All artworks contain subject (what is being depicted), form (what the work looks like), and content (what the work is about).
To discuss these three aspects of an artwork, let's compare the two sculptures below.
Auguste Rodin, The Kiss, 1882, marble, and Constantin Brancusi, The Kiss, 1916, limestone, source
Here we have two sculptures of the same title - The Kiss. On the left is Auguste Rodin's The Kiss from 1882 and on the right is Constantin Brancusi's The Kiss from 1916.
Subject
The subject of these works is the same. Each sculpture is depicting a kiss between a male figure and a female figure who have their arms wrapped around each other. Rodin's work is more realistic and Brancusi's work is more abstracted, but they are still both representational depictions of a kiss.
Form
Now let's look at the form. When we talk about a work's form, we are talking about what the works look like and specifically how the elements and principles of design are functioning in the artwork. With these particular artworks, let's analyze line and shape, texture, balance, and unity. We could apply all of the elements and principles of design to any work, but these are the ones I notice making the biggest impact on how I interpret these two sculptures.
The first thing I notice about Rodin's kiss is that it's full of curving lines and shapes. There is a significant S-curve when we follow the woman's bent arm, down her body, across her thigh to the knee, and then down the bent leg to the foot. This diagonal line suggests movement and we get that sense of motion in this sculpture. These two people are in the midst of action and we're right here in the middle of it. The curving lines and curving shapes provide an organic sense of naturalism and help enhance the realism of the sculpture - real bodies have lumps and curves and soft shapes.
Now if we look at Brancusi's kiss it's exactly this lack of diagonal lines and curving shapes that make it lack realism. Brancusi's piece is geometric - it's rectangular and block-like. The male figure and female figure individually are two vertical blocks, and they are positioned together to form one larger rectangular block. The arms cut across the figures at a straight horizontal, providing a sense of stillness. These perpendicular lines and geometric shapes make the sculpture grounded, stable, and still.
TEXTURE
Texture is also working in each sculpture to enhance the realism of one while emphasizing the lack of realism of the other. Both of these works are stone sculptures created through the process of carving, however we see a different texture in each. Rodin's work is smooth in the areas where it is supposed to mimic flesh. The fleshiness of the skin is especially emphasized by the rough chiseled texture of the rock they sit upon.
The surface of Brancusi's sculpture is not as smooth and highly refined. We can see small dots in the surface, giving it the look of unpolished stone. Due to this texture, Brancusi's The Kiss doesn't have the same realistic flesh feel as The Kiss of Auguste Rodin.
BALANCE
The way balance is achieved in both of these works also helps create the sense of realism in the Rodin and the lack of it in the Brancusi. Rodin's The Kiss is asymmetrically balanced. The female figure curves and if we could rotate this photograph to see the back we would see the curved body of her male counterpart creating another S-curve behind her. The poses are slightly different but they interlock. There is a similar amount of visual (and actual) weight on each side of the sculpture even though the two figures are not perfectly identical in pose. This asymmetrical balance helps create a sense of naturalism because that's the type of balance we would expect to encounter in the natural world.
On the other hand, Brancusi's The Kiss is symmetrically balanced. There are two figures roughly the same size and roughly mirrored. It's not exactly perfect symmetry - the female figure has longer hair and a small belly - but it's pretty close. The symmetry makes this sculpture feel more man-made or contrived because we aren't used to seeing human figures interact symmetrically in the natural world.
UNITY
Remember that unity is the sense of cohesiveness in a work. One thing that both of these sculptures share is color, or more accurately a lack of color. Both sculptures remain the natural color of the stone. We could say these works are achromatic, meaning without color, as no pigment has been added and the natural color of both stones is very neutral. The uniformity of color throughout the whole sculpture creates cohesion.
In Brancusi's sculpture it is easy to see how the shape is unifying the work. The two figures are nearly identical shapes which come together to form one block. The figures create one solid and cohesive unit.
The shapes of Rodin's sculpture also work to create unity. The limbs of the figures overlap and interlock, tying the two figures together.
Content
Content describes any ideas, emotions, or meaning within the artwork. It's the interpretation part of art. We learn a lot about an artwork's content from analyzing its form.
We just finished discussing how the form of Rodin's and Brancusi's The Kiss is quite different, and because of that the two sculptures are going to tell us very different things about the nature of this kiss. The content of the works is more than just a kiss (the subject matter) but rather what these works are telling us about the kiss.
Let's start with Rodin. Due to the smooth texture of the skin, the implication of movement, the curves of the body, and the organic quality of the figures, we get a really sensual passionate depiction of a kiss. This kiss could be described as an in-the-moment, sweeping you off your feet, Hollywood kind of kiss.
Now I don't think anyone would describe Brancusi's kiss as sensual or passionate. Brancusi's couple are quite static with their strong vertical and horizontal lines. From this form we get a very different idea about the kiss. The two figures are so close together with only a thin seam separating the two; we really have a representation of two individual figures fitting together to make one. Because of this form, we do not feel in-the-moment wrapped up in passion but rather a more eternal, long-lasting love - the idea of two people coming together and being unified through this kiss.
So in these two works we have a "passionate affair kiss" and a "steady long-lasting love kiss." The two sculptures have identical subject matter - a kiss - but because they have very different formal qualities we interpret the works in very different ways.
