Sunday, June 26, 2016

Week 1: Math+Art

I never really realized how mathematics and art were related with each other. I guess I just assumed that artists just drew from whatever they imagined, but I was completely wrong.

Out of the many things I learned from lecture, the first was about linear perspective. Filippo Brunelleschi was the first person to make a correct formulation of linear perspective. He understood that there should be a vanishing point in which all parallel lines in a plane converge and with that knowledge, he was able to correctly compute the relation between the length of an object and the length of the picture depending on its distance to the plane of the canvas using mathematical principle. He controlled precisely the position of the spectator so that the geometry was guaranteed to be correct.

The second idea I learned about was from Al Haytham who gave the first correct explanation of vision. He showed that light is reflected from an object in the eye and studied the complete science of vision influencing Renaissance artists 300-400 years later.

Next, Piero della Francesca showed that painting has three principal parts which are drawing, proportion, and coloring. Drawing means the outlines and contours contained in a thing. Proportion is the outlines and contours positioned in proportion in their places. Coloring gives colors as shown in the things, light and dark according to the light that makes them vary.

Lastly, Luca Pacioli studied the golden ratio which is the ratio a:b=b:(a+b). He also studied regular and semiregular polygons. His studies were important to architectural design and contributed to one of his famous works known as Divina proportione in which he included figures from his studies.

I believe that the juxtaposition of mathematics, art, and science is like building a house. You need a strong base foundation in order to build a sturdy and effective house. The foundation would be mathematics and the house is art.

Sources:

Falco, Charles M., and Aimee L. WeintzAllen. "Painted Optics Symposium." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2016.

Frantz, Marc. "Vanishing Points and Looking at Art." N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2016.

O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. "Luca Pacioli." Pacioli Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 June 2016.

Vesna, Victoria. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 24 June 2016. <http://www.youtube.com/watchv=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

Watson, Paul F. "Piero Della Francesca." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 13 May 2016. Web. 24 June 2016.

5 comments:

  1. I agree on your position on how science and mathematics are the foundation for creating art. Personally, I believe that with the consumer-oriented products today, both science, mathematics and art support each other. The reason for successful brands for things such as laptops and headphones are a mix of superior technology (math and science) as well as appealing design (art).

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    1. I fully agree with you. A lot of the technological products we use combine both technology and art. It's interesting a lot of the people who create technology such as a smartwatch care both about how the product could both be aesthetically pleasing and efficient in its job.

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  3. Hi Josh! I am really impressed by the metaphor you mentioned in the final section of your post. I think it is a very clever way to describe the relationship between mathematics and art. Do you think that this relationship is interchangeable? For example, can you say that science forms the foundation for art and vice versa?

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    1. Hi Emily! I do believe that this relationship is interchangeable in some cases. For example, people combine math and science with art in order to create technological products such as smartwatches, laptops, and headphones.

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