Formalism
In general, the term formalism describes the critical position that the most important aspect of a work of art is its form, that is, the way it is made and its purely visual aspects, rather than its narrative content or its relationship to the visible world. In painting therefore, a formalist critic would focus exclusively on the qualities of colour, brushwork, form, line and composition. Formalism as a critical stance came into being in response to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism (especially the painting of Cézanne) in which unprecedented emphasis was placed on the purely visual aspects of the work. In 1890 the Post-Impressionist painter and writer on art, Maurice Denis, published a manifesto titled Definition of Neo-Traditionism. The opening sentence of this is one of the most widely quoted texts in the history of modern art: 'Remember, that a picture, before it is a picture of a battle horse, a nude woman, or some story, is essentially a flat surface covered in colours arranged in a certain order.' Denis emphasised that aesthetic pleasure was to be found in the painting itself not its subject. In Britain formalist art theory was developed by the Bloomsbury painter and critic Roger Fry and the Bloomsbury writer Clive Bell. In his 1914 book Art, Bell formulated the notion of significant form, that form itself can convey feeling. All this led quickly to abstract art, an art of pure form. Formalism dominated the development of modern art until the 1960s when it reached its peak in the so-called New Criticism of the American critic Clement Greenberg and others, particularly in their writings on Colour Field painting and Post Painterly Abstraction. It was precisely at that time that formalism began to be challenged by Postmodernism.

the definition of formalism from the Tate Glossary accessible at http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=109

In art, formalists believe that everything needed for understanding a work of art is contained in that work of art - its colours, lines, texture, medium, composition, etc.


As fromalists consider the narrative content of the work to be of secondary or no importance at all, then it seems as if Formalism is opposing the ideas that I am exploring, but I think that the form* of the painting has actually quite an important role to play in the process of interpretation.


*by form, I mean the qualities that formalists consider to be of importance - colour, line, shape, form, texture, medium, composition, brushwork and so on.





FOR EXAMPLE:

Composition (painting)
The impact of "composition" in a painting (that is, its overall arrangement of parts) can perhaps be most strikingly demonstrated by comparing the pyramidal composition of Renaissance painting with the diagonal composition of the Baroque.




The figures in Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks are arranged such that the "pinnacle" of the painting (Mary's head) is flanked by descending figures to either side and to the fore. A sense of stability is achieved from this symmetry and balance, and the eye is naturally drawn upward to Mary's face.



Ruben's Raising of the Cross, on the other hand, features diagonal arrangements of figures. A strong sense of movement results as the eye is drawn restlessly along each line.


taken from http://essentialhumanities.net/s_art_paint_composition.html

also look at http://www.henningludvigsen.com/index.php/main/tutorial_text/049_ifx_tutorial_composition for ideas on composition and balance in a painting.