Entry Two- The Golden Ratio, being an attempt at defining this mysterious number.

One of the things that is discussed in class is the concept of disegno. Literally translated, it is the Italian word for design. However during the Renaissance, disegno was a concept or theory that artist would try to achieve. For example if you were to say an artist has good disegno, you would be referring to the conceptual/theoretical properties of their work. Things like alignment of elements, leading diagonals, proportion, symbolism, etc would all lead a work to having good disegno.

One of the fundamentals to good disegno and design are composition and layout. As a graphic designer before beginning any project, before anything gets created, the composition of the work, the layout, the grid structure is considered first. This is certainly not a new idea either as composition has been used with great effect by just about every major successful artist throughout history.

In my study of composition in my own work and through classes one concept kept popping up that intrigued me: the Golden Ratio. Through many of my design classes as well as my foundation studies there have been lectures that made reference or were about the Golden Ratio (aka the Divine Proportion, Golden Proportion, Divine Ratio, Golden Number, etc.). Now it may be due to my own lacking mental faculties but I have never really understood what they were talking about, let alone how to use this great mysterious concept.

I don’t think I am alone in this ignorance either. Any mention of the Golden Ratio almost assuredly brings with it a deluge of complex math that most art students have spent the better part of their life avoiding. The ironic thing is that I often get the feeling my teachers don’t understand it either. Essentially they are lecturing on things they don’t fully comprehend so how can I possibly understand them? But my gut tells me that this isn’t something to be ignored. If this number, ratio, proportion shows up in the work of all these great master’s then surely there must be something to it.

So what is the Golden Ratio?

The Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art Terms offers a very thorough definition, which ironic considering the dictionary's title. Never the less, it begins by describing the Golden Ratio as such:

A harmonic proportional ratio though to have orginated in the circle of Pythagoras (6th century bc) and which was discussed by both Euclid and Vitruvius in their writings. A straight line or rectangle is divided into two unequal parts in such a way that the ratio of the smaller to the greater is the same as that of the greater to the whole. It cannot be expressed as a finite number but an approximation is 8:13 or 0.618:1. With the invention of algebra it became possible to express the ratio as Phi which equals 1 plus the square root of 5 divided by 2.[1]

The dictionary goes on to say:

The Golden Section was though to have great inherent aesthetic value and was much studied during the Renaissance, especially by the mathematician Luca Pacioli, a close friend of Leonardo Da Vinci, and Piero della Francesea. In Pacioli's book Divina Proportione (1509), illustrated drawings by Leonardo, the Golden Section is described as this "divine proportion" and Pacioli endeavors, in the true Renaissance fashion, to combine the knowledge of antiquity with the Christian faith by claiming that the ratio of the Golden Section is beyond definition and in this respect like God.

So while I still don't totally understand the math, I do understand why it is called the Golden Section or Divine Proportion or all those other names it has managed to aquire. An infinite irrational number that appears in nature repeatedly would certainly raise eyebrows and be deemed significant by any civilization either ancient or modern. Yet the actual qualities of the proportion are still a little foggy. Looking at other sources I begin to get a better sense of the term. As defined by the Artlex Art Dictionary it is:

A proportional relation (ratio) obtained by dividing a line so that the shorter part is to the longer part as the longer part is to the whole. Another way to describe this: a proportion between the two dimensions of a plane figure or the two divisions of a line, in which the ratio of the smaller to the larger is the same as the ratio of the larger to the whole: a ratio of approximately 0.618 to 1.0.[2]

The Golden Mean produces a harmonic effect called eurythmy found in nature as well as in a wide variety of works of art and design. Artists of various periods and cultures have found that dimensions determined by this formula are aesthetically appealing.

The definition by Artlex is the first that I have found to mention the term eurythmy. Eurythmy is harmony of proportion or movement.[3] Among the principles of design, eurythmy is a hybrid of three of the principles — harmony, proportion, and movement.
Well anything that can be described as having eurythmy sounds pretty darn cool to me and as an artist it sounds like something I should do my best to understand and use.

As a visual learner it would be helpful to see what this Golden Ratio is, rather than just read about it. The Internet is great for discovering things and I actually stumbled upon this really cool video that shows the Golden Ratio in all of its glory. Hopefully this will help our understanding of the Golden Ratio and ultimately lead to learning how to use it.

[1] Michael Clarke, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Art Terms (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), page 110.

[2] ArtLex Art Dictionary, s.v. “ Golden Mean”, http://www.artlex.com/ (accessed August 3, 2008).

[3] ArtLex Art Dictionary, s.v. “Eurythmy”, http://www.artlex.com/ (accessed August 3, 2008).