Radiating Lines
Compositions organised by lines or stripes that burst outward from one or more central points.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
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About
Radiating lines draw the eye to a centre and push energy outward at the same time. Religious art used them for divine light: Baroque artists surrounded the Virgin or the dove of the Holy Spirit with gilded rays, as in Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Cathedra Petri (1657–66) in St Peter's, Rome. The sunburst later became a favourite motif of Art Deco doors, gates and radios, and of mid-century mirrors and clocks.
Modern artists made radiance abstract. Mikhail Larionov and Natalia Goncharova launched Rayonism in Moscow around 1913, breaking scenes into shafts of coloured rays, and Giacomo Balla painted streaming light and speed. Since the early 2000s Mark Grotjahn has painted 'butterfly' compositions in which coloured bands fan out from vanishing points. Look for where the lines converge and whether that centre is empty or occupied.
Related artists
More in Visual Qualities
Raw versus Finished
Rough
Scattered Composition
Single Object
Slender
Smooth Surface
Sparse
Stained Glass Effect
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Striped
Symmetrical
Tangled Forms
Viscous Forms
Wrapped
Abstract Illusionism
Allover Composition
Angular
Asymmetrical
Balance
Biomorphic
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