Arts visuels & perception Pascal Mamassian CNRS & Université Paris 5 I believe it is only by considering these psychological aspects of image making and image reading that we may come closer to an understanding of the central problem of the history of art [...], that is, why representation should have a history; why it should have taken mankind so long to arrive at a plausible rendering of visual effects that create the illusion of life-likeness; and why artists such as John Constable, who strove to be true to his vision, still had to admit that no art is ever free of convention. Sir Ernst Gombrich (1960), p. 291
Règles et conventions dans les arts visuels
Carlo Crivelli (1486) The Annunciation, with Saint Emidius Egg tempera and oil on canvas, 207 x 147 cm; The National Gallery, London
Canaletto (1735-40) Piazza San Marco - Looking Southeast National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Canaletto (1730) Riva degli Schiavoni - Looking East Devonshire Collection Trustees, Chatsworth
Pierre-Étienne-Théodore Rousseau (1857-64) The Village of Becquigny Oil on Panel, 63 x 100 cm; The Frick Collection, NY
Raphael (Raffaelo Sanzio) (1509) The School of Athens Fresco; Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican
Raphael (Raffaelo Sanzio) (1509) The School of Athens Fresco; Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican Perspective analysis by Chris Tyler
Raphael (Raffaelo Sanzio) (1509) The School of Athens (detail) Fresco; Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican
Leonardo da Vinci (1498) The Last Supper Fresco, 460 x 880 cm; Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie (Refectory), Milan
Hans Holbein the Younger (1533) The Ambassadors Oil on oak, 207 x 209 cm; National Gallery, London
Anamorphosis
Giorgio de Chirico (1914) Montparnasse Station Museum of Modern Art, NY
Vincent van Gogh (1889) La chambre de Van Gogh à Arles Oil on canvas, 57 x 74 cm; Musée d Orsay, Paris
Yves Tanguy (1942) Indefinite Divisibility Oil on canvas, 102 x 89 cm; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Yves Tanguy (1942) Indefinite Divisibility Oil on canvas, 102 x 89 cm; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY (Shadow analysis in Mamassian, 2004)
Salvador Dali (1969-70) The Hallucinogenic Toreador Oil on canvas, 400 x 300 cm; Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
Salvador Dali (1940) Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of Voltaire Oil on canvas, 46 x 65 cm; Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
René Magritte (1952) L empire des lumières Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm; Museum of Modern Art, NY
Intermède Faire une liste de quelques conventions des arts visuels. Mettre en valeur celles qui ont leur racine dans la perception visuelle.
Nombre d or http://mathworld.wolfram.com/goldenratio.html
Parthenon, Athens, Greece
Tyler (1998)
Mathura (800 A.D.) A celestial nymph Ramachandran Collection
Eight Laws (Ramachandran & Hirstein, 1999) 1. peak shift principle (caricature) 2. isolating a single module and allocating attention (line drawings) 3. perceptual grouping (direct link to limbic system) 4. contrast and allocating attention (camouflage) 5. perceptual problem solving (avoid obvious message) 6. generic viewpoint (avoid improbability) 7. visual metaphors (discovery of similarities) 8. symmetry (evolutionary advantage)
Neuro-Aesthetics
Edvard Munch (1893) The Scream Casein/waxed crayon and tempera on paper, 91 x 73 cm; Nasjonalgalleriet (National Gallery), Oslo
Francisco de Goya (1814) The Shootings of May Third 1808 Oil on canvas, 266 x 345 cm; Museo del Prado, Madrid
Gustav Klimt (1907-08) The Kiss 180 x 180 cm; Österreichisches Galerie Wien, Vienna
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1872-77) Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge Oil on canvas, 68 x 51 cm; Tate Gallery, London
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1881) Le déjeuner des canotiers Oil on canvas, 129 x 173 cm; Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington DC
Claude Monet (1894) La cathédrale de Rouen: (1) Plein soleil, (2) Le portail, temps gris, (3) Le portail et al tour Saint Romain, plein soleil Oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm; (1) Louvre, Paris, (2, 3) Musée d Orsay, Paris
Jan Vermeer (1658) The Kitchen Maid Oil on canvas, 45 x 41 cm; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Jan Vermeer (1668-69) The Geographer Oil on canvas, 52 x 45 cm; Stadelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt am Main
Caravaggio (1600-01) Supper at Emmaus Oil on canvas, 139 x 195 cm; National Gallery, London
Rembrandt (1642) Night Watch Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Leonardo da Vinci (1503-06) Portrait of Mona Lisa (a.k.a. La Gioconda) Oil on wood, 77 x 53 cm; Musée du Louvre, Paris
Jan Vermeer (1665-66) Girl with a Pearl Earing Oil on canvas, 45 x 39 cm; Royal Cabinet of Paintings Marithuis, The Hague
Pablo Picasso (1907) Les demoiselles d Avignon Oil on canvas, 244 x 234 cm; The Museum of Modern Art, NY
Juan Gris (1912) Portrait of Picasso Oil on canvas, 93 x 74 cm; Art Institute of Chicago
Victor Vasarely (1969) Vega-nord Oil on canvas, 200 x 200 cm
Bridget Riley (1967) Late Morning Tate Britain, London
Georges Seurat (1884-86) Un dimanche après-midi à l Ile de la Grande Jatte Oil on canvas, 206 x 305 cm; Art Institute of Chicago
Georges Seurat (1883-84) Une baignade, Asnières Oil on canvas, 201 x 301 cm; National Gallery, London
David Hockney (1967) A Bigger Splash Acrylic on canvas, 242 x 244 cm
Wassily Kandinsky (1923) Composition VIII Oil on canvas, 140 x 201 cm; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Piet Mondrian (1921) Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue Oil on canvas, 39 x 35 cm
Arnheim, R. (1974). Art and Visual Perception. Berkeley: University of California Press. Bruce, V. & Young, A. (1998). In the Eye of the Beholder. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gombrich, E. H. (1960). Art and Illusion. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Gregory, R., Harris, J. Heard, P. & Rose, D. (Eds.) (1995). The Artful Eye. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kemp, M. (1990). The Science of Art. New Haven: Yale University Press. Kubovy, M. (1986). The Psychology of Perspective and Renaissance Art. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Livingstone, M. S. (2002). Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing. New York, Harry N. Abrams. Pirenne, M. H. (1970). Optics, Painting and Photography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Willats, J. (1997). Art and Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Zeki, S. (1999). Inner Vision: An Exploration of Art and the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.