B is for Background

We had a discussion with Mimi concerning background in art. In a piece of art the background is the part of the picture that is farthest away from the viewer. The opposite of this is the foreground, which is the closest to the viewer and then there is also the middleground. These are principles used to create depth in a piece of art. We also talked about perspective- which is the technique that an artist uses to present a three-dimensional representation onto a two-dimensional surface. There are three major types of perspective but we only talked about one: aerial. Aerial perspective is when a sense of depth is produced by the appearance of an atmospheric  haze.

We were flipping through some of the art flashcards that I have made on my ipad and talking about the elements of background, perspective, etc... when we came upon Rocky Mountains- Landers Peak by Albert Bierstadt. Mimi used this as an example of aerial perspective. The mountains in the background of the painting are lighter and therefore produce the feeling of being farther away. The kids and I have also talked about the artist used light as a way to draw your eye to the focal point of the painting.

A few other paintings that are interesting in terms of background:

 The Great Wave at Kanagawa by Hokusai

Hokusai was a Japanese painter and printmaker of the Edo period. He used Mt. Fuji (in the background) in many of his works.

Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez

There are all sorts of interesting things going on in the background of this paintning....