'Ways of seeing'
One of the things we looked at was the idea of looking at paintings from a different point of view, instead of just straight on. Looking from a different point of view can make one have a different interpretation.
A painting by Hans Holbein, a German artist, has an anamorphosis in it. An anamorphous is a distorted or monstrous projection or representation of an image on a plane or curved surface, which, when viewed from a certain point, or as reflected from a curved mirror or through a polyhedron, appears regular and in proportion.
'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein
The skull at the bottom, which would be seen from standing on the left side looking from a 27° angle downwards. Christ can be seen looking 27° upwards.
This is definitely an amazing piece of artwork and I really like the idea of using anamorphosis in paintings...truely amazing.
"Ways of understanding"
One of the things we looked at was iconology. Erwin Panofsky, a German art historian, idea of three levels of art-historical understanding, in his 1939 work 'Studies in Iconology'.
1) Primary subject matter
2) Secondary subject matter
(iconography)
3) Intrinsic meaning
(iconography)
Panofsky interpreted Jan van Eyck's 'The Arnolfini Marriage' as not only a depiction of a wedding ceremony, but also a visual contract testifying to the act of marriage.
'The Arnolfini Marriage' by Jan van Eyck
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Learnt something very interesting in today's lecture... =)
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