Author: KUBOVY, MICHAEL
Title: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSPECTIVE AND RENAISSANCE ART.
Description: Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. 1st paperback edition. Paperback, 25,5cmx18cm, Good condition /Cover in color, Cover illustration: detail from : Andrea Mantegna: 'Archers shooting at Saint Christopher'. Cover text: Michael Kubovy, an experimental psychologist, recounts the lively history of the invention of perspective in the fifteenth century, and shows how, as soon as the invention spread, it was used to achieve subtle and fascinating aesthetic effects. His clear presentation of the fundamental concepts of perspective and the reasons for its effectiveness, drawing on the latest laboratory research on how people perceive, leads into the development of a new theory to explain why Renaissance artists such as Leonardo and Mantegna used perspective in unorthodox ways which have puzzled art scholars. This theory illuminates the author's broader consideration of the evolution of art: the book proposes a resolution of the debate between those who believe that the invention/discovery of perspective is a stage in the steady progress of art and those who believe that perspective is merely a conventional and arbitrary system for the representation of space. Along the way, it touches on problems ranging from the nature of illusion to the character of Brunelleschi (who may have invented perspective, but who may only seem to have invented it), as well as the interpretation of an image, in a fesco by Mantegna, of a man shot through the eye with an arrow. Contents: Introduction: The importance of perpective and the metaphor of the arrow in the eye. Chapters. 1). The elements of perspective. 2). Interlude: Brunelleschi's peepshow and the invention of perspective. 3). The effectiveness of Brunelleschi's peepshow. 4). The robustness of perspective. 5). Illusion, delusion, collusion and perceptual paradox. 6). Perceiving the window in order to see the world. 7). The bounds of perspective: marginal distortions. 8). Why was the Brunelleschi peephole abandoned. 9). The psychology of egocenters. 10). The invention of perspective and the evolution of art. With references and index. 121 illustrations. XIV + 192 pag.

Keywords: italia alberti edgerton geometry da vinci gournerie masaccio pirenne fra pozzo stereoscopic vision trompe l'oeil


See more books from our catalog: ITALIAN renaissance