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Texture
by Allison Hawco

The term "Texture' comes from the Latin textura, from textus, meaning "to weave." Texture is the visual or tactile surface characteristics which may be described as smooth or rough, plain or decorated, matte or glossy, soft or hard. Texture is conveyed through the senses of sight and touch. If the object cannot be experienced tactilely as is the case in many images, then texture can be expressed by using visual clues.

According to the Studio in Art Foundations, there are several factors which produce visual textures:

1. Light and Stencil (Physical structure)
2. Reflection and Absorption (Surface polish)
3. Different Value Contrasts (Physically broken surface)
4. Differences in Opaqueness (Thickness and depths of translucency, or transparency materials)

There is texture in most everything we view around us. Just with a glance, we can conjure up exactly how something will feel if stroked.

This image of the floor at Jones Hall in the theatre district of Houston, shows both the smoothness and worn quality of the stone. It is evident that when you run your hand along its aged surface, it will feel cool, smooth and grainy.

This next picture of sand hints at the gritty fineness of sand beneath your feet and allows the observer to imagine how it would feel if one stepped into those ridges and ripples.

This closeup of an ice-cream cone clearly depicts the patterned criss-cross surface of the cone. It is easy to imagine the rough, scratchy feel in your hand.

Stone is probably one of the most visually textured images. This stone wall in particular portrays a sense of hardness and coarseness in the individual rocks and cracks.

This image is of a honeycomb. The edges look delicate, and at the same time, sharp and fine to the touch. You can imagine they might also feel somewhat sticky from honey. This surface would feel very patterned and uniform to the touch.

This bird's feathers look soft, fluid and fine. The filaments look delicate and smooth. Touching it would confirm the sleek quality of the feather.

This image of a wheat field appears scratchy and rough. It evokes a feeling of what it might be like to walk through the field with the grains grazing your legs.

The shingles on this house are weathered and old. They look rough at the edges but a combination of smooth and splintery on top.

This close-up shows the grains and swirls of the wood. It would feel grainy and knotted in places and hard and smooth in others. You could feel the edges of each layer of the wood by brushing your hand over its knobby surface.

This basket is made of a type of wicker. You can see the way the ribbons of straw overlap creating texture and dimension. The individual bands of straw feel lined but smooth. The entire surface has a pliant, woven feel.

Online Examples:

Throughout history texture has been used in many styles of art including Renaissance, Baroque, Mingue, Privitism, Impressionism, Cubism, Dada, Futurism and Pop Art.

I have chosen two works of art from the Impressionist age. This style of painting is characterized chiefly by concentration on the general impression produced by a scene or object and the use of unmixed primary colors and small strokes to simulate actual reflected light. Impressionists attempted to accurately and objectively record visual reality in terms of transient effects of light and colour.

1) Paul Cezanne's Le Mont Sainte-Victoire 1897-98 (110 Kb) Oil on canvas, 81 x 100.5 cm. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg. No. 3K 1395. Formerly collection Bernhard Koehler, Berlin http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/cezanne/
st-victoire/cezanne.1897.jpg

The Sainte-Victoire mountain was near Cézanne's home in Aix-en-Provence. It was said to be one of his favorite subjects. He used many different techniques to produced the rugged feeling of the mountains, the texture of the brush and trees and the lishness of the grass. Cezanne achieved the spatial effect in this picture by using bold blocks of color known as ``flat-depth'' to accommodate the unusual geological forms of the mountains.

2) Monet's Rock Arch West of Etretat (The Manneport). 1883. (220 Kb) Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 81.3 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/monet/last/monet.etretat.jpg

Claude Monet, (1840-1926) was another French Impressionist painter who rarely wavered in his style. He loved to paint landscapes and was intent on painting under absolute ideal conditions. Rock Arch West clearly demonstrates his talent for depicting the granite and craggy quality of the rocky arch. His brush strokes lend a feeling of delicateness to the spray and the turbulent waves of the sea. The clouds also appear thick, heavy and very soft.

Bibliography:

Wong, W. (1972). Principles of Two-Dimensional Design. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.

WebMuseum, Paris.
http://sunsite.unc.edu/wm/paint/glo/impressionism/

Studio in Art Foundation
http://www.fmhs.cnyric.org/clay/HSart/studio/SFcurrTexture.html