and proposals for this section were previously presented in detail and convincingly in the article "The concept of the theory of organization of composition in the visual arts" in No. 4 of the journal "Art and Education" for 2017. The main idea of the article was to focus on the principles of composition, and it was proposed to deprive the laws and rules of an independent place in the structure and put them at the service of achieving compliance with the principle. Indeed, what limits can a creator have? Even Aristotle, Plato, Quintilian said that art does not obey the laws (although they talked about the art of pedagogy). On the one hand, the constantly changing aesthetic tastes of society, taking into account the development of technology, make it impossible to categorically apply the “time-tested” (formulated to achieve the aesthetic ideal of a certain era and direction) laws and rules to contemporary art. On the other hand, general laws are not suitable for solving individual non-recurring problems, because in one composition the idea dictates its decision in one way, and in another - in a diametrically opposite way. The disadvantage of all peremptory laws and rules is that there is no serious analysis of the connection between the content of the composition and the desired compositional forms of expression. So, laws and rules are not suitable for expressing an idea. However, it is promising to introduce the accumulated experience, distributing functions according to kinship, into the structure of indicative principles, which can be relied upon when solving problems related to the expression of an idea. And both with a positive value, and vice versa. Indeed, in philosophy, a principle is the same as a foundation, that which underlies a certain body of knowledge or facts. The law is perfect for describing the physical and mathematical manifestations of the surrounding world, but where the diversity of human (cultural) manifestations in life does not fit into a clear, complete form of the law, the principle gives greater freedom for generalizations. But to describe and achieve compliance with a specific principle, laws and rules can be formulated. Perhaps such an approach to the professional community will seem radical. It is difficult to immediately abandon the knowledge to which a professional-value attitude has developed over the years. We justify the point of view by the fact that a rule is usually a clear instruction on what needs to be done to achieve compliance with a certain condition. The question immediately arises of which one, if we are talking about composition in general and about the always different author's idea. And everything falls into place when we achieve compliance with a certain principle. Law is a category denoting objective, essential, recurring, stable connections within a phenomenon or between phenomena, system components, reflecting the mechanisms of its self-organization, development and functioning. In philosophical dictionaries, the interpretation of laws and principles is largely synonymous, and the problem of correlation is as eternal as the dispute between materialism and idealism, because, speaking of the same phenomenon, laws are descriptive, and principles determine directions for action. The scientist and educator Maria Alexandrovna Erofeeva came to the same conclusions in her research. Let her do it for pedagogy, but the rational grain can be extrapolated to the fine arts. The meaning of her conclusions is that the laws do not contain direct instructions for practical activity. They are only a theoretical basis for the development and improvement of rules and principles. As a result, practical recommendations and requirements are expressed in principles and rules. They (principles) as guidelines, fundamental principles determine the content and practical recommendations, characterize the ways of using laws and patterns in accordance with the intended goals. Separate aspects of this or that principle reveal the rules. Rules follow from principles.
Then the proposed composition organization structure may look as described below. Further, the principle of balance will be named, which calls for an even distribution of pictorial elements within the format, but it can be omitted to please the author's idea. The law may sound like this: a figurative object placed close to the edge of the format attracts a lot of attention and causes a feeling of striving for the edge, discomfort and outweighing the half of the sheet in which it is located. It is clear that the pictorial plane can be balanced by placing some object near the opposite edge. The rule will be as follows: to create a balanced sensation, you should divide the format into four parts by the horizontal and vertical axes and fill each with pictorial elements. But this is subject to the condition that it is necessary to achieve a balance. This is how the methodology is designated, according to which a painstaking scientist can himself formulate a lot of laws and rules. The article sets the task of identifying a place in the structure of large groups.
The group of principles will be: proportionality, balance, structuredness, integrity, expressiveness, originality and novelty, displaying the passage of time, truthfulness (or vitality), taking into account the psychology and physiology of perception. Proportionality, in fact, lies in the fact that within the physical or logical boundaries of the pictorial plane, the cluster of interacting elements of the composition should not be small (to leave voids in which nothing happens) or large (to create a feeling of tightness). Equilibrium proposes to arrange pictorial elements, preventing the accumulation of their bulk in any one part of the sheet, leaving the rest empty. Structured as a principle determines the identification of the main and the subordination of the secondary to it. the simpler and clearer the system of interconnections of elements and colors in a composition, the more intelligible it is. Integrity as a principle, it calls to perceive the composition as a unity of ideas, shaping, scale, color, techniques and material, in which nothing can be moved or replaced, from which nothing can be taken away and to which nothing can be added without prejudice to emotional impact. expressiveness focuses on such an artistic reflection of reality, which excites and maintains the attention and interest of the public. Originality and novelty is determined not by a previously non-existent author's development, but by a departure from the so-called "mainstream" and finding the author's circle of interests and a pictorial language unlike anyone else. Displaying the passage of time was first formulated by N. N. Volkov (although he called it the law of vitality), explaining that the depicted moment of the plot should contain a hint of past and future development. Truthfulness as a principle, it recommends that the artist only tackle topics that are thoroughly known to him, in order to correspond to the whole truth of life. The principle of taking into account the psychology and physiology of perception The viewer invites the artist to model the correct interpretation of his work by the viewer, taking into account the language of graphic symbols and colors, cultural codes, the physiological foundations of vision and the psychology of perception. After all, in addition to the semantic level of perception, where the plots of the objective world are deciphered, levels are also created that affect the viewer with resonance with deep sensations, associations, gestalts - the building blocks of the psyche. It is no coincidence that the scientific discoveries of the German Gestalt psychologists K. Koffka, M. Wertheimer about human perception play an important role in the field of fine arts. Of great importance for the visual arts is the book of R. Arnheim "Art and Visual Perception".
To ensure compliance with the principles, in addition to laws and regulations, the lowest level is tricks And ways. You can name a lot of them, for example, framing the figure with foliage in the Renaissance, entering the composition through a shadow in the foreground, inscribing the elements of the composition into a geometric shape, thickening and rarefaction, pause and overlay, bringing all the perspective lines of the picture into the compositional center, etc. The defining moment for the reception or method is the specificity of the issue being solved, the organization of the element or group. It is pointless to list and describe them, because as a result of many years of practice, their own can be developed.
Also known and important for the organization of the composition is a group of morphological means (which objectively determine the appearance). Whether you compose the composition consciously or intuitively, they are always present with different strengths. They are usually called expressive means or means of expressing the intention. Sometimes they are also called "means of harmonizing the composition." The meaning of the means is, firstly, to reveal the compositional center or the main thing in the work. Secondly, by determining the shapes, sizes, alternation, brightness and color of the pictorial elements, they create a system of accents, stimuli for the perception of the viewer, directing him along the trajectory conceived by the artist, revealing from one semantic node to another a complete picture of the author's intention. Thirdly, they reveal the emotional mood of the work, giving the composition such properties as, for example, statics, dynamics, massiveness, lightness, calmness, tension, etc. The list of tools consists of format, contrast, nuance, tone, color, rhythm (meter), scale and proportions.
picture format, rather, its geometric shape and proportions often determine the perception of the image. Contrast as an artistic means is to oppose two opposite qualities to focus attention. Technical contrasts of shapes, colors, tones give the composition a decorative force. semantic contrasts determine the nature of the artistic image. In contrast to the contrast nuances calm the perception of the viewer, generalize the elements into a whole. expressive ability rhythm consists in what trajectory the eye must pass in order to “get” from one object to another. If the distance is not large and the eye quickly "jumps" from one element to another, then the rhythm accelerates, and vice versa. In addition, the rhythm in the painting is manifested in the construction of the color-tonal system of the image and in the energy of coloring strokes. scale the semantic significance or scantiness of the object of drawing, massive and lightweight sensations can be expressed. At the same time, the author's experience has noticed: large forms tend to visually group smaller ones, medium ones, as a rule, perform the main task of creating a plot, and small ones exquisitely decorate the work. Proportions allow you to create certain emotional sensations of loftiness or squatness in the picture, to achieve decorative effects and stylizations. A huge aspect of proportioning in art has to do with the use of the golden ratio. Tone according to the principle of contrasts, it highlights the main thing, and can also set the general emotional mood. By analogy with life observations, dark pictures are associatively associated with difficult, pathological mental states, and, on the contrary, light ones are associated with joy and purity. Color conveys meaning and emotional mood with its own (saturation, color tone, lightness) and non-own qualities (having mental, physiological, cultural, religious, social, ethnic and individual levels of its perception).
To the qualities and properties of the composition it is proposed to attribute such associative concepts as its static nature, dynamism, symmetry and asymmetry, massiveness, lightness, delicacy, sonority, deafness, darkness, lightness, etc. These qualities are created in the work by the previously listed means. They serve not as an end in themselves, but only as a way of conveying the general state, achieving a certain emotional mood in the work.
Composition types two are invariably named: closed, i.e. bounded along the edges of the sheet by pictorial forms like “backstage”; And open, with free open edges of the pictorial plane.
Types of composition also stably in various literature is called on the basis of the spatial arrangement of elements. There are three types of composition: frontal, volumetric And deep-spatial. Frontal composition (planar) is a 2-dimensional composition, it is developed horizontally and vertically. Inherent in decorative works based on flat divisions of form, ornamental compositions and possibly some manifestations of abstractionism. Volumetric composition is characterized by the distribution of mass along 3 coordinates of space, forming a three-dimensional shape, for example, a round sculpture. Deep-spatial composition is characterized by the creation of images designed for the perception of width, height and depth, i.e. an ordinary realistic image that replicates the observed world with its three dimensions.
Considering composition as process, the practice defines three main stages: design, solution, performance. This is purely applied knowledge optimized by experience, which allows you to quickly work on a creative work, while achieving the most expressive correspondence of the work to the image-expectation from the author's imagination. The content of the stages is described in detail in a separate previously published article "Stages of work on visualization". Let us only denote that design is characterized by the design of acceptable forms of visual embodiment in a sketchy search for a vision of an idea pre-created in the imagination. In other words, at this stage, a cursory sketching in a free manner is required without a specific drawing of the details of all the possible options for displaying the theme that came to mind, because. it is difficult to accurately convey a dynamic performance devoid of boundaries. A common method of forming an artistic image is writing a short story before work and visualizing it line by line in the composition. At the stage of conception, it is necessary to achieve compliance with the requirements of integrity, subordination, balance, novelty, expressiveness, etc. It is important to lay the harmonious interaction of the masses of the main and the secondary, large and small, dark and light under the conditions of the “frame effect”. To create by means of expressiveness a system of visual stimuli that directs the eye and thought of the viewer along the trajectory conceived by the artist. All of the listed initially found qualities with careful attitude in the process of work will not disappear anywhere. Otherwise, they will have nowhere to come from in the final performance. The number of sketches depends on the degree of approach to the idea-concept and the design of the variant, outlining the exact trajectory of further detailed development. per stage solutions it follows, having previously selected one of the most potential sketch options, to develop its strengths and work out in detail each image or character, find beautiful movements, clarify lines, scales, rhythms, tones. The plot should be cleared of confusing details that cause distracting sub-meanings and associations during perception. At this stage, if necessary (depending on the direction in art), access to natural material reflecting the truth of life is carried out: natural sketches are created and applied, photos and the Internet are used. The method of finishing the image with the help of cripples is also characteristic of this stage. The logical conclusion of the stage is the creation of a "cardboard" (a detailed sketch in full size of the painting for transfer to canvas) for future work. Execution- the final stage of work on the work, in which nothing changes in the solution found. A sketch or a project is extremely accurately embodied in the material. Thinking of a sketch in an effort to enhance the artistic expressiveness of the work, without first analyzing the possible result, is not allowed.
The article raises a complex topic, and poses such tasks that it seems impossible to perform perfectly. Despite this, the author's model of composition theory is conceptually presented and can be, if not the backbone, then the reason for further fundamental developments. The article is intended, firstly, to draw attention to the need to check the logic of many existing developments on the topic, and secondly, to encourage colleagues to agree on the idea among themselves, possibly on the basis of the proposed model.
A. S. Chuvashov
List of sources used
- Shorokhov E. V. Methods of teaching composition in the lessons of fine arts at school: a guide for teachers. – Ed. 2nd, revised. and additional Moscow: Education, 1977. 112 p.
- Shorokhov E. V. Composition. A textbook for students of artistic and graphic faculties of pedagogical institutes. – Ed. 2nd, revised. and additional Moscow: Education, 1986. 207 p.
- Ozhegov S.I. Dictionary of the Russian language: approx. 57000 words. Ed. member corr. Academy of Sciences of the USSR N. Yu. Shvedova. - 20th ed., stereotype. M.: Russian language, 1988. 750 p.
- A Concise Dictionary of Aesthetics: A Teacher's Book / Ed. M. F. Ovsyannikova. Moscow: Education, 1983. 223 p.
- Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. editors: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1983. 840 p.
- Chuvashov A.S. The concept of the theory of organization (construction) of composition in the visual arts // Art and education. M .: LLC "International Center" Art and Education ". 2017. No. 4. P. 14 – 28.
- Erofeeva M. A. General foundations of pedagogy: lecture notes. M.: Higher education, 2006. 188 p.
- Volkov N. N. Composition in painting. Moscow: Art, 1977. 143 p.
- Koffka K. Principles of Gestalt psychology. N.Y., 1935.
- Wertheimer M. Productive thinking / Per. from English. Tot. ed. S. F. Gorbov and V. P. Zinchenko. Intro. Art. V. P. Zinchenko. M.: Progress, 1987. 336 p.
- Arnheim R. Art and visual perception / Per. from English. V. L Samokhina; under total ed. V. P. Shestakova M.: Progress, 1974. 392 p.
- Chuvashov A.S. Stages of work on visualization. // Visual images of modern culture: traditions and innovations in the culture of the metropolis: a collection of scientific articles based on the materials of the III All-Russian scientific and practical conference with international participation, April 10 - 11, 2014 / Editorial board: P.L. Zaitsev and others - Omsk: Golden circulation, 2014. S. 178 - 183.
Composition in music has its own foundations, theoretical aspects and technique. Theory is a tool for an elegant and competent presentation of musical material. Technique is the ability to correctly express your ideas in musical notation.
Mandatory components
Composition in music presupposes the presence of the most important accompanying elements, without which the integrity of this system is impossible. This list includes:
- Author (composer) and his creative work.
- His work, living without dependence on himself.
- Realization of content in a specific sound scheme.
- A complex mechanism of technical devices, united by the theory of music.
Each type of art is characterized by a specific range of techniques. Their assimilation is an obligatory aspect for creative activity. Music is highly labor intensive. For this reason, the composer needs technical equipment.
About the creative method
According to D. Kabalevsky, composer activity is based more on technique than on creativity. And the share of the first aspect here is 90%, the second - 10%. That is, the composer must know the required techniques and skillfully implement them.
Many classics who wrote works for orchestras had an outstanding inner ear for timbre. They imagined the real sound of their creation in advance.
For example, W. A. Mozart improved the score to such a level that it only remained to make musical notes.
Thus, composition in music is also the doctrine of the connection of expressiveness techniques in a compositional system. Here there is an organizing beginning of the creative space - this is a form-scheme. It is a facet of musical unity associated with the order of the chronological development of the work.
The composer creates and perfects his creation, using inner views about true sound. He can make notes in a workbook or on a computer. The piano is usually used to select the melody.
Stages of classical composition
The initial stage is the creation of a general plan. It highlights the following algorithm:
- Solving the problem with the musical genre. Explaining the plot.
- Creating a form-scheme.
- Choice of creative method.
At the third stage, a figurative melody is composed. This can take place on the basis of preforms or with the use of smooth build-up. This image must match:
- harmony;
- texture;
- additional voices with polyphonic development.
The piece of music must be accessible to perception. When listening to it, a person focuses on key points and at the same time rests aesthetically.
Main characteristics
Composition in music is a unity characterized by stability. Here the constant temporal fluidity is overcome, the equally realizable uniqueness of the key musical components is formed: tempo, rhythm, pitch, etc.
Due to stability, the musical sound is equally reproduced through any periods after its creation.
Also, the composition is always calculated on the level of performers.
Non-classical composition
To create compositions to music, you need certain abilities and musical literacy.
One way or another, you need to follow the principles of forming a melody:
- Equilibrium. The line must not be overloaded. Rhythm and intonation complement each other. And the use of jumps at significant intervals, deviations from modulation and other similar factors only make the work very difficult to perceive. You can get by with a simpler rhythm with a sophisticated system and vice versa.
- melodic wave. The principle is based on the fact that the movement goes up and down alternately.
- unity of intonation. Leading intervals may be present in the theme song. A striking example is the second intonation in Mozart's Requiem.
Whatever type of composition is used in music, the work can be advantageously diversified by finding the melody in different registers. For example, it can develop from the bass lines, reach the second or third octave, and return to the bottom again.
Criteria for creating an expressive melody
If you want to create a beautiful memorable composition, observe the following mandatory points:
- Representation of an artistic image for embodiment in a work. Start from your tasks. For example, your creation will be only instrumental or include a vocal line in it. Solve the issue with his character. Thanks to this, decide on the means of expression.
- Improvisation. It involves as much playing and listening as possible. This is how the optimal melodic line is determined. Finding interesting options requires some patience.
- If step 2 is difficult to master, compose a melody that is emotionally similar. It can be recorded in a music book, on a computer or on a voice recorder.
- Change. Work with a specific theme of your creation. Change one or more notes, measure or key into it. Explore the pros and cons of the results.
- Analysis of other works. Listen to your favorite songs. Highlight the expressive techniques used in them. Compare them to your work. So you better understand your shortcomings (if any).
Historical summaries
Since ancient times, the idea of compositional integrity has been associated with a textual basis. The dance-metric system was considered another foundation.
As music has evolved, composition theory has varied too. In the 11th century, Givdo Aretinsky published his Microlog. In it, under the term composition, he cited the masterful creation of a chorale.
Two centuries later, another specialist, John de Grocayo, in his work “On Music”, interpreted this definition as a complex composite work.
In the 15th century, John Tinktoris wrote The Book of the Art of Counterpoint. In it, he clearly distinguished two bases: notated and improvised.
In the period from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 16th century, knowledge of counterpoint developed to the definition of "The Art of Composition".
Applied musical theory began to develop in the 16th-17th centuries.
In the next two centuries, a unified theory was formed about harmony, the use of instruments, musical form and the principles of polyphony. Artistic autonomy developed. The basics of composition in music began to be recognized:
- Key.
- Modulation.
- Motives.
- Themes.
- Contrasts of the song scheme and connecting solutions.
At the same time, theorists focused mainly on the sonata cycle in the classical interpretation.
Due to the fact that in the Renaissance the concept of freedom of the personality of a creative person was actively developing, the status of the composer also changed. In the XIV century, a norm was introduced - to indicate the authors of musical works.
The twentieth century
He did not stand out for more than one unified doctrine of composition. And previous musical historical epochs were distinguished by its common basis. It observed the main condition - the unity of the major-minor structure.
Due to its collapse and the global cataclysms of the last century, artistic perception has also changed significantly.
A single style has sunk into oblivion. It's time for multiple styles. The techniques of composition in music were also individualized.
Its new variations were formed:
- Dodecaphony. The basis of the work here is a combination of twelve heights, which should not be repeated.
- Sonorica. A complex of multiple sounds is used. Bright groups are built from it, controlling the action of the musical fabric.
- Electroacoustics. To create this music, special technologies are used. Their complex application forms a mixed compositional technique.
Federal Agency for Education
State educational institution
higher professional education
Department of Design and Artistic Processing of Materials
"Composition Theory"
Introduction
1.1 Integrity
2. Types of composition
2.1 Closed composition
2.2 Open composition
2.3 Symmetrical composition
2.4 Asymmetrical composition
2.5 Static composition
2.6 Dynamic composition
3. Forms of composition
3.4 Volume composition
4.1 Grouping
4.2 Overlay and inset
4.3 Division
4.4 Format
4.5 Scale and proportion
4.6 Rhythm and meter
4.7 Contrast and nuance
4.8 Color
4.9 Compositional axes
4.10 Symmetry
4.11 Texture and texture
4.12 Styling
5. Aesthetic aspect of formal composition
6. Style and stylistic unity
7. Associative composition
Bibliographic list
Introduction
Paintings with two or more compositional centers are used by artists to show several events occurring simultaneously and equal in their significance.
In one picture, several methods of highlighting the main one can be used at once.
For example, using the technique of "isolation" - depicting the main thing in isolation from other objects, highlighting it in size and color - one can achieve the construction of an original composition.
It is important that all methods of highlighting the plot and compositional center be applied not formally, but to reveal in the best possible way the artist's intention and the content of the work.
1. Formal features of the composition
Artists passionately struggling over their next masterpiece, changing color and shape for the hundredth time, achieving perfection of work, are sometimes surprised to find that their palette, where they simply mixed paints, turns out to be that very sparkling abstract canvas that carries beauty without any substantive content. .
A random combination of colors folded the axis into a composition that was not planned in advance, but arose by itself. So, after all, there is a purely formal ratio of elements, in this case, colors, which produces a sense of order. You can call it the laws of composition, but in relation to art I don’t want to use this harsh word “law”, which does not allow the free action of the artist. Therefore, we will call these correlations signs of composition. there are many of them, but of all the signs, one can single out the most essential, absolutely necessary in any organized form.
So, the three main formal features of the composition:
integrity;
subordination of the secondary to the main, that is, the presence of a dominant;
equilibrium.
1.1 Integrity
If the image or object is entirely covered by the gaze as a whole, clearly does not break up into separate independent parts, then there is integrity as the first sign of composition. Integrity cannot be understood as necessarily a soldered monolith; this feeling is more complicated, there may be gaps, gaps between the elements of the composition, but still the attraction of the elements to each other, their interpenetration visually distinguish the image or object from the surrounding space. Integrity can be in the layout of the picture in relation to the frame, it can be like a coloristic spot of the whole picture in relation to the wall field, or maybe inside the image so that the object or figure does not fall apart into separate random spots.
Integrity is the internal unity of the composition.
1.2 Subordination of the secondary to the main (the presence of a dominant)
It is customary in the theater to say that the king is not played by the king, but by his retinue. The composition also has its own "kings" and the "retinue" surrounding them, like solo instruments and an orchestra. The main element of the composition usually immediately catches the eye, it is to him, the main one, that all other, secondary, elements serve, shading, highlighting or directing the eye when viewing the work. This is the semantic center of the composition. In no case is the concept of the center of the composition associated only with the geometric center of the picture. The center, the focus of the composition, its main element can be both in the foreground and in the background, it can be on the periphery or literally in the middle of the picture - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is that the secondary elements “play the king”, they bring the eye to the climax of the image , which are in turn dependent on each other.
1.3 Balance (static and dynamic)
This concept is not simple, although, at first glance, there is nothing complicated here. The balance of composition is by definition associated with symmetry, but a symmetrical composition has the quality of balance from the very beginning, as a given, so there is nothing to talk about here. We are interested in just that composition, where the elements are located without an axis or center of symmetry, where everything is built according to the principle of artistic intuition in a very specific situation.
An empty field or a single point placed in a certain place in the picture can balance the composition, but in the general case it is impossible to specify what place this is and what color intensity the point should be. True, we can note in advance: the brighter the color, the smaller the balancing spot can be.
Particular attention has to be paid to balance in dynamic compositions, where the artistic task lies precisely in the violation, destruction of equilibrium peace. Strange as it may seem, the most asymmetrical, outward-looking composition in works of art is always carefully balanced. A simple operation allows you to verify this: it is enough to cover part of the picture - and the composition of the remaining part will fall apart, become fragmentary, unfinished.
composition picture formal
2. Types of composition
2.1 Closed composition
An image with a closed composition fits into the frame in such a way that it does not tend to the edges, but, as it were, closes on itself. The viewer's gaze moves from the focus of the composition to the peripheral elements, returns through other peripheral elements again to the focus, that is, it strives from any place in the composition to its center.
A distinctive feature of a closed composition is the presence of fields. In this case, the integrity of the image is manifested in the literal sense - against any background, the compositional spot has clear boundaries, all compositional elements are closely interconnected, plastically compact.
2.2 Open composition
The filling of the pictorial space with an open composition can be twofold. Either these are details that go beyond the frame, which are easy to imagine outside the picture, or it is a large open space into which the focus of the composition is immersed, giving rise to development, the movement of subordinate elements. In this case, there is no tightening of the gaze to the center of the composition; on the contrary, the gaze freely leaves the picture with some conjecture of the undepicted part.
An open composition is centrifugal, it tends to move forward or slide along a spirally expanding path. It can be quite complex, but it always ends up moving away from the center. Often the center of the composition itself is missing, or rather, the composition is made up of many equal mini-centers that fill the field of the image.
2.3 Symmetrical composition
The main feature of a symmetrical composition is balance. It holds the image so tightly that it is also the basis of integrity. Symmetry corresponds to one of the deepest laws of nature - the desire for stability. Building a symmetrical image is easy, you just need to determine the boundaries of the image and the axis of symmetry, then repeat the pattern in a mirror image. Symmetry is harmonious, but if any image is made symmetrical, then after a while we will be surrounded by prosperous, but monotonous works.
Artistic creativity goes so far beyond the framework of geometric correctness that in many cases it is necessary to deliberately break the symmetry in the composition, otherwise it is difficult to convey movement, change, contradiction. At the same time, symmetry, like an algebra that tests harmony, will always be a judge, a reminder of the original order, balance.
2.4 Asymmetrical composition
Asymmetric compositions do not contain an axis or a point of symmetry, the form creation in them is freer, but one cannot think that asymmetry removes the problem of balance. On the contrary, it is in asymmetric compositions that the authors pay special attention to balance as an indispensable condition for the competent construction of a picture.
2.5 Static composition
Stable, motionless, often symmetrically balanced, compositions of this type are calm, silent, evoke the impression of self-affirmation, they carry not an illustrative description, not an event, but depth, philosophy.
2.6 Dynamic composition
Outwardly unstable, prone to movement, asymmetry, openness, this type of composition perfectly reflects our time with its cult of speed, pressure, kaleidoscopic life, thirst for novelty, with the swiftness of fashion, with clip thinking. Dynamics often exclude grandeur, solidity, classical completeness; but it would be a big mistake to consider simple negligence in work as dynamics, these are completely unequal concepts. Dynamic compositions are more complex and individual, so they require careful thought and virtuoso performance.
If we compare the above three pairs of compositions with each other and try to find the relationship between them, then with a little stretch we must admit that the first types in each pair are one family, and the second - another family. In other words, static compositions are almost always symmetrical and often closed, while dynamic compositions are asymmetrical and open. But this is not always the case, a rigid classification relationship between pairs is not visible, moreover, defining compositions according to other initial criteria, one has to create another series, which for convenience we will no longer call types, but composition forms, where the determining role is played by the appearance of the work .
3. Forms of composition
All disciplines of the projective cycle, from descriptive geometry to architectural design, give the concept of the elements that make up the shape of the surrounding world:
plane;
bulk surface;
space.
Using these concepts, it is easy to classify the forms of composition. It is only necessary to keep in mind that fine art does not operate with mathematical objects, therefore, a point as a geometric place in space that does not have dimensions, of course, cannot be a form of composition. For artists, a point can be a circle, a blot, and any compact spot concentrated around the center. The same remarks apply to lines, planes, and three-dimensional space.
Thus, the forms of composition, named in one way or another, are not definitions, but only approximately denoted as something geometric.
3.1 Point (centric) composition
a point composition always has a center; it can be a center of symmetry in the literal sense or a conditional center in an asymmetric composition, around which the compositional elements that make up the active spot are compactly and approximately equidistant. Point composition is always centripetal, even if its parts seem to scatter from the center, the focus of the composition automatically becomes the main element that organizes the image. The value of the center is most emphasized in the circular composition.
The point (centric) composition is characterized by the greatest integrity and balance, it is easy to build, and very convenient for mastering the first professional composing techniques. For point composition, the format of the pictorial field is of great importance. In many cases, the format directly dictates the specific shape and proportions of the image, or, conversely, the image defines a specific format.
3.2 Linear tape composition
In the theory of ornament, the arrangement of repeating elements along a straight or curved open line is called translational symmetry. In general, a tape composition does not necessarily have to be composed of repeating elements, but its general arrangement is usually elongated in some direction, suggesting an imaginary centerline around which the image is built. Linear tape composition is open and often dynamic. The format of the pictorial field allows for relative freedom, here the image and the field are not so rigidly tied to each other in terms of absolute dimensions, the main thing is the elongation of the format.
In the tape composition, the second of the three main features of the composition is often masked - the subordination of the secondary to the main one, therefore it is very important to identify the main element in it. If this is an ornament, then in the repeated elements, which break up into separate mini-images, the main element is also repeated. If the composition is simultaneous, then the main element is not masked.
3.3 Planar (frontal) composition
The name itself suggests that the entire plane of the sheet is filled with an image. Such a composition has no axes and a center of symmetry, does not tend to become a compact spot, it does not have a pronounced single focus. The plane of the sheet (whole) and determines the integrity of the image. The frontal composition is often used in the creation of decorative works - carpets, murals, fabric ornaments, as well as in abstract and realistic painting, in stained-glass windows, mosaics. This composition gravitates towards an open type. A planar (frontal) composition should not be considered only one in which the visible volume of objects disappears and is replaced by flat color spots. A multifaceted realistic painting with the transmission of spatial and volumetric illusions, according to the formal classification, refers to the frontal composition.
3.4 Volume composition
It would be very bold to call any picture a three-dimensional composition. This compositional form extends into three-dimensional art forms - sculpture, ceramics, architecture, etc. Its difference from all previous forms is that the perception of the work occurs sequentially from several points of observation, from many angles. The integrity of the silhouette is of equal importance in various rotations. Volumetric composition includes a new quality - the length in time; it is viewed from different angles, cannot be fully covered by a single glance. The exception is the relief, which is an intermediate form in which volumetric chiaroscuro plays the role of a line and a spot.
Volumetric composition is very sensitive to the illumination of the work, and the main role is played not by the intensity of light, but by its direction.
The relief should be illuminated with a sliding, not a head light, but this is not enough, one must also take into account from which side the light should fall, since the appearance of the work completely changes from a change in the direction of the shadows.
3.5 Spatial composition
The space is shaped by architects and to some extent by designers. The interaction of volumes and plans, technology and aesthetics, which architects operate, is not a direct task of fine art, but the spatial composition becomes the object of the artist's attention if it is built from volumetric artistic and decorative elements, somehow located in space. Firstly, this is a stage composition, which includes scenery, props, furniture, etc. Secondly, the rhythmic organization of groups in the dance (meaning the color and shape of the costumes). Thirdly - exhibition combinations of decorative elements in halls or shop windows. In all these compositions, the space between objects is actively used.
As in volumetric composition, lighting plays an important role here. The play of light and shadow, volume and color can radically change the perception of a spatial composition.
Spatial composition as a form is often confused with a picture that conveys the illusion of space. There is no real space in the picture, in form it is a planar (frontal) composition, in which the arrangement of color spots sequentially, as it were, removes objects from the viewer into the depth of the picture, but the image itself is constructed over the entire plane.
3.6 Combination of compositional forms
In real concrete works, the forms of composition in their pure form are not always found. Like everything else in life, the composition of a painting or product uses elements and principles of different forms. Ornament corresponds best and most accurately to the pure classification. By the way, it was the ornament that was the basis on which, first of all, the patterns and forms of the composition were revealed. Easel painting, monumental painting, plot engraving, illustration often do not fit into the geometrically simplified forms of the composition. Of course, they often show a square, and a circle, and a ribbon, and horizontals, and verticals, but all this is combined with each other, in free movement, in weaving.
4. Techniques and means of composition
If you take several geometric figures and try to put them into a composition, you will have to admit that only two operations can be done with the figures - either group them or superimpose them on top of each other. If some large monotonous plane needs to be turned into a composition, then, most likely, this plane will have to be divided into a rhythmic series in any way - by color, relief, cuts. If you need to visually zoom in or out on an object, you can use the red zoom effect or the blue zoom effect. In short, there are formal and at the same time real methods of composition and the means corresponding to them, which the artist uses in the process of creating a work.
4.1 Grouping
This technique is the most common and, in fact, the very first step in composing a composition. The concentration of elements in one place and the successive rarefaction in another, the allocation of a compositional center, balance or dynamic instability, static immobility or the desire for movement - everything is within the power of a grouping. Any picture, first of all, contains elements that are one way or another mutually located relative to each other, but now we are talking about a formal composition, so let's start with geometric shapes. Grouping also involves spaces, that is, spaces between elements, in the composition. You can group spots, lines, points, shadow and illuminated parts of the image, warm and cold colors, figure sizes, texture and texture - in a word, everything that is visually different from one another.
4.2 Overlay and inset
According to the compositional action, this is a grouping that has stepped over the boundaries of figures.
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