Week 2 Post

 A great place to start when examining the way mathematics have interfaced with and influenced art is the idea of a perspective system. Perspective is a specific mathematical formula that can be applied to art in order to make it appear realistic, and it is stunning to think that it is a concise system of thought that can be followed in order to achieve a result that approximates reality. A key character who played a role in this transfer of information is Al-Haytham, who in around 1000AD made significant advances in understanding the system of vision and the way it operates in the brain (Lecture).




 This investigation of angles and distance eventually paved the way for artists like Brunelleschi to develop a complex perspective system. It is stunning to think that many of the great aesthetic achievements of the Renaissance would have never occurred if not for significant mathematical advances conducted much earlier in history. In "The Fourt Dimension and Non Euclidian Geometry in Modern Art", Henderson specifies how the philosophy of non-euclidian geometry was extremely significant in its "recognition of the relativity of knowledge" (Henderson 205). What was significant in these mathematical breakthroughs was the way it enabled the dismantling of artistic tradition and one point perspective into a phenomenon where some of the biggest artists of the early 1900s were encouraged to explore non-realistic dimensions of the portrayal of space. 



A piece of art from this week influenced by mathematical thought was Flatland, where Abbott constructs a poignant allegory of transcendence and political division through the metaphors of different spacial dimensions. This work is significant in the way it utilizes clear mathematical concepts in order to echo the social problems that people in our day to day lives experience. I think math, art and science can be extremely juxtaposed because of the way they have all influenced each other.  



Works Cited: 

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland. Antiquarius, 2021.

Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art. The MIT Press, 2013.

Omarismailameenmohamedalkhoori. https://omarismailameenmohamedalkhoori.com///wp-content/uploads/2019/03/er.jpg.

Space and Perspective . https://spaceandperspective.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/cover-flatland.jpg.

Vesna, Victoria. “Week 2 | Math + Art | Agenda.” UCLA, UCLA.

ZZTOSHA. https://i0.wp.com/zttosha.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/8b441b26ceb6d95bcb778d1838efdb97-1024x543.jpg?resize=770%2C408&ssl=1.

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