Ombres et transparences, de Vinci aux calques numériques
Shadows, which are a form of imitation, combine contiguity and similarity. Sfumato as recommended by Leonardo, shadows ‘explaining’ objects according to Hogarth, entail contextualisation; they imply partial transparency, still required in digital image settings. Optical devices have since the Renais...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Sillages Critiques |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/2788 |
| Summary: | Shadows, which are a form of imitation, combine contiguity and similarity. Sfumato as recommended by Leonardo, shadows ‘explaining’ objects according to Hogarth, entail contextualisation; they imply partial transparency, still required in digital image settings. Optical devices have since the Renaissance superimposed shadow and transparency; they have evolved from image-making to the continuous representation of motion in 19th-century toys based on the rotation of silhouettes; copying machines, derived from ancient legends defining shadows as the image of persons, led to 18th-century experiments in the simulation of motion. Studies of reflexion ranged from mirror-images to sets of multiple contiguous spots of light; form/texture relationships changed over the centuries from the gradual recomposition of motifs – as in multiple-colour printing– to decomposition –as in camouflage. In the theme of windows within paintings, transparency shifted from analogous infinite regress effect to contextualisation; 20th-century models of geometrical forms suppressed the interior-exterior distinction as they became glass volumes. |
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| ISSN: | 1272-3819 1969-6302 |