Vanishing Points: Three Dimensional Perspective in Art and History

by Milton E. Brener

Overview

This book traces the history of three dimensional perspective in art from prehistoric and ancient times, during which the portrayal of depth was practically nonexistent, through its early development by the Greeks and Romans; its virtual disappearance in the Middle Ages; and its re-emergence and perfection in the Renaissance. The book also examines the role of the right cerebral hemisphere in appreciation of aesthetics and particularly of three dimensional art. It further points to similar human attributes that have risen and declined in tandem with the use of perspective, and which are also mediated by the right hemisphere: expressiveness of the human face, use of metaphor, love of the grand panoramas of nature, and the sense of self. The book considers not only the role of three-dimensional art in the rise of landscape painting, but also its contribution to the admiration and investigation of nature and the rise of the scientific age.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786418541
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	06/03/2004
Pages:	223
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late Milton E. Brener was a retired attorney who had written books and numerous articles on such topics as art, opera and Judaica, He lived in New York.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface     

I. The “Discovery” of the Third Dimension     
II. Art before the Third Dimension     
III. The “Right” Brain     
IV. The Greeks     
V. Reaching for the Third Dimension     
VI. Nature in Ancient Art     
VII. Nature as Religion in Ancient Literature     
VIII. Discovery of the Individual     
IX. Novelty     
X. Portraiture     
XI. The Romans     
XII. The Middle Ages and the Retreat of Nature     
XIII. Metaphor, Individuality and Facial Representation in the Middle Ages     
XIV. Chinese Landscape     
XV. One Point in Space, One Moment in Time     
XVI. Landscape in Western Art     
XVII. The Battle for Nature     
XVIII. Evolution?     
XIX. The Final Vanishing Points     

Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

an important invitation to art historians...Brener’s ideas will interest students...accessible and intriguing, highly literate...this book manages to raise the big questions the professionals sometimes manage to forget...highly recommended”—Choice; “absorbing”—The Mankind Quarterly.

From the Publisher

"absorbing"

The Mankind Quarterly

an important invitation to art historians...Brener's ideas will interest students...accessible and intriguing, highly literate...this book manages to raise the big questions the professionals sometimes manage to forget...highly recommended

Choice

"An important invitation to art historians...Brener's ideas will interest students...accessible and intriguing, highly literate...this book manages to rasie the big questions the professionals sometimes manage to forget...highly recommended."

Choice -The Mankind Quarterly