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Application of the Techniques of Traditional and Modern Fine Arts In Ŕ periodica polytechnica Application of the techniques of Architecture traditional and modern fine arts in the 39/2 (2008) 59–66 doi: 10.3311/pp.ar.2008-2.03 architectural graphics web: http://www.pp.bme.hu/ar c Periodica Polytechnica 2008 Gábor Nemes RESEARCH ARTICLE Received 2008-06-20 Abstract Motto: "The drawing, named also as art of the draft, is the The fundamental devices of the artistic representation. Possi- essence of the painting, sculpture and architecture." bilities of light / tone handling: xylographs, chiaroscuro, low (Michelangelo) tone differences, impressionistic tone handling. The use of In the architect there always was and will be acclaim for the colours in architectural graphics: emotional suggestivity, space creation of plan graphics, presentations of independent value suggestive role of the colours. having aesthetic value, in addition to the technical plan docu- Pen/ink techniques: line drawings, brush and wash technique. mentation with its individual way of expression, characteristic The coloured drawings. Aquarelle. Pastel techniques. Coloured to the architect and his architectural style. Plan graphics bearing prints. Abstract plan compositions – the collage. Relation of the mark of the personality and unrepeatable individuality are architectural representation to modern abstract art. expressing, beyond the technical content, already in the presen- tation projected into the plane, something about the spirituality Keywords of the planned building. Drawings act at the spiritual and also at architectural graphics pen aquarelle pastel collage · · · · an emotional level on the viewer, bringing the spectator nearer to acceptance of the architectural conception. If this striving is successful, then it can be safely stated that the design and sight plans may become equal associates to the artistic graphics by meeting the modern aesthetic criterion of projecting beyond it- self. Architectural graphics education just aims to familiarize and drill the students with the techniques and procedures which may promote the establishment of their independent graphic ap- proach, choosing the one best suited to their architectural style i.e. their "messages" and individual habitudes. It does not re- quire any special explanation that a faculty where education of the visual, aesthetic aspects of architecture is considered as the main profile, has to provide help to the architects to be, in shap- ing of their own graphic language, introducing and so to say offering the possible – existing – procedures so that the students then become able to start in the way most attractive for them, leading to the creation of graphics of artistic value. Another im- portant goal of the education of this orientation is to increase the visual culture of the students – not feasible so efficiently by any other way– and to excite their interest for a more thorough cognition of the attendant arts. The 20thcentury provided magnificent preliminaries for those dealing with architectural drawings of a graphic nature, here il- Gábor Nemes lustrated by a few examples: Department of Design, BME, H–1111 Budapest M˝uegyetem rkp. 3., Hungary Between the graphical and architectural graphical activities e-mail: [email protected] of Károly Kós, the great master of the secession opening the Application of the techniques of traditional and modern fine arts in the architectural graphics 2008 39 2 59 century, the boundaries are blurred; his tinted drawings recalling effect to the picture. Its essence is the concentration of the light the superb, dramatic sombreness of the xylographs remind us of on the image surface, which is suitable for the establishing of the creator essential in the wide sphere of visuality. dramatic, sometimes mystic effects, capturing the viewer, mak- Pioneers of modernism, the De Stijl or the Bauhaus pro- ing it to part of the theme, and leading to the world of the com- claimed the unity of the visual arts and simultaneously formu- position. Users of this technique improved their skills by paint- lated the demand for fine-art determined architecture and archi- ing often in candlelight, whose illumination brings the object to tectural presentation of artistic rank, they created graphics ex- an entirely new tonal position, helping in the selection of the actly expressing the world of thought of the buildings. essential elements. The chiaroscuro effect can be observed on The contemporary Hungarian architectural graphics may also the creations illustrated. The drawings of high tonal difference attribute essential life-works as its own;1 in the thought-concise feature dynamic and powerful effects. drafts of György Jánossy, sensitive drawings of György Vadász, inspired presentations of Imre Makovecz or just in the impres- sionalistically fresh aquarelles of lyrical intonation of Dr. István Balogh former Professor and Head of the Department of Design the borders are equally blurred between the artistic creations of sight plan initiation and those "pour l’art". In a certain sense, architects of the present day have a more difficult task as compared to their historical predecessors since none of the architectural trends – likewise none of the fine-art trends – expresses entirely unambiguously the aesthetic stan- dards. The various conceptual and visual worlds live in parallel equality naturally liberating the creative imagination but failing to give an exact basis for selection of the graphic representation adequate to the architectural thought. Only a thorough knowl- edge of the techniques and the modes of expression may help, as in Ariadne’s yarn, it requires an orientation in the labyrinth of possibilities to find the Holy Grail of the authentic graphic expression at an artistic level, equal to that of its predecessors. After this preamble, let us look at the devices and techniques concerned and familiarize ourselves with their details. The fundamental devices of the artistic representation are: the line, the light tone and the colour.2 In case of black-and-white representation the line and the tone Fig. 1. Info building, student work (E. Szobota) are devices of artistic expression but at the same time the tone is In case of drawings created with balanced tone conditions – also one of the fundamental elements of the colourful represen- where there is a great distance between the light and dark tones tation and thus it is natural that the tone – light-shadow values – but the composition is amended by rich intermediate tonal val- have a distinguished role in the representation. ues – rational, elegant but slightly dull graphics are obtained. The "pale" compositions of low tonal difference can be inter- 1 Possibilities for handling light / tone esting, where just the lack of the tonal dynamism awakens the The drawing can be imagined with application of only black viewer’s interest and the value of these creations is given instead and white tones: this recalls the world of the xylographs. Here of the impetus, by fine aesthetic, lyrical or dramatic "emptiness". the black and white are not devices of the spatial expression, Naturally in this "tonal greyness" many finely tuned tonal val- but they have a decorative role and function, acting on the emo- ues participate and each picture element of striking lightness tions. By this means it is an artistic procedure suitable for the or darkness may have an especially high accent. If the tonal creation of expressive and elegant graphics of intense messages value of the picture is darker, then a picture of more gloomy and and decorative appearance. dramatic effect is obtained whilst if the tone is lighter, then the Another peculiar possibility of the powerful light and tone effect is naturally more cheerful and facile but the lack of the handling is the chiaroscuro technique, giving a mysterious light contrast remains in both cases sensible and makes the viewer an 1 Researching contemporary Hungarian architectural graphics is the special- emotional part of the image world, which is an essential tool for ist field of the author’s PhD research. the creator – let the composition be of fine art or architectural 2The author naturally does not forget the fundemental importance of the graphical incentive – in the transfer of the message. In poor composition, but the teaching of this is an important point of origin for all sub- jects of the architects’ education correlating with the design and visuality. light contrast, the dominating effects can be readily observed in 60 Per. Pol. Arch. Gábor Nemes the illustrated examples, where in one of the pictures there is a spatial conditions. complete lack of the light, whilst in the other the light floods Conscious usage of the emotional suggestivity of the colours everything. is also an important factor of the graphical composition. Here it is worth citing Goethe who in his colour theorem writes the following about the emotional effects of the colours: “Yellow: this colour is nearest to the light and it features a certain kind of sunny, cheerful and slightly stimulating property; the warmth and pleasure of the eyes can be attributed to the rubescent yel- low; the red equally exerts the impression of earnestness and dignity as that of charm and grace. Lilac: features a certain vivacity without being jolly, more perturbing than exhilarating. The blue stimulates the feeling of cold, likewise it resembles the shadows. In its sight somehow the contradiction of the stimulus and the tranquillity is combined. Green: our eyes find a realistic satisfaction in this colour. Accordingly, to achieve the requested emotional effect one Fig. 2. Info building, student work (A. Hajas) may choose the basic colour mood of the graphics, then the fur- ther colours present in the composition and their superficial pro- A similarly important possibility of handling the image’s light portions can be selected to suit them”. – opposite to the chiaroscuro – is the creation of vibrating – And now, let us examine the various graphic techniques and impressionistic – light effects that magically transforms the im- the peculiarities of the visual effects that can be achieved with age and its theme, both facile and playful, causing the viewer them.
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