2.4: Visual Elements of Art-Texture

Overview

The texture is the feeling of a surface, real or represented. This might refer to the roughness or smoothness of actual objects and art media, or to the illusion of these properties.

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Types of Texture

Texture can be classified into two types; Visual and Actual texture.

Visual Texture;

• The visual texture appears to be actual but is not. It is a surface illusion. It is like the representation of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface is an illusion
• Visual Texture can be created with different techniques such as frottage. Frottage is a Visual Texture.
• Frottage is a technique that involves rubbing a pencil, graphite, chalk, crayon, or another medium onto a sheet of paper that has been placed on top of a textured object or surface. The process causes the raised portions of the surface below to be translated to the sheet. The term is derived from the French frotter, which means “to rub.⁴

Mona Hatoum, Untitled (panhandled colander), Rubbing on wax paper, 2000 © 2022 Mona Hatoum

Gabriel Orizco, XRTC 4, 1996, Rubbed graphite on paper. © 2022 Gabriel Orozco

Actual Texture;

• The actual texture refers to the real surface quality of an artwork.
• Michelangelo’s Pieta at the Vatican, completed in 1499 when he was only 24, is a masterwork that reveals the artist's love for both his medium and his faith, and demonstrates the importance of texture as an element of art.
• Marble is one of the most tactile of all artistic mediums. Beyond the emotional content of this work, part of the power of this work derives from the stone’s extraordinary texture, from Michelangelo’s ability to make stone come to life.
• Artists often produce or suggest textures in order to convey or further the notion of reality.
• The skill with which Michelangelo carved the sculpture creates a work so realistic that the human forms appear to be warm and fleshy, rather than cold and of stone.
• It has been described as "sublime perfection." A sense of classical structure and harmony are dominant, and the marble exudes a softness that betrays its true nature.¹

Michelangel, Pietà - 1499-1500, Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome. "Michelangelo's Pieta" by Averain is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Read about Michelangelo's La Pieta, 15th Century by Google Arts & Culture.

• Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor’s (b. 1954) sculpture is polished stainless steel and shaped as a Bean-like form.
• The Bean is a work of public art in the heart of Chicago. The sculpture, which is officially titled Cloud Gate, is one of the world’s largest permanent outdoor art installations. The monumental work was unveiled in 2004 and quickly became of the Chicago’s most iconic sights. ⁵
• Viewers of Cloud Gate experience actual texture when they see and touch the work. The highly polished and organic form reflects the image of the city of Chicago. Kapoor wants the viewer to interact with the sleek sculpture. ^₁
• The Bean’s reflective surface was inspired by liquid mercury. This shiny exterior reflects the people moving around the park, the lights of Michigan Avenue, and the surrounding skyline and green space — perfectly encapsulating the Millennium Park experience. The polished surface also invites visitors to touch the surface and observe their own reflection, giving it an interactive quality. The reflection of the sky above the park, not to mention the curved underside of The Bean serves as an entrance that visitors can walk under to enter the park, inspired the sculpture’s creator to name the piece Cloud Gate. ⁵

Anish Kapoor, Cloud Gate, 2004. Stainless steel, 32'9" × 65'7" × 41'12". Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois. "Anish Kapoor's 'Cloud Gate,' Chicago, January 2008" by Conlawprof is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

• Another actual texture in art is paint applied in a thick, heavy manner. This type of textural effect is called impasto. You can see impasto in Robert Ryman's Untitled.
• Ryman’s subject matter is actually the brushstroke itself. And its relation to the ground or canvas in which he layers it.

Robert Ryman, Untitled, 1963. Courtesy Robert Ryman Archive, New York. Photo: Bill Jacobson. "[ R ] Robert Ryman - Untitled (1963)" by Cea. is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

• Impasto is an Italian word for “mixture,” used to describe a painting technique wherein paint is thickly laid on a surface so that brushstrokes or palette knife marks are visible. Impasto should be textured and exists to show off the brush and palette knife marks. ²
• In Van Gogh's Starry Night, a thick application of oil paint was used with no attempt to look smooth.
• Explore Vincent van Gogh. Explore Vincent van Gogh’s beloved painting in astonishing detail in this behind-the-scenes look at a new imaging tool. Kurt Heumiller, Jonathan Muzikar, Robert Kastler. Dec 1, 2020 ³

Vincent van Gogh, Starry Night, oil on canvas, 1889. "Van Gogh, Starry Night" by profzucker is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Detail of Starry Night. Screen shot Kurt Heumiller, Jonathan Muzikar, Robert Kastler

Summary

• Texture in art stimulates the senses of sight and touch and refers to the tactile quality of the surface of the art
• Texture is an important element of design because it engages the sense of touch as well as vision.
• In the context of the artwork, there are two types of texture: visual and actual. Visual texture refers to an implied sense of texture that the artist creates through the use of various artistic elements such as line, shading and color. Actual texture refers to the physical rendering or the real surface qualities we can notice by touching an object, such as paint application or three-dimensional art.
• Many artists such as Van Gogh, Robert Ryman, Anish Kapoor, Mona Hatoum, and Michelangelo employed texture in their artworks.

Sources

1. DeWitte, Debra J., Larmann, Ralph M., and Shields, M. Kathryn. Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Third Edition. 2018
2. Museum of Modern Art. Art Term. Impasto. www.moma.org/collection/terms/impasto
3. Museum of Modern Art. Starry Night in 3D. https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/462
4. Museum of Modern Art. Art Term. Frottage. www.moma.org/collection/terms/frottage
5. The Bean (Cloud Gate) in Chicago. https://www.choosechicago.com/articl...-bean-chicago/
6. Pamela Sachant, Peggy Blood, Jeffery LeMieux, & Rita Tekippe. University System of Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials