Course Description:
The study of Perception is one of the oldest areas of psychological speculation and research. It raises many profound questions about mind, reality, truth and aesthetic experience. Historically, the discovery of the Retinal Image in the vertebrate eye was the pivotal event in the development of a conception of the visual process which dominates to this day. By establishing an analogy between the process of seeing and the process of picture making, it forged a link between the art of painting and the science of seeing. Only recently have visual scientists begun to realize the extent to which the perspective painters of the Rennaissance and Post-Rennaissance were aware of fundamental principles of perceptual functioning and used this knowledge to create special aesthetic effects in their viewers.
We will treat the history of painting as a history of scientific experiments on the processes of vision. Let me stress that this is a perception course, not an art history course. Accordingly, as our focus will be on the perceptual process rather than art history, we will leave untouched many social or religious dimensions that might otherwise be discussed in connection with the works we study.
Our coverage can roughly be divided into three main topics: the perception of SPACE, of COLOR and of MOTION and we will treat them in that order. We will show how the conception of seeing-as- picturing grew out of the experience of artists in 15th century Italy until, eventually, it became "canonized" by thinkers such as Kepler, Descartes and Berkeley.
The development of perspective painting will be traced up to the advent of modernism, or the explicit rejection of the perspectival tradition. The depiction, and perception of space and color will be found to be closely intertwined, historically as well as psychologically, and the modern scientific understanding of both of these topics, is enhanced by, as well as deepens our appreciation of, the efforts of artists and scientists of the past.
Course Requirements:
I. Active participation in class. This includes regular attendance, timely completion of readings that are assigned and a willingness to discuss them in class.
II. Completion and documentation of a number of "mini"-projects which will be described in class. These include projects on projection, reflection, perspective reconstructions etc. There will be about 12 of these, each quite simple in conception, but deep in implication... You should keep a notebook with your writeups, figures and graphs.
III. Term paper on Diego Velasques' Las Meninas using sources as Cole, Kemp, Searle, Snyder & Cohen and others. 8-12 pages.
All written work must be typed, or, preferably word-processed, so that you can keep a backup copy of your work.
Sources we will consult:
Becklen, R. "James Gibson, Psychologist, and Ernie Gehr, Filmmaker: a Case of Conceptual Parallelism between Science and Art." (handout)
Kubovy. M. The Psychology of Perspective and Rennaissance Art. Cambridge University Press, N.Y. 1986 (paperback edition 1989, in Bookstore and on reserve).
Cole, A. Perspective. Dorling Kindersley, New York, 1993. (Eyewitness Art Hardback, in Bookstore and on reserve).
Kemp, M. The Science of Art: Optical themes in western art from Brunelleschi to Seurat. Yale University Press, 1990. (paperback edition 1992, in Bookstore and on reserve).
Hochberg, J. Perception. Prentice-Hall. N.Y. 1979 (Chapter on reserve in Library)
Vitz, P. and Glimcher, A. Art and Science:the parallel analysis of vision. Praeger N.Y. 1984. (Selections on reserve in Library)
Searle, J. "Las Meninas and the Paradoxes of pictorial representation." From Critical Inquiry, 1980. (handout)
Snyder, J. and Cohen, T. "Reflexions on Las Meninas: Paradox Lost." From Critical Inquiry, 1980. (handout)
Foucault, M. The Order of Things: an archaeology of the human sciences. Vintage Books, New York, 1973. (Ch 1: "Las Meninas" handout, book on reserve).
Brown, J. excerpt from: "Velazques, Painter and Courtier", Yale University Press, New York, 1986. (handout, book on reserve)
Additional materials will be handed out in class or put on reserve in the Library, as appropriate.