Illusionism (art)
Illusionism in
Illusionistic realism
The development of increasingly accurate representation of the visual appearances of things has a long history in art. It includes elements such as the accurate depiction of the anatomy of humans and beasts, of
The art of
The accurate depiction of landscape in painting had also been developing in Early Netherlandish and Renaissance painting, and was then brought to a very high level in 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painting, with very subtle techniques for depicting a range of weather conditions and degrees of natural light. After being another development of Early Netherlandish painting, by 1600 European portraiture could give a very good likeness in both painting and sculpture, though the subjects were often idealized by smoothing features or giving them an artificial pose. Still life paintings, and still life elements in other works, played a considerable role in developing illusionistic painting, though in the Netherlandish tradition of flower painting they long lacked "realism", in that flowers from all seasons were typically used, either from the habit of assembling compositions from individual drawings, or as a deliberate convention; the large displays of bouquets in vases, though close to modern displays of cut flowers that they have influenced, were entirely atypical of 17th-century habits, where flowers were displayed one at a time. Intriguingly, having led the development of illusionic painting, still life was to be equally significant in its abandonment in Cubism.
Donald Judd
In his writings and art criticisms during the mid-1960s art critic and artist Donald Judd claimed that illusionism in painting undermined the artform itself. Judd implied that painting was dead, claiming painting was a lie because it depicted the illusion of three-dimensionality on a flat surface. Judd claimed that painting needed to recognize its objecthood in real space and reject illusion. Donald Judd wrote in “Specific Objects” in 1965:
Three dimensions are real space. That gets rid of the problem of illusionism and of literal space, space in and around marks of color… Actual space is intrinsically more powerful and specific than paint on a flat surface.[2]
Modern Illusion
In the Webster Texas Holiday Inn, close to the Houston Space Center, there is a double illusion ceiling by muralist Frank Wilson, commissioned in honor of US astronauts. Other double illusion murals exist in rooms for officials as well as the dining room, depicting a night sky under darkness and illuminated by glowing minerals. Under normal light, clouds and birds are observed.
References
- ^ a b c "Illusionism," Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, [accessed 17 March 2008].
- ^ Greg Lindquist, The Brooklyn Rail, Donald Judd