Visual Analysis

Nelson Zuniga
Art History- Online

The Salon Of Baron Gros

was created by Jean BaptisteLouis Gros sometime
between 1850-1857 in the
Romanticism period. It is a
photo taken using the
Daguerreotype and its
dimension are 8 & 11/16 in
by 6 inches. In this
photograph it shows an
empty dark room with
various object placed around
in the room.
In this photo, two of the most recognizable
formal elements present are space and color. Space
play a very large role in this photo and it gives a
sense that you just opened the door and are staring
into the room for the first time. Color, more
specifically value; is one of the main reason that this
photo has a lot of depth and can evoke a ton of
emotions. Daguerreotype is an earlier of
photography that was meant to create that sense of
depth and since its only used on a silver plated piece
of copper the contrast of color even deeper the
sense that photo is floating out a bit. Jean Baptiste
and his collection of works using the daguerreotype
all use these two same elements to give his photo a
sense of being there and understanding what he felt
when he set everything up.
The principles of design in this piece are unity
and proportion. All the object in the room if they were
to be separated they wouldnt make much sense but
in this photo their placement give us a sense that
there more to this room then we thought and that is

proportion. Unity is a lot easier to see in this photo

because everything looks like it belong together in
this room. The main emphasis in this photo has to be
the chair in relation to where everything is at and
how the light reflects out from the window.
This next painting is
Young Girl Bathing by
Auguste Renoir in 1892.
This is an oil painting on
canvas made in the
Romanticism period. The
dimension of this painting
are 32 by 25.5 inches. In
this painting it shows a
young girl sitting in an
early version of a bath
naked looking off into the
distance.
The two formal elements that are more present
in this piece are color and shape. Shape in this piece
is more on the movement of the water running in the
background, Its shows a mess behind her and more
emphasis on the young girl pondering on something.
Auguste uses colors in two form here, the first being
contrast. He uses darker colors for the back and
paints the young girl pale and with light hair. This
contrast again shows how important she is to the
piece more then anything. The second form of color
is his choice of colors. Tetradic color scheme was
chosen in this piece to better suit how he wanted
contrast the back and fore ground.
The principles of design in this piece are
movement and focus. Movement in this piece can be

seen in the background from what I appear to believe

is water dripping down. Using this movement it leads
us into the next principle which is focus; focus in this
piece is on the young girl and while the background
moves with the water she appears to be still as if
time has stopped for her in this bath finally giving
her a moment of peace.
The Flatiron by
Edward J. Steichen is
the final piece we are
analyzing. It was
created in 1904 in the
modern art era. This a
gum bichromate over a
platinum print and its
dimension are 47.8 by
38.4 cm. This photo
depicts a building in
New York City
sometime during the
night.
The two formal
elements in this photo are color and space. The color
value in this photo created a deep sense of depth
and and its illusion of light portrays what time of day
it is. The three dimensional space in here shows how
little we are compared to this massive new building
in new york. The photo is taken pointed upward to
capture this building massive size.
The two main principle of design in this photo
are variety and proportions. Variety in this photo
happens from the bottom to the top. At the bottom of
the photo you can see the a newly awaken city just

beginning to starts or end its day and as you start

viewing higher and higher up the photo you can see
how massive this growing city is becoming and there
is so much more to become as it get less and les
active the more up on the photo you look. The
second design principle, proportions can be seen but
the fore and background in this photo. In the
background you can see the emphasized subject. the
building; and foreground the just waking or ending of
the city which seprated can from its own photo but
together makes an amazing piece showing depth and
a lot of emotion depending on how you look at it.

Bibliography
Gros, J.-B.-l. (1850). Jean-Baptise-louis Gros The Salon of Baron Gros.
Retrieved 09 13, 2016, from Met Museum:
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/291739
Renoir, A. (1892). Auguste renoir young girl bathing. Retrieved
september 12, 2016, from Met Musuem:
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459110
Steichen, E. J. (1904). edward j steichen the flatiron. Retrieved
september 12, 2016, from met museum:
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/267838