1. LANDSCAPE painting
A“composition” is an arrangement of the formal and informal visual elements of art within a pictorial frame. The formal elements include shape, line, form, value, colour, texture, geometry and movement. The informal (or subjective) elements refer to emotion, expression, content, creative improvisation and response.
The long, and varied tradition of landscape painting in Western art is framed by two large approaches to composition. One is the idea of the land “perfected”. Arguably the oldest aesthetic tradition in landscape painting, this form of composition re-envisioned the chaos of the earth into a rational and managed visual form. These compositional strategies were taught in the studios and academies from the Renaissance until the 19th century as the rules that made art and, in particular, beautiful and harmonious landscapes.
The idea of painting nature as it actually appeared was shunned. Landscape studies done were thought of merely as preparatory works to be discarded. Composition in this ancient tradition incorporated the rules of ideal geometric and aerial perspectives, as well as
