Week 2 | Math+Art |

Math + Art 

This week, from the lecture video and the readings, I learned that mathematics significantly help artists to develop and make paintings become more realistic. As an art student myself, I also contact with math when I first experience with art. Before drawing down the main subject, the teacher always told me to draw a lot of supporting lines and I even need to use ruler and protractor to make sure the proportion is correct. The vanishing point and perspective both involves geometry and measurement to transfer three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. Dr. Vesna introduced that the famous Renaissance painting, The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci uses perspective and a center vanishing point to present the realistic architecture and create a realistic space. 

Besides realistic, art also combined with math to teach and dialogue the scientific world. Leon Alberti created the black and white floor covered by square tiles, which is a coordinate system that created the grid to shape a correct circle. 

Another insight from the lecture is that art and mathematics create more beautiful and natural proportions in human portraits. Piero de Francesca studied the geometry of vision, and he precisely calculate the distance between eyes boundary which creates the proportion of human subject. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci also developed a mathematical formula, which is the divine ratio in Mona Lisa, and his influential work, the Vitruvian Man, helped later artists study ideal face and body proportions in relation to geometry and space.

From other resources, the pieces that I particularly enjoy is Cycle by M.C. Escher. He introduces the term tessellations or regular divisions of the plane, and Cycle has a hexagonal tesselation, and Escher later transformed the hexagonal shapes into irregular shapes. The repetition creates depth and a sense of infinity.

             

(R: the hexagonal tesselation)

In conclusion, mathematics, science, and art go hand in hand, and all three are essential to us. During the renaissance period, math and science make arts more realistic and closer to life; In twenty-one century, we have technology such as the camera that can document the realistic world, but math and science still continue to develop new trends of artistic expression in our modern art history. 

Works Cited

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

Vesna, Victoria. “Math Intro. YouTube.” Uconlineprogram, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiL9iskUWM&feature=player_embedded>.

Abbott, Edwin. “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.” N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <https://cole.uconline.edu/content>.

Esther, MC. “Tesslations” The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher, Math AcademyWeb., 12 Oct. 2012, platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/.

Escher, MC. “Cycle.”  1948. Photograph. Math AcademyWeb. 12 Oct 2012 <http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/escher/big.asp?IMAGE=cycle>.