Formal Theme- The Circle
The piece I chose to analyze for the formal theme was Circles in a Circle by Vassily Kandinsky. This painting on oil canvas created in 1924 and is currently located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In this work, a thick black circle surrounds twenty-six overlapping circles of varying sizes and colors, many of them intersected by straight black lines. Kandinsky began a thoughtful study of the circle as an artistic unit starting from this painting. It was one of his first pieces that brings the themes of circles to the foreground. The outer black circle acts as a frame for a picture and encourages us to focus on the circles on the inside and the interactions between each one. Also, the two intersecting diagonal stripes enhance the effect, adding a perspective to the composition. By using a variety of color and shapes, it signifies emotions. The piece shows that …show more content…
The memorial built in 1922 is a significant piece of architecture created which encompasses the use of the structural theme and columns. The architect was Henry Bacon; the designer of the primary statue was Daniel Chester French; the Lincoln statue was carved by the Piccirilli Brothers; and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. The memorial is surrounded by 38 fluted Doric columns, one for each of the 36 states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. When you walk up the steps, two additional columns are located at the entrance behind the colonnade. The columns, like the exterior walls and facades, are inclined slightly inward. This is to compensate for perspective distortions which would otherwise make the memorial appear asymmetrical. The style is that of a Greek Doric temple. The Greeks believed that these columns expressed masculine qualities and by instituting these columns into the design it emphasizes the masculine quality of Abraham Lincoln, whom it was created to