[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-677801-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-677801-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","figureground-relationship-theoretical-foundations-and-applications-in-art-and-collections","Figure/Ground Relationship - Theoretical Foundations and Applications in Art and Collections","","The text explains the figure/ground relationship as a core perceptual principle, originating from Edgar Rubin, where contrast between dark and light areas determines what stands out as the ‘figure’ and what recedes as the ‘ground’. It discusses how this relationship supports reading and meaning in artworks, using examples such as maps, Rubin’s vase, and Escher’s positive/negative shape techniques. The focus then extends to how collected bodies of artworks—private, public/museum, and corporate collections—can be understood through shifting emphases and relational prominence, with South African examples including major auctions and institutional holdings.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/figureground-relationship-theoretical-foundations-and-applications-in-art-and-collections/677801/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/figureground-relationship-theoretical-foundations-and-applications-in-art-and-collections/677801.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"8796093062539","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-11-04",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"What is the figure/ground relationship and who originated it?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The figure/ground relationship is a perceptual principle that distinguishes what is prioritized and seen as the ‘figure’ versus what recedes as the ‘ground’. It is attributed to Danish phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951).","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"How does the figure/ground idea explain reading images like maps?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"The text explains that maps rendered in black and white make it harder to tell land from sea, but coding with familiar colors (e.g., blues for water depths and browns/greens/whites for land heights) clarifies which elements become figure and which become ground.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"How is the concept extended from artworks to art collections?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"Beyond interpreting individual artworks, the text argues that figure/ground reading can guide understanding of collections by focusing on relational prominence—how more and less important elements interact to generate meaning. It then contrasts private collections, public/museum collections, and corporate collections in the South African context.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},677801,1793780276,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,90,94,99,104,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":88,"slug":89},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":91,"show_sort_weight":92,"slug":93},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":95,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":11,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":143},8796093062539,"Before we can read we need to be able to separate the letters from the page they are written on.  \nThis separation brings the text forward and pushes the paper into  \nthe background.  \nIn art and design this is the difference between ‘figure’ and ‘ground’ – a fundamental principle of perception in which the ‘figure’ is what is seen, noticed and prioritised by the viewer, and the ‘ground’ is everything else ina representation.  \nOriginated by Danish phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951), the figure/ground relationship is based largely on the rendering and reading of contrasts between dark and light areas in an image. The relationship captures the difference between what comes to the fore and stands out as prominent within an image (but is not necessarily in the foreground)  \nand what remains de-emphasised, camouflaged or hidden within that same image (but not necessarily in the background) .  \nIt also captures the extent to which both figure and ground elements within an image rely on each other for their respective emphases, and the generation of the understanding and meaning that comes from these different inflections. One of our most common encounters with the figure/ground relationship is geographical maps that include both land and sea areas. Rendered in black and white, it is often difficult to know which part of the map is sea and which is the land that stands out from the water mass. But coded in colours that we’ve learnt to associate – blues for water depths and browns, greens and whites for earth heights – it becomes much easier to distinguish between figure and ground.  \nMany of the illustrations used to demonstrate this relationship rely on ambiguous rather than clear differences between figure and ground. The famous visual example of the ambiguity between figure and ground was originated by Rubin himself, and is commonly known as “Rubin’s vase”. Here there is no true (or at least stable) figure and ground, and our eyes are left to shift between a figure that is at once a vase and two faces in profile, depending on our attention to the black and white parts of the image. Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898-1972), a Dutch graphic artist, produced over 400 lithographs, woodcuts and wood engravings that utilise positive and negative shapes not only to reverse figure and ground elements in a single image, but also to disrupt distinctions between different depths in the composition.  \nThat the figure/ground relationship permits the performance of these two reading functions – distinguishing more and less important elements within a composition, yet at the same time relying on all these elements to generate meaning and significance – provides the impetus and basis for extending its use beyond the organisation and interpretation of individual artworks to the conceptual presentation and understanding of collected bodies of artworks. In the same way that an individual painting might be made up of elemental pieces and interpreted in terms of the relational prominence of these pieces, so too can an accumulated collection of individual artworks be understood in terms of the relational prominence of these artworks.  \nThese collected bodies of artworks take on a number of forms. Three of the most significant of these forms are individual private collections, public or museum collections and corporate collections. Individual private collections in South Africa are not publicly exhibited as often as they should be and often receive much of their attention when they are dissolved through sale. An excellent example of this is the February 2007 auction of a collection of 45 paintings collected by the late Jack and Helene Kahn. Commenting on the sale, which netted R23,9 million, auctioneer Stephan Welz said: “This was the most successful single-owner auction ever staged in South Africa.”1 While a number of South Africa’s public museums have significant art holdings, constraints on resources and purchasing budgets have often resulted in these i","cbCaik5P4hoNcBjN","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaik5P4hoNcBjN","pdf",91936,11,"English","# Figure/Ground as a Perceptual Principle\n## Contrast, Rendering, and Reading\n# Visual Examples and Ambiguity\n## Maps and Coded Color Distinctions\n## Rubin’s Vase and Escher\n# Extending the Concept to Art Collections\n## Private, Public/Museum, and Corporate Collections","[{\"question\":\"What is the figure/ground relationship and who originated it?\",\"answer\":\"The figure/ground relationship is a perceptual principle that distinguishes what is prioritized and seen as the ‘figure’ versus what recedes as the ‘ground’. It is attributed to Danish phenomenologist Edgar Rubin (1886-1951).\"},{\"question\":\"How does the figure/ground idea explain reading images like maps?\",\"answer\":\"The text explains that maps rendered in black and white make it harder to tell land from sea, but coding with familiar colors (e.g., blues for water depths and browns/greens/whites for land heights) clarifies which elements become figure and which become ground.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the concept extended from artworks to art collections?\",\"answer\":\"Beyond interpreting individual artworks, the text argues that figure/ground reading can guide understanding of collections by focusing on relational prominence—how more and less important elements interact to generate meaning. It then contrasts private collections, public/museum collections, and corporate collections in the South African context.\"}]","Figure/Ground Relationship - Theoretical Foundations and Applications in Art and Collections | PDF",17]