The Bates College Musuem of Art presents

Tools of the Trade:

Lines

Lines are the most basic element of most visual artworks, be it painting, drawing, etching, etc. They can be short and choppy, long, graceful (organic), straight (geometric), “fast” or “slow, ”. Sentences are like lines, as they are the most basic element at a writer’s disposal. How can they be used to similar effect? Like an artist’s lines, they can be short: “Go!”, choppy: “I like art.”, long: “Like a nightmare corkscrew, the dragon coiled itself menacingly as fumes spouted from its nostrils, poisoning the air with fear.”, and so on.

As always, start by looking carefully at the picture, letting your eye roam about. Make a list of things you see in the picture. Then turn them into sentences that describe this print (Metamorphosen des Ovid, no. 2).

The artist made the entire picture with only lines. Here is a closer look.

As you remember, words are grouped into sentences. Sentences can be thought of as lines. By adding words to your initial list, build sentences based on observation of this print. You might try to make some of your sentences, or lines, follow how the artist has used them. For instance, sentences about the dragon might be long, slow, and curvy.

This woodcut by Kuniyoshi is also of a dragon. How did he use lines differently than Goltzius? Compare the two pictures.

What about this drypoint by Pablo Picasso, also made only of lines?

Are the lines similar to those in the engraving by Goltzius and Kuniyoshi? How are they different? If you were writing about this picture and wanted your sentences (which are like lines) to resemble the kinds of lines Picasso used, what sort of sentences should they be? Abrupt? Graceful? Playful? Harsh? Short? Long?