Figurative Style

Figurative art is clearly derived from real object sources and is therefore by definition representational. It is often taken to mean art which represents a human or even an animal figure, and though this is often the case it is not necessarily so. Figure sculpture of Greek antiquity was not naturalistic but idealized and geometric, but it gave way to observation and a figurative art which balanced ideal geometry with greater realism. Since the arrival of abstract art, the term figurative has been used to refer to any form of art that retains strong real-world references. The formal elements — those aesthetic effects created by design, upon which figurative art is dependent — include line, shape, colour, light and dark, mass, volume, texture and perspective, deployed to create an illusion of form and space and usually to create emphasis in the narrative portrayed.