Scale/Proportion

Art Concept: Scale/Proportion. Scale is how we measure the relationship of a created object to the original (like a house plan or model trains). When we look at a map in a book and it shows how many miles are in an inch, that is the scale of the map.

Proportion is the relationship of parts of a single object to the whole (like a person's hand in relationship to his/her head). These two terms are often used interchangeably.

In order to get your attention, artists sometimes make something unusually big or unusually small. They are trying to get you to look at that thing differently or to ask questions about the object they have changed. Sometimes they do this to one object in the image they create and we would call that 'out of proportion' (The Listening Room, Magritte (France) 1952). If the whole image or object has been changed we would talk about the scale (1:12 miniatures or model trains).

Look at the examples of art below and note the size of each work of art and how the surroundings effect our perception of its scale and proportion.

Sample Projects:

Snowy Winter Landscape (1st Grade Art Lesson)
Make some miniatures out of Fimo or Air Dry Clay (such as food, people, flowers– anything that is normally much bigger). This could be tied into math by measuring an object and them purposely making it some percentage smaller or ½ size.
Make a HUGE class painting together. Tape together rolls of butcher paper to create a huge canvas (10’ x10’ or more). You could either do something abstract like a Jackson Pollock, or draw out a painting beforehand, like a painting such as Miro’s Blue II (Complementary Colors) that is huge in real life. Put it up and talk about the impact of it versus a small slide.
Paint small paintings in small frames.
Have each student bring in the box of a small product (like a pudding box). Using a grid, have them enlarge the design to 2x or 3x (recommended for 4th or 5th Graders; younger students could try the same thing with a more simple shape such as a heart).

Sphinx in Egypt,2530bc. It is simply HUGE.

Turkish Sword, 1525. Small object with even tinier decoration makes the decoration seem fantastic.

The Colossus or Panic, Goya, 1810. Shows how huge the monster is compared to tiny people and animals.

Wilt Chamberlin Willie Shoemaker, Annie Liebowitz, 1980s. A tiny man and a huge man.

Emperor Napoleon and Eugenie in Alps, Bisson Freres, 1860. People seem so tiny when compared to the huge alps.

Lake Tana, Ethiopia 20thc. These heads look odd because they are out of proportion to the rest of the body. The bodies are too big for the boats. Did the artist care about proportion? Is it okay not to care sometimes?

Falling Water, Frank Lloyd Wright, 1937. The house is in proportion with its surroundings.

Heavenly Guardian Spirit Road of Shenzongemp (China), 1085. 4m tall. Although you can’t tell from this picture, this is HUGE. Why would it be made huge instead of life size?

Illian Liberman (American), 1974. Students may have seen a sister work at the Pacific Science center like this. How big is it? Would it be as fun if it were small?

St. Nicolai in Hamburg, Martin Gensler (Berlin), 1871. The artist shows how big this is by showing how small the people are. Did you even notice the people?

The Knife Ship from Il Corso del Coltello, Coosje van Bruggen, Frank O’Gehry and Claus Oldenburg at Guggenheim, 1985. This huge pocket knife looks even larger because it is in a small space. Why did the artist put oars on it?

Satellite Picture of Korea, 1955 Life Magazine. This shows something we think of as big in a small picture. Does that change how we look at our world?

Under the Birches Rousseau (France), 1842. Once again, the bigness of the trees emphasized by the small people.

Gustrow War Memorial (Cologne), Barlach, 1927. Why did the artist “float” a huge stone? This is more about scale of weight than of size. Does stone usually do that?

Pharaoh Taharka and Falcoln God Heman (Egypt), 680bc. Which is usually bigger, a bird or a person. Does it help to know that the Egyptians thought of the falcon as a god?

Walking with a Staff, Shen Zhou (China), 15thc. Tiny people, big landscape.

The Listening Room, Magritte (France), 1952. Do you think this is a big apple or a small room?

Voice, Shigera Yoshida (Japan), 1991. Big tree, small person.

Faberge Egg (Russia), 1914. Tiny detail on small object makes this more fantastic than it would be if it were larger.

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