Lines: A Visual Language

Language is a mediator without which communication would be impossible. Language is a representation of our thoughts and experiences. In this sense, it is not real, but a representation of the real.

Artists use various means to interpret reality. Two basic categories that most artists fall into are “painterly” or “linear”. This exhibition is going to focus on the latter category. In linear painting, artists describe form in such a way that accentuates line. Traditionally, this approach demands a level of precision only achievable through intensive preparation. This preparation, called disegno, allows the artist to describe every form confidently. In the best examples of linear work, no form is left ambiguous. As a result, the line is never lost. Whether it is on fabric, flesh, architecture, or landscape, the viewer always sees where the line begins and where it ends.

Implied line plays a key role in the composition of artworks. Implied lines are usually seen in more grand a scale than marked lines. An implied line, for example, might be seen in the sweeping gesture of a posed figure, while a marked line would be used to describe the contours of said figure.

An important point to remember is that line, just like other forms of language, is not a part of reality, but a representation of the real. Line is a language that artists use to communicate to the viewer. This exhibition will explore this language in its many forms, and perhaps help the viewer to better understand the language of line.

Sandro Botticelli, Cestello Annunciation, 1489-1490

Tempura on Panel, Uffizi Gallery

In this painting Botticelli offers an experience to the viewer that, while containing certain narrative “facts”, takes the image much further, and includes the viewer in what is not only a historical narrative, but a psychological experience. Botticelli’s “Annunciation” is an excellent example of a linear piece of artwork. The power of this piece of art owes itself largely to the drama of the poses, and the relationship of the two figures and their contrasting experience. The drama of the pose, in turn, is emphasized by the linear quality Botticelli’s technique.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam, 1511-1512

Fresco, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.75

Like Botticelli’s Cestello Annunciation, this piece employs a bi-lateral composition that creates a visual tension between the interaction of the human and the divine. The forms in this painting are not quite so clearly described as those in Botticelli’s Annunciation, yet line is still an integral part of this piece. Most prominent is the implied line created by the outstretched arms of both characters. We all know what is about to happen, yet we are trapped in the tension built by the space left between the two fingers. The linear quality of Michelangelo’s technique emphasizes this line. The paint quality itself helps to build this tension.

Alonzo King, Before the Blues, 2009

LINES Ballet

There is an abstraction to dance that forces the dramatic employment of the potential use of the human body for communication. Figurative artwork has remained popular since the Paleolithic Age, proving that this potential for communication is immense. While, of course, paint quality and preparatory drawings do not play a role in the linear nature of this piece, notice how the choreographer creates a series of poses within this dance that emphasize the implied lines of the human figure.

Ellsworth Kelly, Blue Violet Curve, 1982

Painted Aluminum, Meyerhoff Collection

Sculptures are physical objects. Marked lines do not exist on sculptures unless they are imposed on its surface. In this piece, the surface remains a solid color. Ellsworth Kelly’s work remains linear, nonetheless. In fact, its linear quality is emphasized by the unmarked surface. This forces the viewer to consider the most interesting part of the piece: the edge boundary. In a sense, Kelly forces the viewer to draw long, even lines where the piece ends, and the wall begins.

Peter Paul Rubens, Anatomical Studies: A Left Forearm in Two Positions and a Right Forearm, 1600–1608

Pen and Brown Ink, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.75

Here we see a piece of art that uses nothing but lines to describe a physical world that, in reality, has no lines at all. The lines run along the surface of the forms, describing their contours to various levels of specificity. They inform the viewer of where each form exists in relation to the other forms in the created space. This way of interpreting reality is very “other” from the reality that we actually experience, yet the subject matter is easily recognizable. This proves the effectiveness of line as a language of the artist.

- Caleb Stoltzfus