Picturing space, displacing bodies : anamorphosis in early modern theories of perspective / Lyle Massey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Massey, Lyle, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Anamorphosis (Visual perception).

Perspective--History.

Perspective.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 175 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, [2007]

Summary:

In Picturing Space, Displacing Bodies, Lyle Massey argues that we can only learn how and why certain kinds of spatial representation prevailed over others by carefully considering how Renaissance artists and theorists interpreted perspective. Combining detailed historical studies with broad theoretical and philosophical investigations, this book challenges basic assumptions about the way early modern artists and theorists represented their relationship to the visible world and how they understood these representations. By analyzing technical feats such as anamorphosis (the perspectival distortion of an object to make it viewable only from a certain angle), drawing machines, and printed diagrams, each chapter highlights the moments when perspective theorists failed to unite a singular, ideal viewpoint with the artists or viewers viewpoint or were unsuccessful at conjoining fictive and lived space.

Contents:

Corporealizing the infinite

Descartes's point of view

Straightening out anamorphosis

The body and its devices

Conclusion : perspective split in two.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 131-168) and index.

ISBN:

9780271029801

0271029803

OCLC:

80916825