It seems that the Renaissance (1300-1700), methods of presenting the surrounding world in a flat pictorial plane using linear perspective, has dictated the way artists have worked for countless centuries. Linear perspective is a technique used by artists that uses line to create the illusion of depth and space within their work. However this approach is only a representation created using a singular eye.
This method of working is suggested to have originated from Leon Battista Alberti’s (1404-1472) metaphor of painting, he proposes that a work of art can be comparable to … an open window through which the subject to be painted is seen’ (1435-6). Alberti’s statement seems to be the explanation to why flat works of art, are repeatedly presented in a rectangle or square shape. Nevertheless something interesting started happening in the twentieth century, a sparse number of individual artists started challenging this manner of working.
Since the birth of photography there was no need for art to serve a documentation purpose anymore or to be representational, traditional ways of working were put aside and made way for new experimental methods of working thus the creation of modern art (1860-1970). Fig 1. This development in art practice is proposed to have embarked by the work of Cezanne (1839-1906). He began experimenting with depicting two different perspectives in one image which is easily visible in his painting, Still Life with a Plate of Cherries (1885-87) (fig 1).
Note the two different viewpoints of the plates, the plate of cherries is painted from a bird’s eye perspective. Whilst the plate of peaches is perceived from a side view. The same concept again appears with the vase, you can peer inside as well as including a side view of the object. Perhaps if our eyes were inserted vertically inside our heads rather than horizontally, this would be an accurate depiction of how we see. Subsequently this technique was something that couldn’t be duplicated by photography at the time.
Cezanne’s method of working sparked ideas and inspiration for other artists, hence the take-off of modern art. With inspiration taken from Cezanne, a small number of artists started noticing that linear perspective isn’t an accurate measure of depicting the surrounding world, or specifically how we visually experience it. Our visual perception has unusual characteristics that is undeniably rarely recorded within the practice of art. For example your nose and areas of your face, surrounding the eye are always visible, (notice how you are suddenly conscious of your nose).
Equally importantly this is information that is suppressed by the brain as it’s not unfamiliar or useful to us. Attributes of our binocular vision are consistently absent from artworks. Binocular vision is the term to describe our individual vision of both eyes that has two unique views of external information. Which overlaps to form a singular image, this grants us the ability to determine depth within our surrounding environment. Let’s explore the concept of visual perception further and identify key artists that have adopted these different characteristics of vision within their practice.
Firstly I would like to accredit an artist who is close to home, Evan Walters (1893-1951) is a Welsh born artist who in my opinion was a dominant advocate of creating artworks that incorporated characteristics of visual perception. He often conducted visual experiments that can be clearly seen throughout his work. He began to recognise that ‘all pictures in existence, without exception are painted as though creators had only one eye in their heads, similar to cyclops’, (1940).
Although Evan Walters is one of a few artists that has portrayed visual awareness within his work, his experiments sought him to lose his recognition and the advancement of his career as an artist. Fig 2 Within Evan Walters’ painting, Still Life with Cricket Ball (1940) (fig 2) the artist shows clear self-awareness of the nose, eyebrow and cheek area that is depicted as a semi-transparent border around the edges of the painting. The artist allows the viewer to actively engage and experience what he is seeing through his own personal view.
He has intensively gazed at the cricket ball and has recorded what he has observed within the surrounding area, still with his eyes fixated upon the ball. This is where the doubling of images is produced. Notice the several different viewpoints of the box within the painting, this doubling appears as a result of our left and right eye seeing slightly varied views of the box. The double imagery is a product of our binocular vision, as we have two unique accounts of our surroundings from two separate eyes, (notice the doubling yourself, when you duplicate the same visual experiment).
If you hold up one finger in front of your face whilst looking at another object beyond, you will observe two transparent images of your finger. Furthermore, observe how the cricket ball isn’t perfectly spherical and is slightly elongated horizontally, this happens due to our eyes being placed horizontally in our heads and can only be perceived when the ball is viewed with both eyes. In addition to these characteristics the inclusion of central and periphery vision is distinctively explored within this painting. It directs the viewer’s attention to the cricket ball instinctively.
Central vision is the limited finger nail sized area that is only in focus when you observe, it allows us to isolate specific details. Whereas periphery vision is the surrounding view that is in sight, more importantly it’s not necessarily conscious or detailed. Walters has depicted periphery vision within this painting by creating a blurred image with the adoption of dashed mark making with exception of the central focus that is painted with precision. The blurred dashes provides emphasis of shifting vision between the left and the right eye.
Fig 3 In addition to the previous Evan Walters painting discussed (fig 2) another one of the artist’s visual paintings that’s particularly thought-provoking, A Study from Life (1942-43) (fig 3). Instead of experimenting with the individual vision from each eye from a distance, the artist has eliminated this distance and has tried to paint a self-portrait of himself from an extreme close up point of view. At this point our eyes don’t seem to distinguish the surrounding areas and the face appears narrowed and both eyes become one.
In this distinctive painting Walter’s portrays this oddity of our vision and perhaps presents us with an inconsistency in our vision, it appears that everything may not be what it seems. The Artists gaze becomes confrontational and intense due to the one singular Cyclops eye fixed upon the viewer, yet this observation can only be regarded with both eyes. Fig 4 To conclude so far, linear perspective is an accurate account of depicting the space in external world if the artist or viewer has one eye.
However, what happens to the way this space is depicted if we add a second eye into the equation? How do we observe this external space and how can it be expressed into a two dimensional form with accuracy and staying true to what we visually experience? Although Evan Walter’s explores multiple features of visual experience, he doesn’t seem to display the true expansion of periphery vision within his paintings. The limitations of periphery vision is simply illustrated in (fig 4). Fig 5
With an indisputable influence from Cezanne, lvon Hitchens (1893-1970) demonstrates his own spatial awareness he experiences whilst observing the landscape. The elongation of his paintings horizontally and the panoramic view presented, implies that Hitchens is creditably aware of his peripheral surroundings. Within his painting Winter Stage (1936) (fig5), the artist displays clear consideration of how he is able to depict space accurately and consequently the relationships between objects and this space. The adoption of linear perspective is seemingly absent within this painting.
What is interesting though, is the enhancement of curvature lines to recreate the three dimensional space that the artist experiences. Examine this aspect yourself by looking beyond to the horizon line, notice how it is never a perfectly straight line. This horizon line however does obtain a slight concave curvature. This technique of working allows the artist to establish his own existence in relation with landscape he is experiencing. The notable architect Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) even claimed that, “There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature… ” (Unknown).
