This week, I was shocked by how great of an influence math
had on perspective in art. The study of perception, how our mind takes input
from our eyes and translates it into a picture, is often perceived as a very
scientific topic today. I find it interesting that this idea, however, was
first explored by the artist Giotto, and even the following “mathematical”
studies on perspective, were aimed towards improving art during Giotto’s time.
This is an understandable fascination however: depicting three-dimensional
space on a two dimensional surface.
Another striking feature of the time period was the heavy
conversation between the mathematical/scientific studies of perception and the
realm of artwork. During this time period these two fields learned from one another
and depended up each other. For example, describing the concepts of perspective
could not be done without visual aids that were created by artists. On the
flipside, artists also heavily incorporated aspects of mathematics within their
works, for example, the occurrence of the “golden mean” in Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Egyptian pyramids and the
Parthenon in Greece.
One last area of interest that fused mathematics and visual
perception is the conception of multiple dimensions. This topic has been explored
throughout history, with great vigor, by artists and figures such as Joan Miro,
Kardinsky, Picabia, and Duchamp. Edwin Abbott thoroughly explores this topic in
his work Flatland: A Romance of Many
Dimensions, which explores how our
perceptions are relative and limited based on how humans are built and what
ideas influence us as we grow. One aspect of Abbott’s story that I found rather
interesting, was each “species” resistance to accepting a new perception and
understanding of their world. In the Flatlands, even mentioning a third
dimension is outlawed, and the example of the protagonist’s grandson conforming
to the belief that there are only two dimensions ties back to last week’s
discussion of how our education system can squander genius and open-minded
perspective. This process of “de-geniusing” is also mentioned by Buckminister
Fuller.
Today, artists continue to explore these concepts despite
our current scientific conceptions of the world. In Phillip Pullman’s book, The Subtle Knife, the protagonist
discovers a knife that can cut into different dimensions, allowing her to
travel there. In addition, Christopher Nolan’s movie Interstellar, further explores the fourth dimension. Hopefully, we
may continue to ask these questions and not be limited by self-content and
ignorance.
Works Cited
Abbott, Edwin Abbott, and Valerie M.
Smith. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Print.
De Bondone, Giotto. Legend of St.
Francis Frescoes at Assisi. Digital image. Wikipedia. Web
Golden Section Parthenon.
Digital image. Jill Britton Homepage. 6 May 2012. Web
Henderson,
Linda. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art:
Conclusion." JSTOR 17.3 (1984): 205-10. Jstor.org.
The MIT Press. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/1575193?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>.
Interstellar.
Paramount Pictures Corp., 2015. Film.
Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov. Perf.
Victoria Vesna. UC Online Program, 2012. Film.
Nolan, Christopher. Fourth Dimension.
Digital image. Scientific American. 2 Dec. 2014. Web.
Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife.
New York: A.A. Knopf :, 1997. Print.
I find perspective art a fascinating combination of art and math as well. I think it's interesting how so many artists began to utilize this form of composition after its discovery during the Renaissance. It's clear to see a shift in the styles and subjects of art when comparing the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Perspective drawing definitely played a large role in allowing artists to create detailed and accurate depictions of their surrounding world, therefore expanding their subject matter from strictly religious to secular images. It is evident that math has a way of shaping not only art, but also shaping the way in which we interact within our different societies.
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