space and projection_notes

7/29/2019 Space and Projection_notes

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Types of Pictorial Space

Simplest kind of space: art of tribal cultures, medeaval heraldry. Things representedare archetypal rather than individualised representations of particular objects. We may

call this space totemic/heraldic/magical space. No illusory depth, no overlapping,

objects presented in their most typical and informative aspect: frontal or sideelevation or combination of both. All shapes have definite boundaries completely

filled with clear, flat, non-naturalistic colours. Colours are symbolic and not

transcribed from nature.

Spritual space: found in Byzantine mosaics or icons. Greater degree of naturalism in

the rendering of poses and drapery. More depth (objects overlap, modulation of

colour from light to dark and not flat. Background is unmodulated and does not

represent actual space.

Naturalistic or optical space: presents the how view of things. How they look from a

single point of view (as we perceive them in everyday life). Appears in Europeanpaintings from the Gothic times. Grasped by Duccio and Giotto and perfected by the

Renaissance painters. It is also called the Rennaissance space.Renaissance space was organised into three areas of depth (parallel to the picture

plane): foreground, middleground and background. Mannerist and Baroque artististsorganised this space in a dynamically diagonal fashion (to the picture plane)

Atmospheric or aerial perspective. Because of the atmosphere, objects look paler

and more bluish in colour as they receed from the viewer. Leonardo invented this

perspective and we have it also in the paintings of Turner where the subject of his

paintings is the atmosphere.

North America: Tlingit

Not the picture of a bear but a bear-like presence. Two dimensions are all it needs to

manifest its totemic (a natural object/animal having spiritual significance) character.

All shapes definite boundaries, no overlapping, flat, clear.

Harunobu

The space here owes its character to diagonality. The parallels do not converge as incorrect perspective, and the two graceful ladies seem almost to float, at one with

their surroundings.

Adoration of the shepherds

This painting bridges the Gothic and the Renaissance space but the scale of the Virgin

relative to the angels is medieval in conception.

Bacchus and Ariadne

Tintorettos swooping and spiralling figures, their complex poses made to seem

effortelessly attained, are typical Mannerist in the way in which they move so freely

in depth as well as across the picture surface.

Venus has the right idea. Place the golden chaplet on Ariadne's head before Bacchus

can make the proposal, thus making her immediately a worthy companion for the god.


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Venus also knows the duties of a modern bridesmaid; to support her charge's left handfrom trembling as Bacchus approaches the ring finger with the golden circlet.

We need not comment on how this painting romanticises the myth; how, for example,

Bacchus is youth incarnate, not the dynamic god of forest, field and vine, or how

Ariadne seems to show no bad effects from being abandoned on Naxos, condemnedto solitude and a veil of tears. Nor do we need to note how this rendition is a painter's

painting, demonstrating Tinteretto's mastery of pictorial composition; how, for

example, the figure of Venus floats, making sea, sky, land and the to-be-betrothed

into a tight unity.

Norham Castle: Sunrise

Luminous, filmy washes and the depth they convey. Atmosphere or aerial

perspective. Atmosphere is the subject matter and the sole means of creating pictorial

space.

"The idyllic, dream-like landscape, often of Venice, represented one side of Turner'slate style. The other was the increasingly direct expression of the destructiveness of

nature, apparent particularly in some of his seapieces. The force of wind and waterwas conveyed both by his open, vigorous brushwork and, in many cases, by a

revolving vortex-like composition. In the unexhibited pictures these forces weretreated in their own right, but in most of his exhibited works (the distinction lessened

in his later years) they were expressed through appropriate subjects such as the

Deluge or the Angel of the Apocalypse. In some of these pictures Turner used a

colour symbolism, partly deriving from Goethe's theories, as in the pair of pictures

'Shade and Darkness - the Evening of the Deluge' and 'Light and Colour - the

Morning after the Deluge', exhibited in 1843 with a specific reference to Goethe.

These pictures are examples of Turner's experiments with square, octagonal or

circular formats in which the vortex composition found its most compact and

energetic expression.

"Looking at Turner's pictures of the yellow dawn or the red of sunset, one is aware,

perhaps for the first time in art, of the isolation of colour in itself. Even his sea-piecescontain flecks of bright unmodulated colour that enliven their at first sight more

monochromatic treatment. To extract from the continuous range of light the purity ofyellow, blue or red, the hues that command and comprise the rest, required an

uncompromising integrity of vision. Turner had precisely 'the disposition to

abstractions, to generalizing and classification' that Reynolds regarded as the greatglory of the human mind, though in a form that Reynolds would hardly have

recognised. Quite early in Turner's career his pictures were already accounted 'among

the vagaries of a powerful genius rather than among the representations of nature'.

"In certain watercolours he suspended altogether the definition of a specific subject,

leaving almost everything in doubt but the positive existence of colour. Many of the

exhibited paintings began the same way; the act of defining a particular scene was

postponed until the varnishing days when the paintings were already hanging, and

then performed with astounding brilliance. By the 1830s, as Charles Eastlake told

Turner's first biographer Walter Thornbury, none of Turner's 'exhibited pictures could

be said to be finished till he had worked on them when they were on the walls of theRoyal Academy'. Another contemporary artist described how Turner sent in a picture


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to the British Institution exhibition of 1835 in a state no more finished than 'a meredab of several colours, and "without form and void"'; the account continues that 'Such

a magician, performing his incantations in public, was an object of interest andattraction'. These 'dabs' of several colours must have looked much like, say, 'Norham

Castle'. Turner's process of transformation can be seen by comparing a sketch like

'Venice with the Salute' with an exhibited picture such as 'Dogana, San GiorgioCitella, from the Steps of the Europa'.

Projection

Painters vs sculptors: two dimension vs three dimension. Painters need to take

recourse to subterfuges in order to represent three dimension on two-dimensional

surface. These subterfuges can be called projections. Throwing forward of solids

until they meet the surface plane of the canvas and assume a shape. The mode of

projection we are familiar with nowadays is called optical perspective which was

perfected by the Renaissance.

Questions to be asked while practicising this method:

Value information: how much of information, how clearly does it convey? Whatinformation is concealed, distorted or ambigious?

Aesthetic: are the shapes ugly or beautiful? Is there an awkwardness in reading theobject? (Garden with pond, The Birthday, Pitcher and violin)

Garden with pond

Two kinds of projection are used: plan and elevation. Presentation not of how things

look but rather what they essentially are. Symbolism associated with garden: life-

giving, pleasure, funerary (wreath). palm and pomegranate trees also vineyards

(intoxication)

Birthday

Freedom in choosing projections. Creates a space which accords beautifully with the

almost gravity-free choreography of the figures, in poetic disjunction.

Pitcher and violin

Multiple viewpoints. Like a fly seeing the object buzzing around it in this way andthat, up and down. A restless dynamic image.

These paintings give the sensation that Braque has felt his way visually around eachobject and examined its relationships with the other objects around it from several

viewpoints. By rendering the areas between the objects in a tactile, material fashion,

Braque succeeds in fusing objects and space into a spatial continuum composed of

small, fluid, interpenetrating planes. It is this concrete rendering of the space around

the highly fragmented objects that gives these paintings a sensation of almost

unprecedented complexity.

Perspective

Optical perspective. Quasi-mathematical system, invented in Florence in the 15th

century. Uses the premise that parallel lines appear to converge and objets appear

smaller the farther they are from the viewer. Lie falsehood, doesnt trouble us eagles vision, birds vision etc.


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Parallel lines meet at horizon line vanishing points. Greek knowledge of vanishing

point perspective and foreshortening helped the Renaissance formulate its perspectivethat became the cornerstone for nearly 5 centuries. For the Renaissance the canvas

thus became a window through which the world is viewed. One-point perspective

as if one was looking through a key hole. Also the principle behind the camera.

Philosophically speaking, optical perspective implies a narrowing of outlook, over

simplification of actual experience and other ways of knowing.

The School of Athens

Tunnel like depth. Figures disposed in rows parallel to the picture plane. Central

viewpoint. Single vanishing point. Most artists work within a narrow angle of vision,

between 30 and 60 degrees. So, marginal distortion. Composition: a serene and

monumental grandeur.

Sinister MusesEquivocal, deep space of a dream. Disturbing: imagery and inconsistency in the use of

optical perspective. Vanishing points do not meet on the horizon/ eyelevel.

Viewpoint

Vertical axis

PAINTERS VP High Low Medial

ASSOCIATION Superiority Humility Equality,

straighforwardness

ADVANTAGE Inclusiveness, high

degree of info

Impressive

looming of verticalfeatures

Closeness to

normal experience

DRAWBACK Danger of

remoteness,

detachment

Reduction of info

thru masking of

distant obj by

nearer ones

Lateral axis

Farleft or far right Central

Casualness, stealth,surprise

Directness, formality

Depth Axis

Distant Closeup Normal viewing dist

Detachment Informative detail of a few

obj. facial expression

Day to day experience

Netherlandish proverbs

High viewpoint adopted by Brugel in most of his large paintings. Reveals amazing

wealth of characterisation and detail. All-embracing vision of contemporary sociallife. A sort of remoteness, distance from his subjects.


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Depiction of a land populated with literal renditions of Dutch/Flemishproverbs of the day

Proverbs published during Bruegels time and a number of collectionswere published

Rabelais is known to have depicted a land of proverbs in his novelPantagruel

Bruegels themes: absurdity, wickedness, foolishness of mankind 112 identifiable idioms in this scene including: big fish eats small fish,

swimming against the tide, to have one roof tiled with tarts

to be able to tie the devil to a pilllow: obstinacy achieves everything to be a pillar-biter: to be a religious hypocrite never believe someone who carries fire in one hand and water in the

other: to be two-faced

to bang ones head against a brick wall: to try to achieve the impossible to bell the cat: to carry out a dangerous or impractical plan to hang ones cloak according to the wind: to adapt ones viewpoint tothe current opinion

A genre of proverb pictures based on the motif of the world upside-down

treasury of references of proverbs, customs, beliefs, folktales, gestures, world-

views studies have been done to show how scenes are interconnected

references to scatalogical scenes is reminiscent of Bruegels worldview reversal

of reality, a misreading of metaphors (i.e. illustrations of expresssions in the literal

sense)

The Ascension

Traditionally apostles are arranged evenly at a distance from the painters central

standpoint. Tintoretto makes an innovation. Moves an apostle to the left. Makes usadopt the same oblique viewpoint: surprise.

The courtyard of a house in DelftThis sets us on the level of people portrayed. Neither confronting them abruptly nor

catching them sidelong. We meet them at a respectful distance, as equals, inpleasantly domesticity.

Bacchus and Ariadne by Tintoretto

Venus has the right idea. Place the golden chaplet on Ariadne's head before Bacchus

can make the proposal, thus making her immediately a worthy companion for the god.

Venus also knows the duties of a modern bridesmaid; to support her charge's left hand

from trembling as Bacchus approaches the ring finger with the golden circlet.

We need not comment on how this painting romanticises the myth; how, for example,

Bacchus is youth incarnate, not the dynamic god of forest, field and vine, or howAriadne seems to show no bad effects from being abandoned on Naxos, condemned

to solitude and a veil of tears. Nor do we need to note how this rendition is a painter'spainting, demonstrating Tinteretto's mastery of pictorial composition; how, for

example, the figure of Venus floats, making sea, sky, land and the to-be-betrothedinto a tight unity. But we must note its serenity and promise for man and woman:


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compare the Titian rendition of the same moment, the riotous Bacchus and his crew,including Silenus, a fat old man, bald, snub-nosed, always drunk, swaying on an ass,

but full of wisdom. It was he who was Bacchus' tutor, who helped to form hischaracter!

Braque, Pitcher and Violin

John Golding, "Cubism: A History and an Analysis, 1907-1914":

"The move towards [a] more complex kind of painting reaches a climax in the still

lifes that Braque painted late in 1909 and early the follwing year, for example 'Violin

and Pitcher'. These paintings give the sensation that Braque has felt his way visually

around each object and examined its relationships with the other objects around itfrom several viewpoints. By rendering the areas between the objects in a tactile,

material fashion, Braque succeeds in fusing objects and space into a spatial continuumcomposed of small, fluid, interpenetrating planes. It is this concrete rendering of the

space around the highly fragmented objects that gives these paintings a sensation ofalmost unprecedented complexity. The intense visual concentration and the technical

discipline underlying these paintings transmits itself to the spectator in a feeling of

tension, almost of unrest...[These paintings] mark the final phase of the first period in

Cubist painting. Both painters, and Braque in particular, seem to have realized that the

technique of Cubist painting must become more suggestive, more abstract."

Thebes, Garden with pond

The earliest pictorial depictions of actual gardens appear in Egyptian tomb paintings.

The lower picture above shows a pond in the garden of Nebuman, a Theban scribe

who kept the corn accounts at the temple of Amun, from his tomb. Fringed by

papyrus, the pond is surrounded by date palms, pomegranates, figs and sycamore figs

with some grapevines shown on the left.

These gardens seem to have been used for a mixture of pleasure and for growingcrops to eat. There were many symbolisms associated with trees, including to specific

gods such as Osiris, Nut, Isis and Hathor. They also had creation overtones, as well as

funerary. The Papyrus and Lotus plants were symbolic of the two regions of Lowerand Upper Egypt (respectively).

One owner, who obviously enjoyed his garden wrote that, "You sit in their shades and

eat their fruit. Wreaths are made for you of their twigs, and you are drunken with their

wines."

In many funerary texts, the deceased also talk about walking under the trees of his

garden and drinking the water of it's lake. Queen Hatshepsut relates on the walls of

her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari how she complied with the wish of the god

Amun-Re, her father, to have a grove of myrrh trees "for ointment for the divine

limbs"


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The top picture shows the large garden of an important official of c. 1400 BCE fromhis tomb in Thebes. In the centre is a vine-yard with the owner's house to the left.

Notice the four ornamental ponds with what look like Lotuses and wildfowl. Papyrusis growing around them, and two of them have garden pavilions.

The garens were surrounded by mud walls which would have absorbed some of thesun's heat. Trees gave shade and ponds and irrigation channels helped cool the air.

The Egyptians sought out new plants. In 1540 BCE, Queen Hatshepsut sent a

expedition to Somalia to bring back the incense trees mentioned above.

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