Artwork Analysis

 Use the Handout below to describe the Principles of the Artwork attached below:

The Artwork attached is The Weeping Woman By Pablo Picasso.

Artists utilize the elements of art to produce these design principles. Refer to your handout to answer all of the questions that apply.

Principles­ of Art

Emphasis: The emphasis of a work refers to a focal point in the image or object. What is your eye drawn to? Does the artist create tension or intrigue us by creating more than one area of interest? Or is the work of art afocal ― that is, the viewer cannot find a particular place to rest the eye? Is there a psychological focus created through the elements of art?

Scale and Proportion: What is the size of all the forms and how do they relate proportionally to one another? Did the artist create objects larger in scale in order to emphasize them? Or was scale used to create depth? Are objects located in the foreground, middle ground, or background? Look at the scale of the artwork itself. Is it larger or smaller than you expected?

Balance: Balance is produced by the visual weight of shapes and forms within a composition. Balance can be symmetrical—in which each side of an artwork is the same—or asymmetrical. Radial balance is when the elements appear to radiate from a central point. How are opposites—light/shadow, straight/curved lines, complementary colors—used?

Rhythm: Rhythm is created by repetition. What repeated elements do you see? Does the repetition create a subtle pattern, a decorative ornamentation? Or does it create an intensity, a tension? Does the rhythm unify the work, or does it, on the contrary, seem a group of disparate parts?

Unity/Variety: Is the artwork unified or cohesive? How does the artist use the elements to achieve this? Or is there diversity in the use of elements that creates variety? How does the artwork combine aspects of unity and variety?