The Artist's Toolkit: Visual Elements and Principles
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Line
Shape
Color
Space
Texture

Balance
Emphasis
Movement/
Rhythm

The Artist's Toolkit: Visual Elements and Principles
EncyclopediaEmphasis

 

As a composition is developed an artist may stress some elements of the design over others. The eye of the viewer will focus on the area of emphasis or center of interest first, then take in the rest of the composition. The face in the center of this print demands attention as a result of its placement and scale. The white rays radiating from behind the figure's head strengthen the emphasis.

Kerry James Marshall, Brownie, 1995, Lithograph on paper, Walker Art Center, T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund

Kerry James Marshall
Brownie
1995
Lithograph on paper
Walker Art Center
T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund
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The subject of this painting is a family reunited after war. Within a richly detailed composition, the artist emphasized his message by placing the figures so that directional lines lead to the center of the painting-the clasped hands of the mother and father.

Sir John Everett Millais, Peace Concluded, 1856, Oil on canvas, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund

Sir John Everett Millais
Peace Concluded
1856
Oil on canvas
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund
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The implied triangle connecting the mother and her daughters indicates the area where all the activity essential to the message of the painting takes place.

Detail of Sir John Everett Millais' Peace Concluded, 1856, Oil on canvas, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund

Sir John Everett Millais
Detail of Peace Concluded
1856
Oil on canvas
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The Putnam Dana McMillan Fund
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This carved decoration for a building is filled with complex patterns, but emphasis has been placed on the large shapes of two white chickens. The size and mostly white shapes of the two chickens contrast with the other designs.

Artist Unknown, Malagan Frieze, 19th century, Wood, pigment, and shell, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of Bruce B.Dayton

Artist Unknown
Malagan Frieze
19th century
Wood, pigment, and shell
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Gift of Bruce B.Dayton
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A smaller frigate bird (or drongo), compressed at the top edge, holds the tail of a snake that wriggles through the detailed patterns. The shape of the snake's body and its movement is emphasized as it rises above the other patterns in the frieze.

Artist Unknown, Detail of Malagan Frieze, 19th century, Wood, pigment, and shell, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of Bruce B.Dayton

Artist Unknown
Detail of Malagan Frieze
19th century
Wood, pigment, and shell
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Gift of Bruce B.Dayton
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In this complex arrangement of shapes and colors, the artist has used the secondary colors green, orange and purple to create what he called a "dominant chord." As a second theme, the artist emphasized the intensity of certain colors to direct our attention to the figure of a woman.

Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Synchromy in Green and Orange, 1916, Oil on canvas, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, Hudson D. Walker Collection

Stanton Macdonald-Wright
Synchromy in Green and Orange
1916
Oil on canvas
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Gift of the T. B. Walker Foundation, Hudson D. Walker Collection
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Center of Interest  | Overall Emphasis  | Contrast and Emphasis

 
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