Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Neoclassicism: Let the horizontal work hard and place elements symmetrically
- Type
- Set in Neoclassicism's manner (Inscriptional capitals, letterspaced wide), and let Stripped Classicism's lettering (Incised roman capitals, widely spaced, centred on the axis and stated once only) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Neoclassicism's material (The white of stone and plaster, with gold kept to key points); bring in exactly one thing from Stripped Classicism (Large ashlar limestone or granite, honed flat, with joints fine enough that the wall reads as one continuous surface).
- Colour
- Build on #d0d4d0, #bc4e2f, #11171b and admit one accent from #e5e4e3, #7e8992, #2a2a2a.
Where they fight
- Neoclassicism and Stripped Classicism stand roughly 160 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Neoclassicism Do not mistake simplicity for dullness. Hard contour and tense composition are both required at once.
- Stripped Classicism Reaching for it because it looks austere and expensive: the symmetry and the blank wall make a claim of authority whether or not you intended one.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Neoclassicism (style, 1760s–1830s) and their accent from Stripped Classicism (style, 1920s–1950s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Neoclassicism exists for: showing public purpose and discipline by cutting ornament away, or making a scene that borrows historical legitimacy. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Neoclassicism - Hard, clear contour lines - A restrained number of colors - Ancient subjects and dress - Shallow, stage like space Composition: Let the horizontal work hard and place elements symmetrically. Type and lettering: Inscriptional capitals, letterspaced wide. ## Accent comes from Stripped Classicism, used sparingly - The rhythm of columns stripped of ornament - A strong axis and symmetry - Smooth planes of stone - Walls without large openings Let one material quality come from it: Large ashlar limestone or granite, honed flat, with joints fine enough that the wall reads as one continuous surface. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #d0d4d0, carry the structure in #bc4e2f and #11171b, and let a single accent come from #7e8992. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, luxury, calm. ## Where they fight - Neoclassicism and Stripped Classicism stand roughly 160 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - Neoclassicism: Do not mistake simplicity for dullness. Hard contour and tense composition are both required at once. - Stripped Classicism: Reaching for it because it looks austere and expensive: the symmetry and the blank wall make a claim of authority whether or not you intended one. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Neoclassicism 1760s–1830s / Style / Historical Styles
A movement that turned back to ancient simplicity, prompted by the excavations at Pompeii and reacting against the decorative excess of Rococo. Contours are hard, color is held down, and the subjects preach civic virtue. States of the revolutionary period chose this style as their own face.
- Stripped Classicism 1920s–1950s / Style / Modern Architecture
The manner of government and memorial building in which classical architecture is shorn of ornament, leaving only proportion, axis and the rhythm of the columns. That it still reads as classical without ornament made it a cheap means of speaking authority. Important as a case in which the minimal and the intimidating live together.
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