Universal Principles of Art

27 DISTORTION

BENDING, TWISTING, STRETCHING, AND PULLING

Distorting a form, a figure, or a face is one of the most dramatic and powerful statements an artist can make. Many approaches are possible.

• Facial distortion

In much tribal art, images of the human head are subject to gross distortions. Eyes are often fantastically large, while teeth or noses may be prominent or nonexistent. The effect can be deeply disturbing, even frightening. Modern Western caricaturists routinely distort the head, exaggerating features of public figures as a form of humor.

• Figural distortion

Byzantine artists routinely elongated figures, particularly on the walls of churches, to create a sense of presence. The Cretan artist El Greco (1541–1614), borrowed from this ...