Wednesday, November 14, 2007
chandelier conspiracy?
I guess I find it hard to believe that the influx of realism in painting in Europe was due simply to from painters tracing from projecting images from a camera obscura or concave mirror. It seems to me that throughout the article that Hockney's claim is inconclusive with regard to the methods of van Eyck. Sure, there is a possibility he is right, but I'm not convinced that this was the case generally for painters who were shifting towards a realist style. Regardless of my lack of knowledge surrounding painting and trends in art in the 14th century, I couldn't help but think about if this notion surrounding the painting completely missed the point. The Arnolfini portrait seems to offer much more than simply the chandelier. The light portrayed in the chandelier and on the window frame is incredible, and the reflection in the mirror is fascinating. I appreciated Crary's notion of this method of examining art the end of the article, "Scientists are preoccupied with imperfection. They are so out of touch with what making art is about."
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1 comment:
Do you have a link to that article? I was a photography major and the camera really was originally designed to be used as a painters tool but only to get the basics of the image onto the canvas. I'm sure it helped fuel the shift to realism, but it was the genius of the painters who were able to take a line drawing and create paintings that really drove it.
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