The concept of composition in art. Tasks for independent work

COMPOSITION - construction. There is an external composition. So, narrative works are divided into chapters (in a lyric-epic poem they can be small: “Mtsyri” by Lermontov; large chapters of A.N. Tolstoy’s novel “Peter the Great” are divided into sub-chapters), parts (“songs” in pre-romantic and partly romantic poem), volumes, “books”.

Dramatic works consist of acts (actions), pictures (scenes), and phenomena. The theorists of the Renaissance tried to make five acts the norm - this norm was consolidated by the classicists - and established that the first of them corresponds to the exposition, i.e. introduction to the setting of the depicted action, introduction to the characters, the second - the development of intrigue, the third - the climax (the pinnacle of the plot, the most tense place in it), the fourth prepared the denouement that took place in the fifth act (in figuratively“fifth act” - tragic ending, Pechorin writes in his journal: “Since I have been living and acting, fate has somehow always led me to the outcome of other people’s dramas, as if without me no one could die or despair! I was the necessary face of the fifth act; I unwittingly played the pathetic role of an executioner or a traitor.” This is no longer an external composition, these are components of the plot. Among them, it is necessary to mention the beginning - the beginning of the conflict and the development of the action (then there is a chain of episodes).

The same components of the plot are seen by literary scholars in the epic - a narrative type of literature. But in drama, classic rules were not strictly observed. The classicists themselves, for example Moliere, had three-act plays. Russian playwrights of the 19th-20th centuries. often preferred the four-act structure of plays (“Woe from Wit” by Griboyedov, “Dowry” by Ostrovsky, “ The Cherry Orchard” Chekhov, “At the Depth” by Gorky, “Days of the Turbins” by Bulgakov). The climax very often coincides or almost coincides with the denouement, but there are also several climaxes, especially in large epic works, but different storylines each has its own ending. Chekhov in late creativity completely dispenses with resolutions; before it there was no single resolution in such a grandiose work as “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy. In dramaturgy, “the denouement does not always coincide with the ending. As a closing moment, special “final speeches” are usually introduced...” In literature, in addition to them, as well as the speeches of the characters, it is necessary to highlight anger, a less “visual” than narration, a generalized story. In historically early prose, exposition often outweighs narration. Stendhal and Pushkin still very often resort to it in prose, but soon this manner began to seem archaic. In Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” there is both a presentation (for example, a summary story about the Battle of Tarutino in the second half of Chapter VI of the second part of the fourth volume) and reasoning, but the basis of the text of the epic novel is a “visual” narrative. Pushkin widely used exposition not only in prose, but also in poetry, where it can be quite figurative. The first chapter of “Eugene Onegin” is, first of all, a presentation of the usual recurring, although presented as if by isolated examples, events in the life of the young hero in St. Petersburg. The narrative itself is very variable. In the plot, the existence of characters and events are considered continuous, but in the narrative, when the text is more or less voluminous, these are “discrete components”, interrupted by other events with other characters. It is up to the author to return to them more often or less often, to talk about them in detail or briefly. This is one of the signs of distinguishing between plot and plot (see: Plot).

The recurring element of narration, description, lyrical outpouring, or speech of characters is called a motif. “The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as a leitmotif.” Repeated individual parts, portrait features of characters, landscape and other descriptions, some episodes. The framing of the plot with the motivation of the story (Maksim Maksimych, recalling the story of Pechorin and Bela, the postmaster who decided that Chichikov is Captain Kopeikin, Sholokhov's Andrei Sokolov with his unusual and difficult fate) refers to the figurative world, the semantics of the text. This framing communicates one-time events. However, framing also occurs narrative device. M. Gorky loved to decorate the beginnings and endings of his small works landscape. “Old Woman Izergil” is framed by landscapes as a whole, framed by legends included in the story. The shadows and sparks visible in the steppe become the reason for the transition to both legends. These are the elements general plot. And the landscape surrounding the narrator and his old interlocutor, although changing, is still in artistic reality the same. The frequency of reference to it is an element not only of the plot, but also of the narrative. It was impossible to describe it endlessly; the author does this as many times as he needs to realize his artistic goals. Bunin twice, in the beginning and ending of “The Gentleman from San Francisco,” talks about a hired “loving” couple dancing during ship voyages. She is hired and dances constantly, therefore, while reproducing reality as “in reality”, it would have to be shown constantly. For a writer, two times are enough to make it clear: he means not two times, but a lot.

Another narrative device is artistic foreshadowing. This is Grinev’s dream, which he considers prophetic, about a bearded man with an ax who wants to bless him as a planted father (according to his mother) among the bloodied dead bodies. Without the help of the cheerful murderer Pugachev, the happy union of Grinev and Masha really would not have taken place. On the one hand, this is an element of the plot, on the other, it is a way of preparing the reader for what he does not yet know and what Grinev himself did not know when he saw such an unusual dream, a “half-opened” future that intrigues the reader. After all, Grinev the narrator has not yet explained what was prophetic in this dream: the novel is only at the second chapter - “Counselor”, title “ Captain's daughter” does not in any way hint that the counselor will turn out to be Pugachev and that he will be discussed at all. Artistic preview- this is both a reticence and an “under-silence.” It can only be confirmed on an emotional level, but on a plot level it can be deceptive. Gorky's "Icebreaker" talks about pine branches that stuck out in the fragile spring ice rivers, “denoting roads, holes and cracks in the ice; they rose up like the arms of a drowning man, broken by convulsions.” This comparison increases the tension of the further narrative, however, all the characters cross the moving river, although falling through, but in the end safely.

The perspective in which certain elements of the figurative world are presented to the reader is called a point of view, and this means not only what can potentially be seen (the reader can “visually” imagine). Various researchers distinguish spatial, temporal (or spatio-temporal), direct and indirect evaluative, phraseological, psychological (in terms of subjectivity or objectivity of description) “point of view”. They are possessed by both the author and the narrator and at least some of the characters. Most often, the reader of a work “sees the world” together with the main, mostly positive, hero, but a wide variety of options are possible. Until the ninth chapter of “Dead Souls” the action takes place in the places where Chichikov is located, in the ninth and most of the tenth chapters there is no Chichikov: he and his secret plans only become the subject of discussion and guesswork of ladies and officials provincial town. The author seems to know about as much as certain characters. IN " Sunstroke“Bunin, it would seem that everything that happened is given in the perception of the lieutenant, and the author does not even tell his name (as well as the names of the main characters in “The Gentleman from San Francisco” and “ Clean Monday"), but in fact, of course, the author is omniscient, knows everything that the hero did, thought, felt and said, just as he knew the thoughts and feelings of the nameless gentleman from San Francisco or his daughter. It goes beyond the time frame of the plot, the given time horizon of the hero (lieutenant) and the heroine, who parted with him forever after their only night together: “... both were so frantically suffocated in the kiss that they remembered this moment for many years later: they had never experienced anything like this in all my life neither one nor the other.” In “The Gentleman of San Francisco,” two Abruzzese highlanders stop at the statue of Our Lady in the grotto. “Both bare their heads - and naive and humbly joyful praises poured out to the sun, to the morning, to her, the immaculate intercessor of all those suffering in this evil and wonderful world...” This author’s phrase expresses not only the evaluative position of the mountaineers (“humbly joyful praise” to such and such) and partly the phraseology familiar to them (“immaculate intercessor”), but also the author’s own, which does not coincide with them evaluative position and phraseology: praises are “naive”, “in this evil and wonderful world” - too refined an oxymoron (see: Antithesis) for people who are simple, naive and in this moment not thinking about evil at all.

Evaluative “points of view” may sometimes coincide between the author and several very different and not even necessarily close characters to the author. Thus, Gogol’s recently living peasants are assessed very positively, even with admiration, by the seller Sobakevich, the buyer Chichikov, reflecting on the list of his dead souls, and chairman civil chamber Ivan Grigorievich. At the level of narrative organization, their evaluative points of view and the author’s are identical, no matter how different the author’s overall attitude towards people like this and to myself.

The evaluative point of view is most often expressed in appropriate phraseological terms, but not necessarily. In “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by A.I. Solzhenitsyn, the narrator does not seem to go beyond Shukhov’s horizons; the camp appears as he perceives it: both in space and in time (while the hero is working, time is running very quickly, in general “how many times did Shukhov notice: the days in the camp are rolling by - you won’t look back. But the term itself doesn’t go by at all, it doesn’t decrease at all”), both in evaluative terms (attitude towards the authorities, certain camp inmates), and in phraseological terms (the speech in the story is approximately what the speech of this former peasant, former soldier should be and a prisoner with considerable experience). But Shukhov is not a narrator. The text contains the intelligentsia speech of Caesar Markovich, and the wiry old man arguing with him about Eisenstein, and the command speech of captain Buinovsky, and the Ukrainian accent, and the peculiarities of the speech of prisoners from the Baltic states. Shukhov could not have reproduced all this. He realizes that in the medical unit, “paramedic” Kolya Vdovushkin was doing “left” work - “he wrote in even, even lines and each line, stepping back from the edge, carefully began one by one with capital letters" Phraseology is Shukhov’s, but “leftist” work former student Faculty of Literature - writing poetry - remains, as the author directly says, “incomprehensible to Shukhov.” When does the captain declare that by decree Soviet power“The sun stands highest at the hour,” the uneducated Ivan Denisovich is amazed (outwardly this is framed as the author’s, and not the character’s internal speech): “Is it really possible that the sun obeys their decrees?” Here the hero’s thought is presented with slight irony, and this, of course, is the author’s evaluative point of view.

In dramaturgy, such a play with points of view is impossible; all actions and words are perceived by the reader (viewer) objectively, from the outside. Ho to composition in the sense of organization dramatic action refers, as in an epic narrative, to a quick change of places in which events unfold (in an epic this change is generally instantaneous, but in the theater a change of scenery or some kind of symbol), temporary “gaps” between actions (in “Days of the Turbins” the first three acts cover a short time, the fourth opens with the remark “In two months”), sometimes compression of time when the duration stage action conventionally given as a slightly longer period of time (in the same Bulgakov play, at dinner in the second scene of the first act, not only the teetotal Lariosik, who even managed to sleep, but also the highly experienced Myshlaevsky quickly got drunk; in “The Bedbug”

V.V. Mayakovsky after the guy exclaimed: “Zoya Berezkina shot herself!” - and just a few more remarks the cleaner and the doctor come running).

A change of points of view, sometimes abrupt, is possible in lyrics endowed with narrative features. Especially illustrative example- “Night” B.L. Pasternak.

Composition is the most important structural principle of a work, organizing mutual arrangement its parts, their subordination relative to each other and the whole, which gives the work unity, integrity and completeness. The patterns underlying the composition are determined general laws art, style standards. Composition is the most important element of style, containing its main features.

In its original meaning, the term “composition” had broad meaning: in Roman law it meant the reconciliation of parties in litigation; when wrestlers compete in the circus arena - their confrontation. But despite various interpretations this concept, they have something in common, since we're talking about about two sides, parts that form a unity when they are connected.

IN modern understanding composition is a construction work of art, determined by the specifics of the art form, the content, purpose of the work and the artist’s intention.

In any form of art, compositional skill is the basis creative process, in which the unity and integrity of the form of a work of art is determined by its content.

Textile design, design and modeling of modern costumes belong to the field artistic creativity, therefore, the importance of composition in this work is quite great.

In various historical eras there were compositional patterns. The ancient Greeks used rhythmic structures in the architecture of temples and sculptural reliefs. For ornaments medieval Europe characterized by rhythmic repetitions of complex plastic motifs.

During the Renaissance, the composition of the painting was based on laws visual perception and prospects. In their works, artists achieved the illusion of diverse space, the relationship of parts and the whole, as well as the transmission of dynamics in the composition.

In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Special attention is given theoretical foundations compositions. So, French artist Eugene Delacroix, analyzing the work of his contemporaries, noted an important compositional principle - the subordination of minor details to the main one. In the 20th century all theoretical principles of composition were studied by artists, architects, and art historians from different positions.

Thus, knowledge of the laws of composition lies at the basis of the artist’s creativity, being the means and result of creative thinking through which an artistic image is created in a work of art.

An artistic image is a way and form of reflecting reality in art, the result of artistic generalization, reality, comprehended by the artist and reflected from a certain point of view. For a more complete disclosure of the artistic image, knowledge of the laws of construction of a work of art is necessary.

Types of composition

Conventionally, three types of composition are distinguished: frontal, volumetric and deep-spatial. IN practical activities each type of composition can have various relationships. For example, in the composition spatial composition includes frontal and volumetric, and volumetric composition often consists of closed frontal surfaces, being at the same time part of the spatial environment.

A feature of the frontal composition is the distribution of form elements in one plane in two directions in relation to the viewer - vertical and horizontal (for example, panels, stands, paintings, fabrics, etc.). Such relief images as wood carvings, embossed panels, sculptural reliefs, built according to the laws of plasticity, also belong to the frontal composition. In planar compositions designed for perception with long distance, a significant role is played by striking color spots, rhythm, scale (mosaic, stained glass, wall painting, tapestry, etc.).

A volumetric composition is a closed three-dimensional form that is perceived from all sides (sculpture, works of decorative and applied art, costume, etc.). The main role here is played by the volumetric-spatial structure and tectonic patterns (proportionality of parts and the whole, weight, material, etc.). The expressiveness of a volumetric form also depends on its interaction with the environment.

The deep-spatial composition unites material elements, volumes, surfaces, spaces. It is designed for the viewer’s perception when moving into the depths of space in the interior and exterior. The feeling of depth is enhanced when the space is divided into a number of sequential plans (for example, various kinds of exhibitions, design of streets, squares, etc.).

Basic principles of composition

From the above it is clear that with a change historical conditions, aesthetic views, with the development of art itself, new composition systems and techniques. However, along with these changes there are persistent compositional principles, among which the main ones are the unity of form and content and the integrity of the composition.

The integrity of a composition is determined by its indivisibility, the mutual consistency of its elements and the presence of a compositional center.

The indivisibility of a composition means that the composition cannot be perceived as a totality, even to a small extent, independent parts. The basis of indivisibility is the finding of a constructive idea that can unite all the components of the composition into a whole.

From the point of view of the consistency of elements, a composition can be considered successful if the following conditions are met:

the impossibility of removing or replacing at least one part without damaging the whole;

interconnection and subordination of all parts, the impossibility of changing the places of parts;

no element can be added to the composition without violating the integrity.

An important element, expressing main idea composition, is the center of attention, or composition center.

The compositional center is an element or part of a work that stands out against the general background of the surrounding or adjacent parts. The compositional center carries all the semantic load. Its highlighting in the composition is associated with the peculiarity of human visual perception to fix attention primarily on a powerful stimulus. Contrasts of shapes, sizes, color spots, lighting effects etc. The compositional center does not always coincide with the geometric center of the work; it can be shifted up, down, right or left. However, no matter how the compositional center is located, its logical connection with other compositional elements must be traced in order to create a feeling of balance, fullness and completeness of the composition.

Thus, to create a truly harmonious work, it is necessary to find unity between the main and the secondary, between the whole and the parts.

Definition of composition

It is believed that he was the first to use the word “com-
position" in relation to the work of art
Italian scientist, early art theorist
him of the Renaissance, painter and architect Leon
Baggista Alberti (1404-1472), who believed that
composition is such a reasonable basis for living
scripture, thanks to which parts of visible things

1 See: School of Fine Arts: Vol. 1M.,
I960.- P. 5.

add up to a picture. In subsequent centuries,
and up to the present day, attempts to give exhaustive
The defining definition of the composition does not stop.
Here are some of them.

Composition is such a comparison of individual forms,
in which they are connected into a new whole of a higher order.

F. Schmit

Composition... in literature and fine arts
wah- construction of the product, ratio individual parts
(components) of a work that form a single whole.

Dictionary foreign words

All types of art... are characterized by the presence of such
the most important aspect of the artistic form as composition.

V. Vanslov

Composition - main form works of art.

N. Volkov

People's Artist USSR E. A. Kibrik in
1961 lamented that when at the Academy of Arts
composition programs were developed, not
managed to find acceptable for all formulations
ki, that there is a composition.

Production scientific definition term
“composition” significantly interferes with the assertion
various references to the practice of artists
consumption of this word. The composition is called
academic subject V art institute or
school. The composition is called thematic
painting, as opposed to portrait, landscape and still life
Morta. What made determining the composition even more difficult was
positions, the desire to combine understandings in one word
the unity of content and form of art
th works. In the composition program for
art and graphic faculties of pedagogy
technical institutes, you can read that in real
Currently, the concept of “composition” is considered
as a dialectical phenomenon in its essence, so
how it absorbed the structural organization
tion of the artistic image, and the system of ideological
thematic and formal plastic connections and
dependencies, and the most important patterns in
structure of a work of art, process
its creation and perception. These basic levels
the concepts of “composition” are also the main
boards for the formation of composition skills
no activity.

About the difficulties of finding the final definition
divisions of the term “composition” indicate
attempts by E.V. Shorokhov to give this definition in
textbook “Composition”, intended for students
dents of art and graphic faculties

pedagogical institutes. He writes: “...More
the full definition of "composition" would be
sound like this: “The composition of a work of art
body art is the main artistic
form of a work of fine art,
uniting all other forms, characteristic
forming as a whole with fixed, law-
measuredly connected with each other and with whole parts -
mi (elements), in which nothing can be re-
move or change, from which nothing can be done
take away and to which nothing can be added without
damage artistic image, this whole is found
existing in inextricable unity with meaning (idea
her, the content) of the work" ".

To the set of definitions of a concept
come every time not only in the visual
art, but also in other areas of culture, when
there is no clear understanding of the content of the concept. To
don’t get lost in the jungle of word creation, stop
relying on the academic definition of the concept
"composition".

Composition- this is the structure of the form of production
art, aimed at revealing the concept
la author. Composition (from Latin compositio - co-
placing, binding) - this is the construction of production
development of art, determined by its content,
nature and purpose and largely determines
his overall perception.

IN highest degree it is appropriate
familiarization with statements about composition from
famous Soviet artists and art theorists
places in which one can feel the pulse beat of time
nor, insight and the desire for truth. K. F. Yuon
notes that a thoughtful and completed com-
the position is considered as a figurative formula,
in which they are brought to the semantic and formal
to the unity of all parts of the picture. V. Vanslov says
rit that the patterns of composition are essential
differ in architecture and painting, music and
poetry. But composition as a plan and scheme is constructed
understanding of the work as correlation and organization
its sections, parts, characters and so on, like
the subordination of the whole and its elements is inherent
artistic form works of any kind
art. The composition is a complete whole
ness, determined by meaning works approved
N. Volkov is waiting.

1 Shorokhov E. V. Composition.-M., 1986.-P. 10-11.

We give a number of examples of the definition of the concept
tia composition expressed by artists and theo-
retics of art.

Artists know very well... that until a com-
position... it's useless to paint faces. No matter how strong they are
written, they mysteriously lose their power until
will find their place in the picture space, in the composition
nom row.

V. Lenyashin

I remember how he (B.N. Zuev) taught me that in
the composition must have an odd number of figures.
I remember this - there is something in this rule, at least that
It’s more natural to create an “indivisible” composition from odd
number of figures, since an even number breaks up more easily into equal
ny parts.

E. Kibrik

Composition is the creative organization of a painting. Neither in
In no case should it be mixed with the placement of objects
on canvas. At first glance it may seem that the landscape
depicting an empty sea below and a cloudless sea above
the sky is a painting that has no composition... In fact
in fact, the ratio of the size of the sky in length and width to the sea
there is already a composition. The tone of the sky and sea, the size of the whole picture -
all these are elements of composition.

N. Krymov

Composition is always a construction (color, linear
etc.), revealing semantic connections. Composition is everything
yes interpretation of the plot.

N. Volkov

Over time, you become convinced that the basis of all creativity is
The essence of the composition lies in the fact that everything begins and ends with it,
that it seems to focus all the components of the craft. She
may be elementary, or may be verified mathematically
logical logic, subordinated to the artist’s intuition. ...Composition
satisfies me when the figurative-semantic structure,
and decorative plastic tasks are in the organic
interaction.

V. Sidorov

Our time is the age of composition. If earlier she su-
society meant sketching, that is, working on a plot
paintings (involved the placement of figures and interior in
format of the painting), then now the meaning and understanding of the composition
has changed. It can be in still life and drawing, in
throw. This is not only the ratio of lines, silhouettes, colors -
these are mutual influences and internal connections of elements, person-
X<ей, линий, форм на основе стилевого единства, чувства цело-
ness.

S. Grigoriev

It's important to me when I start a new canvas, first of all
but feel the whole course of further work. In this process
When creating a thing, I consider composition to be the main thing for me. Without
her picture cannot exist, even when correctly found
color relationships and expressed state. Search for compositions
for me this means, first of all, internal organization
to call the canvas, to define its structural backbone, its foundation.

E. Bragovsky

The question of composition is the most difficult, key issue.
millet

B. Ioganson

..."Questions of composition" still remain only "questions"
millets." ...The right path to theoretical development has already been outlined
solving this complex issue; but a single glance at someone
there is still no position, there is no established teaching methodology
composition.

M. Etkind

Does not at all contribute to the flourishing of the thematic picture and
slowly improving composition teaching, especially
especially multi-figured, in our universities.

E. Kalinin

Number of examples of composition definitions, given
by artists and art theorists, one can
easy to continue. It still follows from them that
composition- this is the structure, the relationship of parts,
ensuring image integrity, direction
aimed at revealing the content, ideas produced
Denia.

Contents of the work of art
appears in the artist’s head as a plan; Sometimes
it is dictated by the customer, the competitive program
and so on, and the composition is created by the artist,
the form is being built. When unity of content arises
zhaniya and form, then a complete chain arises
brilliance - painting, sculpture, etching. Contents
The painting is being composed, the composition is being built.
In the end, it is a single whole. Work on the form
mine means working on content, and vice versa
mouth. The artist's logic is an essay; intuitive
its essence is the geometry of the canvas, rhythms, proportions,
relationship, because his eye and brain are unconscious
natural geometry, measurement. All knowledge
there is a sensory dimension.

It is believed that the first to use the word “composition” in relation to a work of art was the Italian scientist, early Renaissance art theorist, painter and architect Leon Baggista Alberti (1404 - 1472), who believed that composition is such a reasonable basis for painting, thanks to which parts of the visible things add up to a picture. In subsequent centuries, and up to the present day, attempts to give a comprehensive definition of composition do not stop. Here are some of them.

Composition is a comparison of individual forms in which they are linked into a new whole of a higher order. F. Schmit

Composition... in literature and the fine arts - the construction of a work, the relationship of individual parts (components) of a work that form a single whole. Dictionary of foreign words

All types of art... are characterized by the presence of such an important aspect of the artistic form as composition. V. Vanslov

Composition is the main form of a work of art. N. Volkov

People's Artist of the USSR E. A. Kibrik complained in 1961 that when composition programs were being developed at the Academy of Arts, it was not possible to find a formulation acceptable to everyone about what composition is.

The development of a scientific definition of the term “composition” is significantly hampered by the different uses of this word that have become established in the practice of artists. Composition is an academic subject at an art institute or school. Composition is called thematic picture, as opposed to portrait, landscape and still life. The definition of composition was further complicated by the desire to combine in one word the concepts of unity of content and form of a work of art. In the composition program for art and graphic faculties of pedagogical institutes, you can read that currently the concept of “composition” is considered as a dialectical phenomenon in its essence, since it has absorbed both the structural organization of the artistic image, and a system of ideological, thematic and formal plastic connections and dependencies, and the most important patterns in the construction of a work of art, the process of its creation and perception. These main levels of the concept of “composition” are also the main directions for the formation of skills in compositional activity.

The difficulties of finding a final definition of the term “composition” are evidenced by the attempts of E.V. Shorokhov to give this definition in the textbook “Composition”, intended for students of art and graphic faculties of pedagogical institutes. He writes: “...A more complete definition of the concept of “composition” will sound like this: “The composition of a work of fine art is the main artistic form of a work of fine art, uniting all other forms, characterized as a whole with fixed, naturally connected with each other and with whole parts (elements), in which nothing can be moved or changed, from which nothing can be taken away and to which nothing can be added without damaging the artistic image, this is a whole that is in inextricable unity with the meaning (idea, content) of the work" 1 .

Many definitions of a concept are arrived at every time, not only in fine arts, but also in other areas of culture, when there is no clear understanding of the content of the concept. In order not to get lost in the jungle of word creation, let’s dwell on the academic definition of the concept “composition”.

Composition is the structure of the form of a work of art, aimed at revealing the author's intention. Composition (from Latin compositio - composition, linking) is the construction of a work of art, determined by its content, character and purpose and largely determining its perception.

It is highly advisable to become familiar with statements about composition by famous Soviet artists and art theorists, in which one can feel the pulse of time, insight and the desire for truth. K. F. Yuon notes that a thoughtful and complete composition is considered as a figurative formula in which all parts of the picture are brought to semantic and formal unity. V. Vanslov says that the patterns of composition differ significantly in architecture and painting, music and poetry. But composition as a plan and scheme for constructing a work, as the relationship and organization of its sections, parts, characters, and so on, as the subordination of the whole and its elements, is inherent in the artistic form of a work of any kind of art. Composition is a complete integrity determined by the meaning of the work, says N. Volkov.

We give a number of examples on the definition of the concept of composition, expressed by artists and art theorists.

Artists know very well... that until a composition has been found... it is useless to paint faces. No matter how strongly they are written, they mysteriously lose their power until they find their place in the picture space, in the compositional series. V. Lenyashin

I remember how he (B.N. Zuev) taught me that there must be an odd number of figures in a composition. I remember this - there is something in this rule, at least that it is more natural to create an “indivisible” composition from an odd number of figures, since an even number is easier to split into equal parts. E. Kibrik

Composition is the creative organization of a painting. Under no circumstances should it be mixed with placing objects on the canvas. At first glance, it may seem that a landscape depicting an empty sea below and a cloudless sky above is a picture that does not have a composition... In fact, the ratio of the size of the sky in length and width to the sea is already a composition. The tone of the sky and sea, the size of the entire picture - all these are elements of the composition. N. Krymov

Composition is always a construction (color, linear, etc.) that reveals semantic connections. Composition is always an interpretation of the plot. N. Volkov

Over time, you become convinced that the basis of all creativity is composition, that everything begins and ends with it, that all the components of the craft are focused in it. It can be elementary, or it can be verified by mathematical logic, subordinated to the artist’s intuition. ...The composition satisfies me when both the figurative and semantic structure and the decorative and plastic tasks are in organic interaction. V. Sidorov

Our time is the age of composition. If earlier it essentially meant sketching, that is, working on the plot of a picture (it involved placing figures and interiors in the format of a picture), now the meaning and understanding of composition has changed. It can be in a still life and a drawing, in a sketch. This is not only the relationship of lines, silhouettes, colors - it is also mutual influences and internal connections of elements, characters, lines, forms based on stylistic unity, a sense of integrity. S. Grigoriev

It is important for me, when I start a new canvas, first of all to feel the whole course of further work. In this process of creating a thing, I consider composition to be the most important thing for me. Without it, the picture cannot exist, even when the color relationships are correctly found and the state is expressed. To look for a composition - for me this means, first of all, to internally organize the canvas, to determine its structural backbone, its basis. E. Bragovsky

The question of composition is the most difficult, key question. B. Ioganson

...“Questions of composition” still remain just “questions.” ...The right path to a theoretical solution to this complex issue has already been outlined; But there is still no single view on composition, and there is no established methodology for teaching composition. M. Etkind

The slowly improving teaching of composition, especially multi-figure composition, in our universities does not at all contribute to the flourishing of thematic painting. E. Kalinin

The number of examples of definitions of composition given by artists and art theorists can easily be continued. It still follows from them that composition is a structure, an interconnection of parts that ensures the integrity of the image, aimed at revealing the content and idea of ​​the work.

The content of a work of art appears in the artist’s head as a plan; sometimes it is dictated by the customer, the competition program, and so on, but the composition is created by the artist, the form is built. When the unity of content and form arises, then a complete integrity arises - a painting, a sculpture, an etching. The content of the picture is composed, the composition is built. In the end, it is a single whole. Working on form means working on content, and vice versa. The artist's logic is an essay; his intuition is the geometry of the canvas, rhythms, proportions, relationships, because his eye and brain are unconscious geometry, measurement. All knowledge is a sensory dimension.

1 Shorokhov E. V. Composition. - M., 1986. - P. 10-11.

lat. composito - composition, linking) - the construction of a work of art, determined by its content, nature and purpose and largely determining its perception.

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COMPOSITION

from lat. composito – composition, linking), construction of a work of art, organization, structure of the work’s form. The concept of “composition” is close in meaning to the concept of “structure of a work of art,” but the structure of a work means all its elements in their interrelation, including those related to the content (the plot roles of the characters, the correlation of the characters with each other, the author’s position, the system of motives , image of the movement of time, etc.). You can talk about the ideological or motivic structure of a work, but not about the ideological or motivic composition. In lyrical works, composition includes the sequence of lines and stanzas, the principle of rhyming (rhyme composition, stanza), sound repetitions and repetitions of expressions, lines or stanzas, contrasts (antitheses) between different poems or stanzas. In dramaturgy, the composition of a work consists of a sequence of scenes and acts, the remarks and monologues of the characters contained in them, and the author’s explanations (remarks). In narrative genres, composition is a depiction of events (plot) and extra-plot elements: descriptions of the setting of the action (landscape - descriptions of nature, interior - description of the decoration of the room); descriptions of the appearance of the characters (portrait), their inner world (internal monologues, indirect speech, generalized reproduction of thoughts, etc.), deviations from the plot narrative, which express the author’s thoughts and feelings about what is happening (the so-called author’s digressions) .

The plot, characteristic of dramatic and narrative genres, also has its own composition. Elements of plot composition: exposition (depiction of the situation in which the conflict arises, presentation of characters); the beginning (the origin of the conflict, the starting point of the plot), the development of the action, the climax (the moment of the highest aggravation of the conflict, the plot peak) and the denouement (the exhaustion of the conflict, the “end” of the plot). Some works also have an epilogue (a story about the subsequent fate of the heroes). Certain elements of the plot composition may be repeated. Thus, in the novel by A. S. Pushkin “The Captain’s Daughter” there are three culminating episodes (the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, Grinev at Pugachev’s headquarters in Berdskaya Sloboda, the meeting of Masha Mironova with Catherine II), and in the comedy by N. V. Gogol “The Inspector General” there are three endings (false outcome - Khlestakov's engagement to the mayor's daughter, the second outcome - the arrival of the postmaster with the news of who Khlestakov really is, the third outcome - the arrival of the gendarme with the news of the arrival of the true auditor).

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