Adolf Hölzel Zwei ruhende Akte c1908

Hölzel attached great importance to the knowledge and correct use of artistic means. These include translating the three-dimensionality of nature onto a two-dimensional surface in an effort to first distinguish what is essential for the composition of a painting from what is not; this is followed by the line, shape, and color, as well as knowledge of the way viewers look at a painting, that is the visual principles of perception and the sentiments they elicit in the viewer. To Hölzel, the objective of artistic depiction is to create a “pleasant and harmonious impression.” According to Hölzel, this objective is achieved by considering the known opposites when composing the picture plane, notably line and shape, light and dark, cold and warm, horizontal and vertical, hard and soft, big and small, as well as calm and restlessness. Hölzel attaches particular value to the understanding of the correspondences between defined shapes and the spaces that are created between them. They always constitute the respective composition and expression as “form figures” that are altogether interrelated. Hölzel concludes his essay with three illustrations that highlight the harmonious effect of “irregular” or, as Hölzel calls them, “ornamental shapes” to demonstrate that the basic geometric shapes of circles, triangles, squares, or rectangles, despite being constructively relevant, are less suited to this purpose.