In Chapter 5 you will learn how line is perhaps the most fundamental element of art, existing in every aspect of our visual environment. Line indicates the edge of two- and three-dimensional forms—the seemingly infinite number of shapes that make up our world.

After reading this chapter you should:

1. know some of the different types of lines including outline, contour line, hatched lines and cross-hatched lines, and recognize how these lines appear in our everyday environments.

2. understand how line can affect either the dynamic or static nature of a composition.

3. know the difference between actual lines and implied lines, and how each can play an important role in a work of art.

4. see how line can possess certain intellectual, emotional, and/or expressive qualities. The artist Pat Steir has created a series of pieces solely dedicated to the way in which some of her favorite artists have employed line. Her abstracted studies of Rembrandt's and van Gogh's lines demonstrate how line can add psychological depth to works of art.

5. know that line can also have analytical or "classical" qualities. By contrast to van Gogh, Sol LeWitt employs a line that is analytical—precise and controlled.

Chapter 5 explores the use of line through historic and contemporary works of art. What becomes clear in Chapter 5 is the importance of line. Line is the artist's most versatile tool—it can heighten a work of art's visual and expressive impact. The chapter ends with a discussion of cultural conventions (assumptions) about line. The author states, "Line carries a certain cultural burden, often reflecting questionable cultural values." Specifically, he's referring to the tradition of representing the male form with a controlled, logical or rational line, and the female form with expressive "less-logical/more emotional" line. Ingres’s giant Jupiter and Thetis serves as a textbook example of this convention. However, we can see how Robert Mapplethorpe challenged this convention with his photograph of Lisa Lyon (Fig. 121).

If you'd like to try your hand at an exercise using actual and implied line, check out the Projects button on this page.

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