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| Vanishing point in Van Gogh's "The bedroom" |
As Dr. Vesna points out in her lecture, artists need an
understanding of geometry and mathematical formulas to represent human bodies
and other objects. 3D geometry is necessary to create realistic forms and
triangles are necessary to represent depth. However, I really enjoyed the
thought experiment that the Henderson article sent me on.
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| A square and a sphere from Flatland |
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| An Escher tessellation that makes the viewer question whether the fish or the bird is the foreground. |
As a psychologist, I love how explicitly mathematical art can give insight into how the human brain works. The ambiguity in works by artists such as M. C. Escher is a wonderful resource for studying cognitions. Whether it is processing “impossible” objects or discerning figure from ground, this type of art is extremely helpful to cognitive psychology.
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| One of my photographs with the golden spiral. |
Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Seely & Co., 1884.
Frantz, Marc. "Vanishing Points and Looking at Art." VIEWPOINTS: Mathematical Perspective and Fractal Geometry in Art.
Henderson, Linda D. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10.
Smith, B. Sidney. "The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher." Platonic Realms Minitexts. Platonic Realms, 13 Mar 2014.
Vesna, Victoria. "Math + Art." Web.
It's amazing how the math is present in different fields such as psychology, architecture, art, nature, etc. I really like how you posted one of your own pictures that uses the Golden ratio. Do you tend to prefer the pictures in which you used the ratio or the ones that don't follow a specific pattern?
ReplyDeleteI too tried to show how science and art come together but in a slightly different way. I discussed how you need math in order to draw inventions that people have. I really liked how you went into mathematics and human bodies, that is another really cool way to look at it. Before this assignment I never really put the two together but by looking at all the different blog posts I can see that it is necessary and happens all around us.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that you have recognized the golden ratio in your own photography--that is very impressive! Your blog was concise and very interesting, and recognizing science+art merging even in your related field of psychology is super cool :)
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI too liked your example of your own photograph and the golden ratio. It seems interesting to me that some of your best pictures align with the ratio while others completely disobey it. I wonder if there is another ratio (other than the golden one previously stated) that might work well with those photos too. Perhaps the creativity element we constantly see in art is absent in mathematics because we feel so constricted with rules and theorems.
Trent