How to Explain Chiaroscuro Technique

The time-honored technique of chiaroscuro is essentially a dialectical practice of contrasting light and dark. Much greater detail exists on the definition of the term, to be found in many different places and exemplified in different media and types of visual art.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. First, examine the fundamental dialectic presented by chiaroscuro and how artists have used materials to affect this technique, either with inks and pigments or with colored paper or shading.
2. Talk about the historic reference of the term, it's beginning in the Renaissance, and the use of chiaroscuro in woodcuts over successive centuries. Though the woodcuts do not work in pigment, they present "shaded" or fluctuating styles that seem to indicate light and dark. Examples can be found in books of German or Italian print makers of the 1600s or 1700s.
3. Talk about the successive Baroque use of chiaroscuro, and find examples in continental artworks of how the Holy theme of so many great works was enhanced through the interplay of light and dark. Also, indicate tributaries of chiaroscuro, for instance, the "tenebrism" of later Italian works.
4. Move on to the use of chiaroscuro in cinema. As directors experimented with the most effective means of good cinematography, the term came into play as working with shadows and set lighting. It is a simple phenomena, a name for a general cinematic technique, and something that can be found in corners of diverse types of films particularly before movies were made in color, as black and white film is perfect for the kind of contrast that chiaroscuro represents.
5. Find graphic novels that illustrate the light and dark interplay of chiaroscuro for modern examples of the technique. From the earliest graphic novels right up to Alan Moore, frames and panels of graphic novels represent the newest manifestation of this timeless artistic device.

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