Jurate Macnoriute
A Criterion of Stylish Picture

Let us begin this research from comparison of that what evidently is not stylish with what is generally recognized as stylish. First of all let us elucidate that really is not stylish.

 

From the standpoint of linguistics J.Borev characterized style, as informative and expressive structure of language distinguished itself with declension from "neutral or zero style" (Borev J., Nature of Style and Stylistic Analysis, Moscow, 1980, in Russian).

 

In case of painting we can consider that "zero style" is natural world. We can notice photograph’s declension from the natural world. Only plane visual features of the natural world are visible in photograph, features which find expression through other organs of sense are absent. But photograph is not stylish if form’s community and harmony is not in it. Photograph of inferior quality being not similar to the natural world is not stylish too for the same reason. Stylish image is not any declension from "neutral style", but it is particular declension.

 

The only law prevailing among these things is the law of Earth gravitation. Thus I constructed for this photograph proportional grid starting from line AB that passes the lower part of the cat's belly, tail, and dividing the height of the photograph into parts 0.44 and 0.56. The grid does not relate other parts of this cat, the second cat, the doors, or wall. Among small details we can find one or another coincidence, but this does not change the essence of the matter. On the contrary should there be no occasional coincidences one would think that total non-coincidence is regular, and thus it would reveal an existence of certain order. The utterance that an exception proves the rule fits for our case.

 

Fig. 1.

 

In that way we can guess that the majority of pictures are somewhere in scale between masterpieces with perfectly coherent details and "rubbish". Thus proportional grids can serve as a criterion of coherent artistic value of works of art. It serves as a criterion of stylish art work too.

 

If we remember conception of general rhythmical tune which we gave in previous article (go to the article) and if we will continue to think as above, we have to acknowledge that in different stylistic classemes existence of general rhythmical tune is also a criterion of stylish art work.


 

 

Go to my other articles in archives

 

Copyright © 2000-2001, Jurate Macnoriute

THE SECRETS OF PERFECTION