Aerial perspective: Umbach, Callot, Swanevelt & Cuisinier

How do artists use line to represent the effects of atmospheric haze?

In the post, Colour and spatial depth, I addressed some of the ways that artists portray the illusion of depth in images by cooling, greying and lightening the tone of colours. The present discussion builds upon this earlier interest by proposing how line alone (i.e. without colour) can portray pictorial depth and specifically how it can be used to capture the effect of atmospheric softening in images.

Before entering into a discussion about the principles for depicting aerial perspective—the technical term for describing the effect of atmospheric blurring—I wish to compare the difference in pictorial space between an image crafted with a single quality of line to represent depth and one constructed out of a careful arrangement of different types of lines (e.g. long, short, thick, thin, straight, curved, strong, fluid, crumbly, opaque and transparent).

An ideal example of an image built from a consistent thickness and tone of line is Jonas Umbach’s (1624–93) Landscape with Hunter and His Dogs (shown below). Umbach’s lines represent spatial depth by each feature of his landscape either overlaying the landscape details behind it or the details in front of the feature overlaying it in the same fashion (see detail of the print further below). This approach is effective in clarifying where each feature is positioned in space in terms of what could be crudely described as “this is in front of that” and with regard to linear perspective—the technical term for describing the gradual reduction in size of objects as they move away from us. What Umbach’s approach with using a fixed quality of line is not good at clarifying is how far each feature is from the next. To project this understanding of spatial dimension an artist needs to change the line attributes so that the landscape features farthest away are portrayed with lines that recreate the illusion of atmospheric fuzziness.

Jonas Umbach (1624–93)

Landscape with a Hunter and His Dogs, 1680

From the series of eight prints, Landscapes with Shepherds and Fishermen

Etching

9.9 x 14.9 cm

Haas 238

Condition: strong impression in good condition with fine margins.

I am selling this print for $188 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the Buy Now button below.

This print has been sold

Detail of Umbach’s Landscape with a Hunter and His Dogs

Detail of Umbach’s Landscape with a Hunter and His Dogs

One of the more inventive of the early printmakers exploring different line qualities to depict spatial depth is Jacques Callot (1592–1635) exemplified in his etching, View of the Pont Neuf, Paris (shown below). His development of the échoppe etching-needle enabled him to vary the swelling of lines to give three-dimensional form to his subjects, as can be seen in the varying thickness of his strokes portraying clouds in the upper right of the scene (see detail further below). This facility in itself may not render atmospheric effects specifically; nevertheless, it enables artists to strategically soften the contour modelling of a form’s silhouette extremities and thus it provides a useful capacity for adjusting the degree of atmospheric blurring at the subject’s edges. 

Jacques Callot (1592–1635)

View of the Pont Neuf, Paris, c.1631/2

(this impression, taken from the original plate, was published by Philip Gilbert Hamerton for Etching & Etchers, first edition, 1868)

Etching on laid paper with gatefold creases as published

16.3 x 33.9 cm (plate); 25.2 x 39 cm (sheet)

Daniel 232

Condition: crisp and well inked impression with gatefold and full margins as published by Hamerton in 1868. The sheet has age toning towards the edges and gatefold. 

Detail of swelling lines created by Callot’s échoppe etching-needle

in View of the Pont Neuf, Paris

Detail of Callot’s View of the Pont Neuf, Paris

Detail of Callot’s View of the Pont Neuf, Paris

Detail of Callot’s View of the Pont Neuf, Paris

Another of Callot’s techniques that addresses atmospheric haze in a profound way is his use of different line strengths: darker lines towards the foreground and lighter one towards the distance. To create these lines he varied the length of time that the line-work of each area of the etching plate is left in the mordant (acid) with the lines he wanted to be the darkest having been left in the mordant the longest. The advantage of this technique is clear by comparing in the two details below. To my eyes the graphic strength of the dark marks in the foreground connotes sharp focal resolution while the light marks depicting the far distance are graphically weak and suggest blurred vision.

Detail of View of the Pont Neuf, Paris showing use of varying line strengths to portray tonal and aerial perspective

Detail of View of the Pont Neuf, Paris

With regard to other artists’ approaches to representing spatial depth, the most common way is to conceive of space as having three critical and identifiable zones: foreground (i.e. the space occupied by the viewer where there is a comparatively sharp focus); middle-distance (i.e. a spatial zone that is midway between the viewer and the horizon or the far periphery of a scene where there the degree of focal resolution is also midway between sharp and blurry); and, far-distance (i.e. the spatial zone farthest away from the viewer where the focal resolution is poor). This approach makes the representation of space manageable. I mean this in the sense that the spatial break-up into three zones presents the artist with only three critical stages of change in the transition from sharp focus in the foreground to atmospheric blurriness in the far-distance. 

Of course, artists may choose to have a seamless transition from sharp focus to blurriness but tradition leans to artists employing just three zones and the attributes of these three zones are so entrenched that they can be codified.

To explain the attributes of each of the three zones I will use as an illustration the very beautiful etching by Herman van Swanevelt (1603–55) Large Waterfall (shown below).

Herman van Swanevelt (1603–55)

Large Waterfall [La Grande Cascade]

From the series Four Upright Landscapes

Inscribed: “Herman van Swanevelt Inventor fecit et excudit/ cum privilegio Regis”

Etching on laid paper

31.4 x 23.8 cm (plate); 31.5 x 24 cm (sheet)

Hollstein 102.ll; Bartsch ll.114 (318.115)

Condition: very good impression with minimal toning and handling marks. The sheet has age toning towards the edges and gatefolds. I am selling this print for $310 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the Buy Now button below.

This print has been sold

As shown in the digitally extracted foreground of Swanevelt’s etching and the detail sample below, the attributes of the foreground lines are: multi-directional (i.e. the lines may be angled in any direction matching the contours and textures of the featured subject); they are used in a mimetic fashion (i.e. the application of the lines match the intrinsic surface qualities of the subjects portrayed); and, the lines are laid in an emphatic way (i.e. the marks appear to be made confidently with crisp edges and with energy).

(upper image) digitally defined foreground area
(lower image) a sample of the line attributes in the foreground

The attributes of lines in the middle-distance, as shown below, are: lines aligned to a single angle related to the artist’s natural angle of mark making; they are blocked together in a averaging of the subject’s fundamental tones (i.e. the range of a subject’s tones are simplified, or what is technically described as “posterised”); and, as a result of the tonal emphasis, the lines are laid with a consistent pressure.   

(upper image) digitally defined middle-distance area

(lower image) a sample of the line attributes in the middle-distance

In the far-distance, as shown below, the key attributes are: lines leaning to a vertical or horizontal orientation lightly delineating the subject's silhouette edges; lines are laid in a schematic way representing a broad view of the subject; and, application of the lines is tentative suggesting the effect of atmospheric haze.  

(upper image) digitally defined far-distance area

(lower image) a sample of the line attributes in the far-distance

An interesting phenomenon concerning this visual code for representing aerial perspective is that the key attributes of each of the three zones incrementally invite a viewer “into” the distance by directional flow created by the pattern of lines in each zone. For example, in the diagram of the directional flow that I see in Swanevelt’s landscape, shown below, the angling of the lines gradually calms from the foreground zone of turbulent line work, through the middle-distance zone of broad planes of line to finally rest the eye into a view of a far-distant haze.

Visual code of line attributes for three zones

To conclude this discussion, I wish to draw attention to how the three-zone convention for showing a focal deterioration towards the distance is embraced in even quick sketches. For instance, note how Jules Edmond Cuisinier’s (1857–1917) rapidly executed ink sketch show below relies upon the three spatial zones to capture the effect of aerial perspective while simultaneously celebrating the essential spirit of the Barbizon School.

Jules Edmond Cuisinier (1857–1917)

Landscape

Pen and ink drawing on the back of a theatre programme for Théodore Barrière’s play, La Vie de Bohème.

7.8 x 10.5 cm (leaf)

Condition: yellow toning and handling marks otherwise in good condition. I am selling this drawing for $87 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the Buy Now button below.

This drawing has been sold

Suspension of disbelief: Van't Padje, Scheyndel, Rosetsu, Boissieu, Pintz & Sadeler

What are some ways that artists can fully engage a viewer?

Samuel Coleridge’s famous phrase “suspension of disbelief,” from his Biographia Literaria (1817), is a fine description of the way that viewers often engage with artworks. By this I mean that they “suspend” their conscious thoughts about how the image was created and immerse themselves in a visual dialogue with the image (as discussed in the earlier post, Five key responses to art.). For instance, when I look at Reflections, by one my students, Jason Van’t Padje, a feeling of being metaphorically absorbed within the image occurs; the image is simply riveting and I find difficulty in looking away. In short, my engagement with the reality of knowing that I am looking at an image is suspended and replaced with a state of reverie in which I enter into the spatial realm of the image.

Jason Van’t Padje

Reflections, 2012

Digital image

Sadly, sometimes this “suspension” collapses when viewers are unable to overlook technical shortcomings, such as the incorrect position of the reflected moon in Gillis van Scheyndel’s (active, 1622–79) rare night-scene, Landscape in Moonshine (shown below). 

Gillis van Scheyndel (active, 1622–79)

Landscape in Moonshine, c. 1650

Etching on paper without visible chainlines, watermarked “J. Kool”

9.8 x 14.3 cm (plate); 16.7 x 20.4 cm (sheet)

Hollstein 115 lll (of lll)

Condition: strong impression with wide margins, remnants of mounting hinges (verso), in very good condition. I am selling this print for $180 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the Buy Now button below.

This print has been sold

View of whole sheet

Detail of Gillis van Scheyndel’s Landscape in Moonshine, c. 1650

Whether an artist’s goal is, or even should be, about suspending a viewer’s disbelief cannot be answered with a definitive “yes” or “no.” After all, there will always be exceptions to any broad proposal. Moreover, following a discussion with a colleague, I have come to understand that there are some viewers who will never experience total immersion in an artwork. They are simply not disposed to “letting go” (i.e. they are unable to forget that they are looking at an artwork regardless whether this may be an image or a movie) and so any endeavour to induce total immersion in an artwork is a doomed exercise.

To be frank, even I struggle to suspend my disbelief when looking at artworks as my brain’s wiring engages in flicking between rationalising what I am looking at and immersion in a flow of reverie—what some refer to as being “in the zone.”  I am fully aware of this personal propensity as I am presently looking at Nagasawa Rosetsu’s (1754–99) painting, Standing Crane (shown below), hanging in my studio. In this flicker between conscious rationalisation and subconscious absorption in looking and feeling, the moment of rationalisation is when I marvel at the confidence of Rosetsu’s ink strokes and the unapologetic awkwardness of his composition (in the sense that the crane’s body tangentially brushes against the right edge of the painting). When my mind then flicks to a subconscious phase, I view the way that he portrays the crane as a point of departure for projecting my vision of the artist’s rebellious spirit (for which Rosetsu is famous) and imagine myself in the artist’s shoes.

Nagasawa Rosetsu (also known as Gyo, Masakatsunoinn, Chougyo and Hyokei) (1754–99) or a follower of Rosetsu

(left) view of the whole scroll

(right) detail of image section

Standing Crane

Ink on paper scroll with bone roller ends

60 x 208 cm (scroll); 116 x 46 cm (image)

Condition: light surface wear to image and small perforations to mount, otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this painting for [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page 

Rosetsu (Signature)

Gyo (Seal)

Detail of Rosetsu’s, Standing Crane

Regarding how artists work towards triggering a viewer’s shift from conscious scrutiny to subconscious engagement, one important device is the way an image is framed. To explain the subtle ways that a frame can play a major role, the following discussion will address a range frame types and underpinning issues that help to immerse the viewer into a visual dialogue with the image.

An interesting visual device to begin with is the keyhole effect that is essentially an optical illusion where the viewer examines the portrayed subject through a keyhole framed aperture. Like the Holly and Clover illusion discussed in the earlier posts, Representing light and Holly & Clover, the effect is to do with the silhouette edge and how the framing of a subject affects the way we perceive it. In the case of the Holly and Clover illusion, the effect is driven by either a scalloped format similar in shape to a holly leaf that pictorially “pushes” the framed subject backward into a void whereas a format shaped like a clover leaf pictorially “pulls” the framed subject forward. With the keyhole effect the illusion is not so much about a pictorial “push” and “pull,” but rather about creating a type of stereoscopic vision.

The illusion of three-dimensions that forms when looking at an image through a keyhole-like aperture—an “x”-shaped aperture has a similar effect to the traditional keyhole shape—is driven by a sensation of spatial disjunction. This experience probably arises from the viewer’s psychological abandonment of the surrounding space in favour of the realm visible through the opening. To demonstrate this odd phenomenon I will use Jean-Jacques de Boissieu’s (1736–1810) vignette portrait, Le Père Cotrot, Garçon Teinturier à Lyon (shown below).

Jean-Jacques de Boissieu (1736–1810)

Le Père Cotrot, Garçon Teinturier à Lyon, 1770

Etching, engraving, drypoint and roulette on Chine appliqué

20 x 16 cm (plate); 26.4 x 23.5 cm (sheet)

Signed in plate lower right: “DB 1770”

Perez 46

Condition: strong impression, damp patch lower right (2 cm from plate mark), traces of handling, otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this print for [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested

When this print is viewed as de Boissieu intended (i.e. with the head of Cotrot dissolving into his surroundings) the graphic representation of pictorial space surrounding Cotrot is designed to extend, with indulgence of a viewer’s suspension of disbelief, to the space that the viewer occupies. Essentially the two spatial realms—the graphic of the print and the real of the viewer—are metaphorically smudged. This is not the case when a keyhole or similar aperture frames the portrait of Cotrot, as shown below.

With an overlay of this kind, the space that the viewer occupies is divorced from the space surrounding Cotrot by virtue of the keyhole acting as a privileged viewpoint in what is essentially a wall-like barrier presented by the frame. Each viewer’s reading of what they see when looking through such an aperture will be different, but, from my reading, I see a fragment of a world that seems as real as the space I occupy. This illusion of a super reality underpins the keyhole effect and how it generates a suspension of disbelief in a spatial realm of which we can only have a glimpse.

The Keyhole Effect

From my explorations using different shaped formats I discovered that horizontals and verticals featured in the format shape interferes with this perception of spatial disjuncture. For example, in the experimental watercolours, Decorative Panel A and B shown below, I am not convinced that the square-edged format employed in them triggers the same perception of a super reality exhibited with the formal keyhole shape. Instead, the effect is like the Holly and Clover illusion of “push” and “pull” underpinning Rudolf Arnheim’s insight in Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye  (1974) that “convexity makes for the figure, convexity for the ground” (p. 232).

James Brown

(left) Decorative Panel A, 1991

(right) Decorative Panel B, 1991

Watercolour on Arches paper

(each panel) 61.8 x 35.8 cm

These paintings have been sold

Compare, for example, the effect when Boissieu’s print is viewed through a “+”- shaped aperture (shown below) to the effect when it is viewed through an “x”-shaped (shown further below). To my eyes the angled aperture of the “x”-shape creates a much stronger illusion of spatial disjuncture than I see with the “+”- shaped aperture.

View through a “+”-shaped aperture

View through an “x”-shaped aperture

Of course, any framing edge to an image acts as a line of demarcation separating the physical realm occupied by the viewer from the pictorial realm of the image. Going further, usually this line of demarcation acts as a picture plane window for the spatial illusion it frames, as can be seen in I.G. Pintz’s TAB. DVII—IOB. Cap. 1. v. 16. 18. 19. Decora et Pecora Iobi proftrata (shown below). Interestingly, Printz has made his window effect a critical component of this print by facilitating a visual dialogue between the framing edge and the pictorial depth of the image. This notion of dialogue arises because the motifs represented in the engraved frame contain skulls, storm clouds with wind-blowing cherubs and what I assume are funerary urns, all of which are symbols correlating with the cataclysmic scene portrayed within the pictorial window.

I.G. Pintz [Johann Georg Pintz] (1697–1767)

TAB. DVII—IOB. Cap. 1. v. 16. 18. 19. Decora et Pecora Iobi proftrata , 1731

From Scheuchze’s (1672–1733) Physica Sacra

Engraving on laid paper

32 x 20.6 cm (plate); 42.2 x 25 cm (sheet)

Condition: superb impression with no foxing. The sheet exhibits toning at edges and traces of handling. The print has generous borders on three sides but the right side has a 1 cm border from the plate mark.

I am selling this print for [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. 

View of the whole sheet

Detail of TAB. DVII—IOB. Cap. 1. v. 16. 18. 19. Decora et Pecora Iobi proftrata 

In terms of physical frames made of timber and glass, there is a long and well entrenched tradition of using physical frames to present images as windows to another realm. Even the poor, who were unable to afford frames for their artworks, had a solution when they came to display artworks. In the two very early engravings by Raphael Sadeler I (1560/61–1628/32) and Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) shown below, for instance, canvas laminated to the front and the back of the prints provide a cost effective solution to making the prints more robust for handling and, importantly, for creating a window-like effect. Note that these prints still show evidence of pin holes where they were affixed to the wall and hand-colouring to make the illusion of pictorial depth more real.

Raphael Sadeler I (1560/61–1628/32)

after the design by Marten de Vos (1532–1603)

Saint Bavo, 1593-94

State 1 (of 2)

Engraving, hand-coloured with linen backing (verso) and linen frame border (recto)

18.9 x 22.5 cm (sheet)

Bartsch 7101.105 S1; Hollstein (1980) 21.124; Hollstein (1995-96) 41.1007

Condition: slightly silvery impression with no foxing but general surface dustiness.  As noted above, the print is laminated with linen verso and recto and has been coloured by an old hand.

I am selling this print for $80 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. 
Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the “Buy Now” button below.

This print has been sold

Detail of Sadeler’s Saint Bavo showing the linen frame

Jan (Johannes/Johan/Joan) Sadeler I (1550–1600)

After a lost drawing by Marten de Vos (1532–1603)

Saint Joannicius, c. 1587

(“After a career as a soldier, the saint retired to Mount Olympus in Bithynia. His death in 846 is celebrated on 4 November.” [Bartsch 70001.396])

State 1 (of 2)

Engraving, hand-coloured with linen backing (verso) and linen frame border (recto)

18.9 x 22.7 cm (sheet)

Bartsch 7001.396; Hollstein (1980) 21.426; Hollstein (1995-96) 44.1029; Senechal (1987) 18; Edquist (1990) p. 82, no. 95b

Condition: slightly silvery impression with no foxing but general surface dustiness, stains and wear. A small patch is missing lower centre where the letter “i” should be in “Dei.” As noted above, the print is laminated with linen verso and recto and has been coloured by an old hand.

I am selling this print for $80 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the “Buy Now” button below.

This print has been sold

Although framing devices, especially the keyhole effect, can trigger Coleridge’s “suspension of disbelief” the image itself must support the flow of total engagement. In the next post I will discuss some of the conventions underpinning the depiction of foreground, middle distance and distance that support a viewer’s total engagement. Before ending this discussion, however, I need to point out that a viewer’s absorption in looking does not necessarily mean that an image must be a well-composed cohesive image. Indeed, sometimes a viewer’s experience of being immersed in the imagery is all about fragmentation. For instance, when I look at Saint Joannicius (shown above), my attention is fragmented into a series of spatial cells, each with its own spatial realm to explore (see the digital mapping of the key spatial realms below). What I mean to point out by this insight is that there are more elements to capturing and sustaining a viewer’s interest than artful composition. In fact, some of the most memorable images are those that challenge our expectations.

Spatial cells in Sadeler’s Saint Joannicius

Colour & spatial depth: Brown, Kato Eishu, Tanomura Chikuden & Challis

What are some of the principles guiding artists’ use of colour and tone to create the illusion of spatial depth?

A rainbow illuminating my desk

Let me begin by saying that most folk have an inherent understanding of colour in terms of choosing the best colour for a certain purpose; this includes choosing a colour scheme for portraying spatial depth in an image. If asked to explain their choice, however, the discussion may lean more to personal associations, past experiences and popular expectations that relate to colour rather than pictorial conventions and theories dealing with colour and perception. Mindful that there is little point in addressing colour and spatial depth in terms of personal insights and dispositions—there are far too many variables impacting on the decision process to entertain such an undertaking—the following discussion focuses on three fundamental but closely related principles underpinning most artistic practices: colour perspective, chromatic perspective and tonal perspective. For the sake of clarity, most of the discussion concerns artworks created with paint (i.e. processes that colour theorists’ term “subtractive”) but most of the principles apply equally well to screen-based artworks including those that deal with projected light (i.e. processes that colour theorists’ term “additive”).

A rainbow illuminating my desk

Regarding the first of these principles, colour perspective, this is probably the most fundamental of all the ways that artists portray depth, as it involves all the hues of the rainbow. Essentially the use of colour to achieve pictorial depth in an image is a simple as saying: “Colours that are warm (i.e. colours like orange, red and all the browns that have associations with heat) should feature towards the foreground and the colours that are cool (i.e. colours like green and blue and all the aqua colours that have association with cold) should feature towards the background.” Such a simplistic statement, however, is only a broad guide and if applied in a formulaic way could lead to a perfunctory and unsatisfying outcome.

In terms of subtleties involved in using colour to achieve spatial depth, ideally an artist ensures that the colours in a composition “live happily with each other”—a poetic expression for a desiring a colour-coordinated image where each colour looks like it belongs and contributes in a cohesive way to a unified overall image. To achieve this colour unity artists often introduce an element of cool colour to a warm foreground and an element of warm colour to a cool background. This may involve literally adding a splash of each colour group to the other (as shown below in my painting, September Garden) or mixing all the colours with a touch of each other so that they all appear to belong to the same colour family (as shown further below in my painting, October Garden). Of course, an artist must be careful when mixing cool colours with warm as such mixtures of complements may result in images with muddy colours resembling army camouflage.

James Brown

September Garden, 2011

Oil on canvas

59 x 70.5 cm

[This painting has been sold]

James Brown

October Garden, 2011

Oil on canvas

59 x 70.5 cm

[This painting has been sold]

An important principle in making colours “sing” or “talk to each other” is the choice of colour placed in between. There is an old adage (thankfully ignored by most artists, as from my experience there is little truth to it) that “blue and green should never be seen without a colour in between.” For some artists this may be a useful rule, especially when blue and green play such a vital role in creating the illusion of spatial depth. Like all generalisations, however, the context in which colours are used is critical. Some artists, such as Sam Fullbrook (1922–2004), have no problem with placing strokes of blue and green together and their artworks are undeniably lyrical as a consequence. Of course, in other artists’ hands the same juxtaposition can appear unpleasantly saccharine. In terms of making the two colours sing, or excite the eye, however, there is truth to the adage. For instance, if middle-tone grey is placed between blue and green the abutting edge of grey beside the blue will appear to have an orange colour cast to it while the abutting edge of grey beside the green will appear to be a reddish grey (see colour diagram below). This colour interaction—technically termed “simultaneous contrast”—at the line of abutment is a marvellous way to induce the viewer’s eye to optically see more colours in an image than are really there. 

Juxtaposition of middle-grey with blue and green 
(Interestingly, the blue, grey and green are all the same tone)

Arguably, Oriental artists have been aware of this phenomenon far longer than in the West, as it is a part of their brush tradition to connote colour without using colour. For example, in Kato Eishu (alias Einosuke, 1873–1939) scroll painting of chickens (shown below), the greyed magenta strokes giving form to the chickens’ comb, wattle and legs do more than simply enliven the painting with a dash of colour. To my eyes, or more specifically to my mind’s eyes, these stokes of colour affect my perception so that I see green in the rooster’s tail, yellow in the hen’s feathers and blue extending behind the chicken family. Even more peculiar, I see the dull magenta as not being a single colour but a full range of warm colours with the head of the hen appearing as scarlet and the head of the rooster as a dull violet-red (see the digital reconstruction with the colours I perceive shown further below.) While I can imagine sceptics wishing to propose that this is nonsense or symptomatic that I may need bucket loads of medication, thankfully Edwin Land’s Retinex theory (also known as the Land Effect) supports my perception.

Kato Eishu (alias Einosuke, 1873–1939)

Chickens

(upper left) view of the whole scroll

(lower left) view of the scroll when rolled

(right) detail of image section

Ink on paper scroll

173 x 43.8 cm (scroll); 113.5 x 29.3 cm (image)

Condition: light surface dustiness, minor wear to mount and folding lines commensurate with the age of the painting, otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this scroll for $370 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested.

Detail of Kato Eishu’s Chickens

Detail of Kato Eishu’s Chickens

(left) original detail of Kato Eishu’s Chickens

(right) digitally altered detail recreating the Land Effect

Edwin Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera, discovered this effect in 1977 (see an excerpt from his talk for the BBC on colour perception below). Essentially, he proposes that our eyes and brain are “wired” to see colour constancy (i.e. our brain ignores changing local conditions in our view of coloured objects, such as cast shadows and reflected light, to ensure that our perception of the objects’ colours is consistent). Going further, our brain and eyes are equipped to add colour where colour constancy is needed. By extension of this fascinating discovery (presuming my understanding of the phenomenon is not too biased to how I wish to understand it), in the case of Kato Eishu’s Chickens, this means that my vision of an almost technicolour reading of what is essentially a monochrome painting is not outside the realms of possibility. 

Uploaded by technologizer on May 4, 2011

Excerpt from a 1985 episode of the BBC's Horizons show on colour perception, featuring Polaroid founder Edwin Land.

(For another site that explains the principle in an easy to understand way see: http://www.grand-illusions.com/acatalog/Land_Effect.html)

To test the efficacy of the Land Effect I have digitally reconstructed September Garden below by desaturating its hues (i.e. neutralising the colours to grey) but retaining the centre red flower in full colour. By intention, a viewer should be able to see colour in the surrounding grey tones based on an expectation of what the colours should be after seeing the full-colour image earlier. Whether this envisaged outcome is validated from personal experience or not is open for discussion. If it is validated, then the idea of limiting the number of colours employed to represent a broad spectrum of colours, especially with regard to portraying spatial depth, may be a useful guiding principle for constructing images.

Experimental test of the Land Effect 

Regarding chromatic perspective as a principle to achieve spatial depth, like colour perspective, it can be summed up in a very simple statement: “Saturated colours (i.e. colours that match the rainbow hues in intensity) should feature towards the foreground and colours that are chromatically degenerated (i.e. dull and greyed-out colours) should feature towards the background.” As is the case with colour perspective, however, there is a myriad of subtleties that can make the outcome of applying the principle more inviting than using it in a soulless perfunctory way. 

My painting of cactus flowers, Small Lanterns (shown below), for example, features vibrant foreground colours set against a grey background, but the two spatial zones of foreground and background are designed to “talk” to each other. This visual dialogue occurs at the silhouette edge of the flowers and leaves, where the cactus meets the background. Along this line of intersection I have added small accents of darker background tone at points where I conceived that the subject needed pictorial weighting to suggest tension in the cactus’ form. To my eyes, these nodal points bring the background and cactus close to the same spatial plane—as if the background and the cactus are like separate painted ceramic tiles with the dark tonal accents acting like grout joining them together (see detail further below). This connection of spatial planes at the nodal points, in one sense, creates spatial ambiguity by flattening the illusion of spatial depth. In a larger view of the painting as a whole, however, the perception of spatial ambiguity occurs only at the nodal points and, as a consequence of these points of connection, the painting may be seen as a cohesive, unified composition. In short, the subtlety of this device ensures that the key subject of a composition is not divorced completely from its surroundings even though the use of chromatic perspective presents the subject in deep space.

James Brown

Small Lanterns, 2011

Oil on canvas

70.5 x 59 cm

[This painting has been sold]

Digital accentuation of silhouette edges in Small Lanterns

Regarding tonal perspective in the use of colour, this principle for achieving spatial depth may be summed up in the statement: “Dark colours should feature towards the foreground and light colours should feature towards the background.” This arrangement of tones is straight forward and it captures the illusion of pictorial depth very well. As is always the case, however, there are exceptions. For example, if an artist wishes to represent the space in a small room the use of the rule would not produce a satisfactory outcome—the room would appear to be very deep. Accordingly, to portray shallow space, as in a small room, an artist reverses this rule and uses light colours in the foreground and dark colours in the background. Similarly in depicting a scene featuring a body of water, if the artist wishes to portray a lake or a wide river then the rule of a dark foreground with a light distance is fine. If, however, the artist wished to portray a small pond, creek or narrow canal then the rule should be reversed.

To demonstrate this phenomenon I will return to Japanese painting and offer the mountain landscape shown below by Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835) as an image to focus on. Before I start, however, I need to clarify how the tones are used in the painting, because, like all Oriental paintings, side lighting is not used to give a subject form and to create the illusion of three dimensions. Going further the varying tones of black ink in this painting do more than display a grey scale version of a mountainous landscape receding into the distance; the way the brush strokes are laid and the white spaces between them express mood and colour. In fact Tamomura Chikuden’s paintings are famous for representing melancholy by the phrasing and disposition of his marks. In the detail further below, for instance, note how he builds the texture of the mountain by the dot-like deposits of ink that he leaves at critical stages along a line.

Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835)

[Mountainous Landscape]

(upper left) view of the whole scroll

(lower left) view of the scroll when rolled

(right) detail of image section

Ink on paper scroll

199.1 x 4.7 cm (scroll); 134.7 x 33 cm (image)

Condition: several minor marks and folding lines commensurate with the age of the painting, otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this scroll and box for $390 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the “Buy Now” button below.

This scroll has been sold

(left) detail of Tanomura Chikuden’s brush strokes
(right) detail area of the painting marked in red 

In terms of tonal perspective, this painting relies on the same tonal perspective principle as artists use in the West: a dark foreground and a light toned distance. The application of the principle, however, is far from a Western approach. In a broad way, each mountain is presented a tone lighter than the next to achieve spatial depth in accordance with the tonal perspective principles. Nevertheless, each mountain is painted like a stage-flat, with pancake-shallow space, separated from the other mountains by mist.

This perceived flattening of the individual mountains is a conundrum: at first glance, the application of the principle seems to be applied but closer inspection reveals inconsistencies that result in the flattening. For example, in the detail shown below of a cluster of mountain ridges, the lighter aspects of the front ridge are towards the foreground (i.e. the viewer) while the darker aspects are towards the distance—an arrangement that is inconsistent with the perspective principle. The ridges behind the closer one, however, may be viewed as darker towards the foreground (i.e. the centre areas of the ridges) with their lighter aspects at the silhouette extremities—an arrangement that is consistent with the perspective principle.

Detail of Tanomura Chikuden’s landscape

As an exploratory Western approach to portraying the same mountain I have inverted the tones in the digitally adjusted detail shown below (my apologies to sensitive folk that object to any manipulation of masterpieces).

Detail of Tanomura Chikuden’s landscape with inversion of tones and other digital modifications to deepen the illusion of spatial depth

A Western artist’s application of the principle may be seen in E Challis’ engraving of JMW Turner’s The Arch of Titus—Rome (shown below). Here, the foreground including the sky is dark and the far distance is light in tone. What is fascinating about the introduction of colour shown in the watercolour tinted version of the same print (see further below) is how colour perspective can present a challenge when it is used in conjunction in with tonal perspective—as invariably it is. I mention this because if an artist wishes to portray a shadowy foreground then the choice of colours is usually biased to the cool hues. Conversely when an artist wishes to portray a light background the choice of colours is usually biased to warm hues. This can be a problem as such an arrangement conflicts with colour perspective where the warm colours should be in the foreground and the cool colours should be in the distance. Although from a technical standpoint this is a concern, in reality the effect of colour constancy in the mind’s wiring overcomes the problem as the eye makes adjustments according to lighting effects such as shadows. A most arresting demonstration of the eye’s ability to make adjustments for shadows and light may be seen in the famous Addison Illusion (demonstrated in the video further below).

(engraver) E Challis

(artist) JMW Turner (1775–1851)

(upper image) The Arch of Titus—Rome

Published 1861, The Art Journal, Virtue and Co, London

Engraving, 15.5 x 27.5 cm (image); 23 x 32 cm (sheet)  

(lower image) The Arch of Titus—Rome

Published 1876-9, The Turner Gallery by George Virtue and D. Appleton & Co., London & New York

Engraving, hand-tinted with watercolour on heavy cream wove paper

15.2 x 27.5 cm (image); 24.5 x 36.5 cm (sheet)  

Condition: slight age toning to edge otherwise in good condition.

I am selling both of the above prints (i.e. the black and white engraving and the watercolour tinting version of the same print a combined total cost of $86 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested.

Detail of Challis’ The Arch of Titus—Rome

Uploaded by uoplerta on Aug 13, 2011

The Adelson Illusion 

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In future posts I will augment these three perspectives with additional ones, such as, opacity, sheen, shape and texture perspectives.

Most important, for the first time I have opened the blog to comments. 

Please let me know your thoughts, advice about inaccuracies (including typos) and additional information that you would like to add to any post.