Roots of Design, I

Our attention begins where and when change happens.  In two dimensions change happens where contrast occurs whether that contrast is between colors, values, edges or textures. Design begins with edges because, edges build forms. We will travel together across time and cultures to see how we use edge recognition to build basic forms and basic designs. These are fundamental to the appearance of everything from language to architecture.  The appearance of a single line in a blank field attracts our notice us but, the intersection of two lines attracts us more.  The most basic form built of the fewest intersections is the triangle.  Similarly, the curved line  also attracts our attention. It suggests more volume and motion than the straight line. Its most basic unified form is the circle  (see example 1).If we break up the circle we create a “C” or, if we compile broken parts of the circle we create the “S” or, serpentine or soft Zig Zag.  The divided and recomposed triangle gives us the hard zig zag. These are the roots of  design. Design and attention derive from  an edge, an edge intersecting with another edge and circles( broken and distorted).

example 1.

The first panel  may remind you of a corporate logo, a sign, something suitable for a superhero’s chest. It may remind you of DaVinci’s Vitruvian man drawing.  We can alter these components in their arrangement and proportion as you see in the second panel.  A soft zig zag can use a larger base and a smaller top to indicate linear perspective. The tipped triangle  also points in the direction of the zig zag and further directs our attention. The circle frames( or contains) the top of the zig zag. Together, the circle and  the triangle  create a new unity , a sense of destination. They encourage the feeling that we are looking through a circular oculus into space.   We can place those components  together  anywhere in the picture plane  and we find ourselves looking into the space they create.  This is the foundation for the standard model of  European landscape painting as exemplified in this example of  Claude Lorrain’s ( example 3) . It is also a foundation  linear  perspective which depends upon lines converging in a triangular pattern  back to a  central vanishing point but, without needing the circle. The circle has been supplanted by the rectangle ( two joined intersections or triangles). See example 2.

example 2.

example 3.

In the first panel of example 2 illustrates the curvilinear standard-model landscape design ( Looking into the circle/oculus). Panel two illustrates the rectangular linear perspective model ( looking into the triangles/rectangle).   This was DaVinci’s design for his Last Supper painting. Late in Edo Japan artists like Hiroshige would adopt this Euro-model as you see in example 5. I have used a Canaletto to illustrate the second panel in example 4.

example 4.

example 5.

This same model can be further manipulated with the idea of a cityscape  with an overlay of a linear perspective matrix to emphasize the design over the narrative.   My painting is shown  in example 6.

example 6.

In all three examples the apex of the triangle is implied, not shown.

In the second panel of example 1 the triangle extends beyond the picture frame.  The point of the triangle which receives  the thrust of the linear perspective plan and,  amplifies the feeling of space and drama. It places the viewer. Artists borrow  compositional ideas across cultures and time in using the triangle design as you see in examples 7,8,9,10,11,and 12. The theme is bridges. Monet had seen Canaletto and other Europeans tackle this design problem. He also had seen and collected Japanese woodblock prints  which gave him new ideas for his bridge painting designs.  American Impressionists like J. Alden Weir  also borrowed from the Japanese as you see with his use of the curvilinear overlapping tree placed in front of the bridge. An idea taken from Hiroshige.  Watch for the creative use of triangles in the following examples.

example 7.  Hiroshige in 1830s

example 8.  Monet in 1874

example 9.  Hiroshige in 1834

example 10.  J.Alden Weir in 1890s

example 11.   Here is a diagram of Weir’s use of overlapping curved tree forms and his triangular (bridge and reflection) design. Compare this design with Monet’s and Hiroshige’s.

Finally,  in my example 12, you see varieties of broken circles, curves, overlapping “S” shapes,  Asian fan patterns, and linear perspective  recombined into an abstraction that presents itself as a spacial illusion glued together with  the soft triangle  and  the inferred circle. Music, literature, architecture and pictures  find patterns of variation  and new entanglements  in these simple design themes: the rhythm of the zig zag, the unity  of the circle, and the direction of the angle of intersection.

example 12.