Madhurima Class 9 Chapter 16, Visual Composition, explains how a good composition arranges the elements of art using the principles of design, in two dimensions (paintings, textiles) and three (sculptures, installations, reliefs).
What Madhurima Chapter 16 Covers
Compositional layout: the arrangement of every part of an artwork, including size, position, alignment, colour and proportion, so the whole picture works together. A newspaper advert is the everyday example. Each version you try is an iteration.
Works to study: Raja Ravi Varma’s ‘There comes Papa’ (1893), Akbar Padamsee’s ‘Metascape-III’ and Mrinalini Mukherjee’s fibre sculpture ‘Devi’.
Option A, a four-part comic strip: plan four scenes from your own life with at least two characters, a setting and continuity, on an A4 sheet split into panels of equal or mixed sizes. Sketch the characters several times and pick speech balloons for speaking, thinking, shouting, whispering or dreaming.
Composing each scene: make two or three layouts per scene, zooming in on a face or cropping a figure, and check proportion, focus and balance before choosing the best ones.
Other options: a thematic painting or a collage, built with the same steps of ideation, iteration and refinement.
Exercises in Chapter 16
- Choose the speech balloons that fit a child–parent dialogue, then draw your own.
- Compare the texture and composition of Jehangir Sabavala’s ‘The Source’ and P.T. Reddy’s ‘Flower Vase and Fruit Tray’ (1957).
Read Madhurima Class 9 Chapter 16 Online
More Chapters
- Previous: Chapter 15: Mediums and Techniques in Visual Art
- Next: Chapter 17: Branches of Visual Arts
- All Art chapters and the other Class 9 books: Class 9 NCERT books 2026-27
FAQ
What is an iteration in visual composition?
Each version of a layout made while experimenting with the size and placement of its parts before choosing the final one.
What should a comic strip in Madhurima Chapter 16 include?
Four scenes with at least two characters you create, an indoor, outdoor or imaginary setting, continuity between scenes, and suitable speech balloons.