Week 2: Math & Art

This week’s topic looked closely at how mathematics plays a vital role in producing art. I did not realize the importance of mathematics when it came to art, let alone the connection between the two. It's interesting to note though how mathematics is involved in pretty much everything we do, even when we don't even expect it. Mathematics is driving our reality. As stated in lecture, mathematics is the relationships of “numbers, operations, abstractions, shapes, forms, spaces, transformations, generalizations” (Lecture), the list goes on. 

Math is Real Life 

What grabbed my attention though was the concept of perspective. Perspective came to mean "seeing through a transparent plane on which the scene is traced from a single fixed eye point" (Lecture). The eye can see and discover a variety of little detail that can change or create a perceptive about a subject. The vanishing point, whom Brunelleschi was credited for in the West in 1413 and is defined as "the intersection of this special line of sight with the picture plane” (Vanishing Points, pg. 2), addressed its’ audience to better understand the mathematics behind the art and the angle of perspective. 

Vanishing Point

In addition, Francesca, a leading mathematician, claims that paintings have three principles: “drawing, proportion, and coloring” (Lecture). The most important, according to professor Vesna, is proportion because it is undoubtedly what we call perspective. Which then brings us to Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo distinguished to types of perspective, artificial, which is the way that artists project the painting on a plane, and natural, that reproduces the size of the painting based on distance. 

Leonardo 

It is amazing to see the creativity in these artists and how they used mathematics to produce such amazing pieces of art that has transformed history. To think that artists, like Leonardo or Piet Mondrain, studied calculations to create these beautifully crafted masterpieces that are still being looked at is incredible; inspiring. 

I am not an artists in the sense of painting or architecture, but I feel that part of art is creating your own craft. Everyone’s craft is different, whether it may be as a painter, lawyer, athlete. Part of art is about calculating the best ways or numbers to creating creative masterpieces that will inspire others to do the same. But, in order to create these masterpieces, we must use mathematics to help us achieve our goals or even dreams. 

Citations:

"Math is Real" <https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/b2/d6/ed/b2d6ed7853ac1e89ddb6c2756ecce1b8.jpg

"Vanishing Point" <http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ind_tech/design/3767/images/people_perspective_1.jpg>

"Leonardo" <http://www.leonardoda-vinci.org/download-113772-Vitruvian-Man,-Study-of-proportions,-from-Vitruvius's-De-Architectura.download>

"Secrets of Perspective" <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODEvCINTADs>