Let’s get things into Perspective
During the last few months, I’ve been running talks on various subjects to do with the world of art.
After all we’ve been through and all the uncertainty in the world at the moment, we still have art and it’s very rewarding and enjoyable to bring a little satisfaction to people showing some aspects of the art world that may have been hitherto unknown and unfamiliar to most.
The first session covered the techniques of perspective. The title of the talk was ‘Let’s get things into perspective’ and it followed the opening up of society after the seasons of lockdowns.
Starting with the ancient world where the technique of perspective was unknown …
… I moved through to the early Renaissance and introduced the audience to Brunelleschi (of Florence Duomo dome fame) and his theory of perspective.
Following this to perspective’s refinement in the 16th century with for example Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’ where linear perspective is very much in evidence.
This then through to for example the 18th Century and Constable and Turner’s use of aerial perspective.
Following this to more modern times where flatness became the vogue with the influence of Japanese art such as Hiroshige. Picasso and Gauguin and Van Gogh were some of the artists I choose to illustrate a return to a flatter approach and to a certain extent the abandonment of linear perspective in particular…
and what of Cezanne …?
More recent art examples such as David Hockney concluded the talk.
My audience were then invited to have a go at linear perspective themselves. Joining the dots I’d made on paper, with ruler and pencils the participants enjoyed discovering for themselves how clever yet straightforward the technique can be.
To many, the art world is daunting, to others it holds little interest. A gentle submersion at a depth to suit the individual can produce rich and rewarding results.
That’s the purpose of Art-Tales.