The Visual Toolbox

The Visual Toolbox

As you can see that in the upper half of Escher print, we see a dark geese on the white ground. As our eyes move down the page, the light upper background becomes fish against a black background. In the middle, however, fish and geese interlock so perfectly that we are not sure what the figure is and what is ground. As our awareness shifts, fist shapes and bird shapes trade places, a phenomenon called figure ground reversal.
In Bread, Elizabeth Catlett Drew lines that seem to wrap around and define a girl in space, implying a solid mass. The work gives the appearance of mass because the lines both follow the curvature of the head and build up dark areas to suggest mass revealed by light. Her use of lines convinces us that we are seeing a fully rounded person.
The kiss by Auguste Rodin shows how two sculptors interpret an embrace. The life size human figures represent Western ideals of the masculine and feminine: Rodin captures the sensual delight of that highly charged moment when lovers embrace. Our emotions are engaged as we over look the hardness of marble from which he carved it. The natural softness of the flesh is heightened by the rough texture of the unfinished marble supporting the figures.
The Kiss by Constantin Brancusi also shows how two sculptors interpret an embrace. In contrast to Rodin’s approach, Brancusi used the solid quality of a block of stone to express lasting love. Through minimal cutting of the block, Brancusi symbolized-rather than illustrated-the concept of two becoming one. He chose geometric abstraction rather than representational naturalism to express love. Some may think that Brancusi’s only expresses the idea of love.

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