Week 2: Math + Art

Week 2: Math + Art

April 14,2019

I view the history behind the interchange of art and mathematics as a compelling topic because I always thought that the two were naturally related just in terms of portraying things equally. This is observed mainly when we pay attention to the designing and constructing of buildings. When taking into consideration gravity you’re limited to a certain size and weight to prevent the building from being destroyed. On the other hand, when looking at the art aspect such as paintings, views similar weren’t observed until Giotti presented his artwork in the 13th century.  

This is very interesting to look at Giotti's work as the first to produce a painting with perspective because I thought just through prior knowledge this was just something that was common. To the right, is a painting by Raphael called The School of Athens which was first presented in the 16th century. ‘School of Athens’ fully demonstrates the architectural beauty that could be achieved with this method. He uses Socrates left hand as a central vanishing point. Raphael has fully occupied the power of perspective and its integration into a central vanishing point. He drafts the table in the center foreground is set at an oblique angle but converges to a correct set of off-angle vanishing points in both directions. The slight awkwardness in the appearance of this drafting table seems to arise from the oblique shadow at its base, which is hard to distinguish from the true line of the base in the reproduction.

Additional to the vanishing point, fractal art is another example of a combination of mathematics and art. Fractal art is a form of algorithmic art created by calculating fractal objects and representing the calculation results as still images, animations, and media. Fractal art developed from the mid-1980s onwards. It is a genre of computer art and digital art which are part of new media art. I’ve always thought of fractals to be “pretty” but learning the history and learning about how they are actually created is the perfect example of the cross between art and mathematics as they are designed in an artistic manner, but the vision is accomplished through the use of math.

Sources:

Bowen, Robert. “35 Phenomenal Fractal Art Pictures – Smashing Magazine.” Smashing Magazine, Smashing Magazine, 17 Dec. 2016, www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/50-phenomenal-fractal-art-pictures/.

Chita-Tegmark, Meia. “Questioning Authority in the School of Athens.” The Huffington Post, The Huffington Post, 22 Mar. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/meia-chitategmark/questioning-authority-in-the-school-of-athens_b_6919646.html

“Fractals.” World of Mathematics, world.mathigon.org/Fractals.

South, Helen. “What is a Vanishing Point?” ThoughtCo, 24 Aug. 2016, www.thoughtco.com/vanishing-point-drawing-definition-1123080.

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