IMPRESSIONIST COMPOSITION
Impressionists' compositions are a combination of the classical elements married with the natural snapshot elements influenced by the cultural dynamics of their time. See handouts for downloading at www.DmitriWright.com

Compositions consist of an arrangement for unity, proportion, and balance. The Old Master compositions were basically symmetrical, while the Impressionists’ compositions were asymmetrical.

The early natural Impressionists’ compositions were concerned with light and space as it related the aerial perspective, whereas the Post-impressionists displayed a flat design and abstract space within the picture plane.

Photography also inspired the Impressionists’ compositions. These artists liked the candid and spontaneous to capture their time. Impressionists were inspired by informal photography, which influenced them to seek a different type of composition.

COMPOSITION
Elements of Design: Line, Shape, Color, Texture, Value, Form and Space are elements used to organize the compositional space. For example, compositions can be :
✓ flat or perspective
✓ formal or informal (natural, snapshot]
✓ symmetrical or asymmetrical

7 COMPOSITION DESIGNS
View the handout illustration for the 7 types of compositions. Note the pattern of subject matter and negative space within the picture plane. See how each approach moves your eye and makes you think and feel about the image presented.

It was not unusual that the masters of impressionism used one or more of the compositions presented here. Anyone or any combination is key to formulating a sound composition. This approach here is for anyone who wants to be more formal.

Perspective and Flat Design Compositions
1. Triangle
2. Scales
3. Circle
4. Radius
5. Cross
6. L
7. S

COMPOSITION TYPES
PERSPECTIVE DESIGN COMPOSITION
Perspective Design Composition is based on a vanishing point. For example, hold your left hand a few inches away from your left eye and take your right hand and move it away as far as possible. Your left-hand looks more prominent and your right hand appears smaller. Now reverse your hands, holding your right close and your left further away. The discrepancy in size is due to the cone of vision. In other words, similar-sized objects appear to diminish in size as they move further away.

Objects are sized according to their place in space, and their colors are altered to match their placement.

FLAT DESIGN COMPOSITION
Flat Design Composition is the arrangement of lines and shapes in one visual dimension. This type of composition reduces the picture plane to positive and negative spaces. Both positive and negative spaces are conceived as one flat design; each is as important as the other. For example, view the shape of your hand - your hand is positive, and the space around your hand is negative.

FLAT AND PERSPECTIVE TOGETHER
It is not unusual for impressionists to have flat and perspective designs occurring in the same painting. Perspective elements feature the illusion of representation, and flat design was presented in decorative elements. This interplay of structure and symbol, realism and abstraction, is impressionism at its best for me.

ASYMMETRICAL COMPOSITION
Japanese woodblock prints introduced new ideas to the Impressionists about flat design giving a fresh look at asymmetrical composition.

FORMAL COMPOSITION
Formal composition is systemized approach using established rules, thus allowing the artist a framework. The formal composition has a foreground, middle ground, and background. The practice of formal composition is time-honored.

It must be argued that even though the impressionist established their path for creating art, they still learned sound doctrinal elements of the academy canon, which helped them create stimulating and provocative works of art.

The focal point is where the eye focuses on a composition that the artist pre-established on the picture plane. Imagine a stage in a theater in the front of the stage is the foreground, further back still at the curtains is the middle ground, and even further back behind the curtains at the backdrop is the background. Now, if an actor appears standing at the very front of the stage, she or he is in the foreground. At any point of depth from front to rear, the actor is a focal point at the point of interest.

The old master paintings and silent movies would use the same idea of setting their compositions into three distinct layers foreground, middle ground, and background to create the illusion of perspective to place a focal point.

INFORMAL COMPOSITION
SNAPSHOT
Snapshot Composition is similar to informal photography. Here an impressionist seeks to capture what is fleeting as if with a quick impulse. The rapid pace of their cities and urbanscape, with the train taking them to the peaceful villages and countryside, gave the culture a new sense of time and speed.

The Impressionists were ready to take advantage of portable cameras to capture the rapidly changing world around them. Their response to photography: we are now free to explore other ideas about painting since the photos could capture reality; artists were then free to capture the essence. Yet they used the snapshot effect often in painting daily scenes.

NATURAL COMPOSITION
Natural Composition is an intuitive approach to composition. Instead of having a planned strategy to layout objects of interest, one places them down as they would use them every day.
Natural Composition bypasses the flat and perspective design compositional templates. From this one is free to develop their painting according to one's internalized sensibility. Generally, artists who are not formally trained formulate their aesthetic this way. Often it is called primitive, childlike, or naïve composition. Here artists release themselves of formality and seek to compose intuitively. They want to be more direct and childlike for greater originality.