My first hands on experience with math and art was in my freshman year of high school. I was in an advanced art class, and we were working on our perspective drawing unit. We spent the large majority of a class period discussing ratios and using rulers to calculate distances in our sketches. I remember being intrigued that math had been able to penetrate into the world of art-- for me, art class was a way for me to escape my hardest subjects and allow my creativity to escape the confines of formulas and theorems.
Illustration of math application in perspective drawing.
However, if it weren’t for math, my art piece would have been absolutely terrible. I realized that math is an as essential part of of art as the pencils I use. Both math and pencils are art tools, and it is in our application of both that we are able to create astounding works of art. First explored by Fillipo Brunelleschi during the Renaissance, perspective drawing became an integral part of art, as it allowed artists to create strikingly realistic paintings. The dawn of the Renaissance and the pull away from traditional Medieval art styles allowed for a further expansion of art into the sciences and mathematics. Brunelleschi’s experiments with perspective in his paintings allow for other artists to make use of his mathematical techniques in their own artwork, subsequently leading to an expansion in realistic artwork.
Brunelleschi’s explorations of math and art changed the way in which artists used different techniques in their artworks.
This integration of math and art has profound effects on our different societies and cultures. Through Edwin A. Abbot’s Flatland I was able to see an interpretation of just how influential math can be in shaping our social, physical, and especially artistic worlds. His juxtaposition of math and art further highlighted the importance of using math to further expand our understanding and perceptions of art.
The use of math in art is not simply limited to two dimensional paintings; innumerable works of art, all of different mediums, utilize math to create beauty and inspire creativity. As our societies further progress, math and art become and integral part of our everyday lives as we are surrounded by the beauty of calculations.
Ink Drops to The Origins is an example of how math and art play an equal role in architectural design.
References:
Abbot, Edward A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. 1884.
Frantz, Marc. “Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art.” Web. 2000. Accessed 10 April 2015. http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf
Malkevitch, Joseph. “Mathematics and Art.” American Mathematical Society. Web. April 2015. Accessed 10 April 2015. http://www.ams.org/samplings/feature-column/fcarc-art1
Mathematical Association of America. “Math and Art: The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty.” Web. Accessed 10 April 2015. http://www.maa.org/meetings/calendar-events/math-and-art-the-good-the-bad-and-the-pretty
Tyler, Christopher. “Principles of Perspective.” Science and Art Perspective. Web. Accessed 10 April 2015. http://www.webexhibits.org/sciartperspective/raphaelperspective1.html
I also had an art assignment in my art history class in high school, in which we utilized the tactics of the Renaissance to create linear perspective in our artwork. However unlike yourself, I was extremely excited to be able to apply my aptitude toward mathematics and geometry to attempt to enhance my poor artistic talent. Using linear perspective created somewhat of a format for me to “color in the lines”. I really liked your analysis that math can “create beauty and inspire creativity.” Most people assume that math is a exact and systematic, but after studying this module we found out that math can push through boundaries and instigate striking artwork.
ReplyDeleteI remember learning about linear perspectives in art class during middle school! I remember spending hours and hours trying to get the angles and everything right, and drawing with a ruler and math were the only ways I could even come close to making a decent drawing. That said, I really liked your identification of how math is a tool which can be used in other fields (in this case art) and can really augment the quality of the piece. I think this can be applied in other ways; I think that art greatly benefits from say, artists using biology and the natural world as a tool in their process. Great post.
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