Anamorphosis
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Anamorphosis is a distorted projection that requires the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point, use special devices, or both to view a recognizable image. It is used in painting, photography, sculpture and installation, toys, and film special effects. The word is derived from the Greek prefix ana-, meaning "back" or "again", and the word morphe, meaning "shape" or "form". Extreme anamorphosis has been used by artists to disguise
Types of projection
There are two main types of anamorphosis: perspective (oblique) and mirror (
An oblique anamorphism forms an affine transformation of the subject.[2] Early examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the Renaissance of the fifteenth century and largely relate to religious themes.[3]
With mirror anamorphosis, a conical or cylindrical
Channel anamorphosis or tabula scalata has a different image on each side of a corrugated carrier. A straight frontal view shows an unclear mix of the images, while each image can be viewed correctly from a certain angle.
History
Prehistory
The Stone Age
The ancient historians
Renaissance
Artists' experimentation with optics and perspective during the Renaissance advanced anamorphic technique, at a time when science and religious thought were equally important to its growth in Europe.[3]: 70 Leonardo's Eye by Leonardo da Vinci, included in the Codex Atlanticus (1483-1518), is the earliest known example. He later completed several large-scale anamorphic commissions for the King of France.[citation needed]
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola credited Tommaso Laureti as the originator of a perspectival anamorphic technique in one of the earliest written descriptions in The Two Rules of Practical Perspective, compiled between 1530 and 1540 but not published until 1583. Many other descriptions and examples were created before 1583 without access to Vignola's work.[3]: 29-30,32-33
17th century
By the 17th century, a revival of fantastical anamorphic imagery occurred. Magical and religious connotations were largely abandoned, and the images were understood as a scientific curiosity.[3]: 115 Two major works on perspective were published: Perspective (1612) by Salomon de Caus, and Curious Perspective (1638) by Jean-Francois Niceron. Each contained extensive scientific and practical information on anamorphic imagery. In Niceron's work, three types of large-scale anamorphism are explained: 'optical' (looking horizontally); 'anoptric' (looking upwards); and 'catoptric' (looking down i.e. from a mezzanine). A conical perspective is also described.[3]: 26-28 Towards the end of the century, Charles Ozanam's Mathematical Recreations widely popularized the techniques for the creation of anamorphic images.[3]: 117
Between 1669 and 1685, both perspective and mirror anamorphosis were introduced in China by the Jesuits to the
Anamorphosis could be used to conceal images for privacy or personal safety, and many secret portraits were created of deposed royalty. A well-known anamorphic portrait of the English
The memento mori theme continued into this period, such as in an Anamorphic Painting of Adam and Eve, on display at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. This painting by an unknown Italian artist of the 17th or early 18th century portrays the Biblical couple, along with a large unidentified male face at the top, and a large human skull at the bottom. The images are distorted when viewed straight on, and can only be seen by peeking through one of two holes at each end of the surrounding frame. The painting includes a Latin religious inscription adapted from John 14:6, ending with the words memento mori.[7]
18th and 19th century
The eighteenth century saw anamorphism completely enter the realm of entertainment and diversion, as well as the widest dissemination of the technique.[3]: 119 [1]
By the 19th century, a revival of interest in anamorphism for architectural illusion occurred, as well as a fashion for classical themes. Reprints of Renaissance-era engravings became popular, as did political, obscene and popular subjects.
20th century
By the twentieth century, some artists wanted to renew the technique of anamorphosis for aesthetic and conceptual effect. During the First World War, Arthur Mole, an American commercial photographer, used anamorphic techniques to create patriotic images from massive assembled groups of soldiers and reservists. When seen from a tower at their base, the gathered people resolved into recognizable pictures.[8]
Impossible objects
In the twentieth century, artists began to play with perspective by drawing "impossible objects". These objects included stairs that always ascend, or cubes where the back meets the front. Such works were popularized by the artist
Ames rooms
The Ames room was invented by American scientist Adelbert Ames Jr. in 1946.[12] When viewed through a peephole, the room appears to have normal perspective. However, all other viewpoints reveal that the room is constructed of irregular trapezoids. Similar effects had been achieved during the Renaissance through the use of "accelerated perspective" in stage design. These included productions by Scamozzi (1588-9), Furtenbach (1625), Sabbattini (1637) and Troili (1672).[3]
One of the most interesting effects of an Ames room is that the distorted perspective can make people and objects look much bigger or smaller than they really are.
Practical uses
The technique of anamorphic projection can be seen quite commonly on text written at a very flat angle on roadways, such as "Bus Lane" or "Children Crossing", to make it easily read by drivers who otherwise would have difficulty reading obliquely as the vehicle approaches the text; when the vehicle is nearly above the text, its true abnormally elongated shape can be seen.[15] Similarly, in many sporting stadiums, especially in Rugby football in Australia, it is used to promote company brands which are painted onto the playing surface; from the television camera angle, the writing appear as signs standing vertically within the field of play.
Much writing on shop windows is in principle anamorphic, as it was written mirror-reversed on the inside of the window glass.
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Comparison between the "normal" picture and the anamorphic picture on a 35 mm film in Cinemascope format
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Road surface marking warning text is predistorted for oblique viewing by motorists
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Mirror anamorphosis on the lower front of anrear view mirrorsof vehicles ahead of it in traffic
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Anamorphic writing onriot helmets. Despite being written on a curved sloping surface the onlooker sees it horizontally and undistorted.
In the work of contemporary artists
While not as widespread in contemporary art, anamorphosis as a technique has been used by contemporary artists in painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, film and video, digital art and games, holography,[1] street art and installation. The latter two art forms are largely practised in public areas such as parks, city centres and transit stations.[16]
In 1975 a major exhibition was held focusing exclusively on anamorphic imagery: Anamorphoses: Games of Perception and Illusion in Art. The artist Jan Beutener created The Room, a major new installation specifically for the exhibit.[1]
Sculpture and installation
Since the mid-20th century, many artists have made use of anamorphosis in public artworks. American land art pioneer Michael Heizer's Complex One (1972-1974), a massive earth and concrete structure in the Nevada desert, creates a rectangular frame for a mastaba when viewed from a specific location.[1] Inspired by Luxor and other ancient monumental sites, it is part of the larger work City, an enormous sculpture running a mile and a half long. The entire work will not be completed until 2020.[17]
Shigeo Fukuda, a Japanese artist and designer globally renowned for his satirical posters on anti-war and environmental advocacy,[18] created posters and sculptures making use of both types of anamorphosis in the 1970s and 1980s.[19] He also wrote multiple books on the topic of optical illusions.
French artists that have created recent anamorphic installations include François Abélanet[20] and Jean-Max Albert.[21]
Markus Raetz's Kopf is a large scale public installation that reveals the form of a person's head in profile when viewed from a specific vantage-point. It was installed in a public park in Basel, Switzerland.[1]
While anamorphic images were not his exclusive area of focus, the American artist Jonathan Borofsky created installations in the 1980s using anamorphic techniques, exhibiting at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art.[1]
Jonty Hurwitz pioneered the use of a mathematical technique to create catoptric sculptures that resolve in a cylinder.[22] In 2013 he produced a public work for the Savoy Hotel's River Room.[23]
Drawing and painting
The Swedish artist Hans Hamngren produced and exhibited many examples of mirror anamorphosis in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sara Willet's paintings focus on anamorphic images.[21]
Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave also widely uses anamorphosis in her paintings, whereby her original drawings or paintings are stretched out and revert to a 'normal' dimension once the drawing or painting is pleated to its final form.[24]
Photography
Beginning in 1967, Dutch artist Jan Dibbets based an entire series of photographic work titled Perspective Corrections on the distortion of reality through perspective anamorphosis. This involved the incorporation of land art into his work, where areas dug out of the Earth formed squares from specific perspectives.[1]
Street art
Anamorphic effects are popular in street art, sometimes called "Slant Art" when accomplished on sidewalks. Examples are the sidewalk chalk drawings of Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever,[16] where the chalked image, the pavement, and the architectural surroundings all become part of an illusion. Art of this style can be produced by taking a photograph of an object or setting at a sharp oblique angle, then putting a grid over the photograph. Another elongated grid is placed on the sidewalk based on a specific perspective, and visual elements of one are transcribed into the other, one grid square at a time.
In 2016, the street artist JR completed a massive temporary anamorphic illusion over the Louvre's pyramid, making the modern structure disappear and the original building appear as though it was still in the 17th century.[25]
Gallery
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Hurwitz Singularity, anamorphic sculpture using perspective
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Anamorphic frog sculpture by Jonty Hurwitz
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Vera Bugatti: cylindrical mirror anamorphosis with portrait
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Three views of a conical anamorphosis by Dimitri Parant
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Pyramidal anamorphosis
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Cylindrical anamorphosis
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Jean-Max Albert, Reflet anamorphose, Bronze, Parc de la Villette (1985)
Popular culture
Since the 18th century, anamorphosis has been a widespread art form in popular culture. It has been used for children's toys, album art, advertising, videogames and movies, among other things.
In the 1970s, albums for musicians Steeleye Span and Rick Wakeman featured anamorphic album art.[26]
The 2009
In 2013, Honda released a commercial which incorporated a series of illusions based on anamorphosis.[28]
Tourists attractions employing large-scale illusory art allowing visitors to photograph themselves in fantastic scenes have opened in several Asian countries, such as the Trickeye Museum and Hong Kong 3D Museum.[29][30]
OK Go makes repeated use of anamorphic illusions in the music video for The Writing's On the Wall.[31]
See also
- Adelbert Ames Jr. Ames Demonstrations
- Anamorphic format, a widescreen film technique
- Anamorphic widescreen, a widescreen video encoding concept
- Arthur Mole
- Image warping
- Mad Fold-in
- Perspective control
- Panomorph
Artists
References
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- .
- ^ ISBN 9780810906624.
- ^ "Anamorphosis". World Wide Words. November 26, 2011. Archived from the original on September 1, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
- ^ Scott, Maria. "Deciphering the Gaze in Lacan's 'Of the Gaze as Objet Petit | The DS Project". The DS Project. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
- ^ "Now you see me". West Highland Museum. Archived from the original on April 7, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
- ^ Tostmann, Oliver. "Tricky Artwork". Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
- ^ Radio, Minnesota Public (January 28, 2005). "MPR: Group setting". news.minnesota.publicradio.org. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ISBN 978-0300081770.
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- ^ "Ames Room". psychologie.tu-dresden.de. 2001. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
- ^ a b "Anamorphosis art". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ England, Jason (March 30, 2015). "Hobbit houses and the Moon trick the brain and eye | Cosmos". cosmosmagazine.com. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
- ^ "Section 3B.20 Pavement Word, Symbol, and Arrow Markings". Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. United States Federal Highway Administration. 2009.
- ^ a b Rogers, SA (May 8, 2010). "Perspective Puzzle: Anamorphic Art in the Toronto Subway". WebUrbanist. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ Goodyear, Dana (August 29, 2016). "A Monument to Outlast Humanity". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
- ^ Heller, Steven (January 19, 2009). "Shigeo Fukuda, Graphic Designer of Wit and Allusion, Dies at 76". Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ "Art of Shigeo Fukada". Illusionworks. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ Adams, Henry (November 29, 2011), Is a "Garden" the World's Greatest New Artwork?
- ^ a b Marcolli, Mathilde. "THE NOTION OF SPACE IN MATHEMATICS THROUGH THE LENS OF MODERN ART" (PDF). www.its.caltech.edu. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- ^ Christopher Jobson (January 21, 2013). "The Skewed, Anamorphic Sculptures and Engineered Illusions of Jonty Hurwitz". Colossal.
- ^ Alice Jones (May 2, 2013). "A homage to Kaspar the friendly cat checks in at the Savoy's new eatery". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 6, 2013.
- ^ "Isabelle de Borchgrave". isabelledeborchgrave.com.
- ^ "JR completes monumental anamorphic artwork on the louvre's glass pyramid". designboom architecture & design magazine. May 28, 2016. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ "Rick Wakeman official website". rwcc.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "Batman FAQ". GamerShell.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
- ^ "This Honda Ad Leaves Me a Little Flat". Slate. October 26, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
- ^ "3-D museums: Next big thing for Asia tourism?". CNBC. August 28, 2014.
- ^ "3-D art wows visitors | the Straits Times". June 13, 2014.
- ^ "Behind-The-Scenes: Anamorphic Illusions". okgosandbox.org. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
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