ART 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Optical Illusion, Vanishing Point, Space Art
Document Summary
Learning objectives: describe how three-dimensional space is represented on a flat surface using perspective, explain why modern artists have challenged the means of representing three dimensions on two- dimensional surfaces. Q: what are other pictorial devices employed to evoke an illusion of space: scale, overlapping. Example: caillebotte, paris, a rainy day demonstrates the artist"s use of two-point perspective, which includes two vanishing points. Two-point perspective provides a more dynamic composition, which suggests the bustling activity of nineteenth-century paris. Example: mantegna"s the dead christ applies foreshortening to suggest the illusion of depth on a flat surface, adjusting the dimensions of closer extremities to make up for the distortion created by the point of view. If mantegna were to depict what he saw, the proportions of the feet would be a lot bigger than the head, and the work would appear unnatural. In japanese prints, artists intentionally flatten space and outline forms because they are more interested in symbolic representation.
