Week 2: Math + Art

It seems almost perplexing to consider that advances in mathematics could have any significant influence in art.  However, when considering the possibilities of mathematics in the real world, its possibilities in art break new boundaries.  Mathematics is a numerical language by which almost every science translates itself: physics, chemistry, biology, etc.  For the longest time, many artists would not dare branch outside interpretation of a 3 or even 2 dimensional image,  mostly for fear of how the public would react.  In Linda D. Henderson's description of the interpretation of the 4th dimension, the advancement in mathematics arrived as a safety net for artists to begin venturing the 4th dimension.  Henderson explains that mathematics proved non-Euclidean Geometry.  The emergence of the fourth dimension meant a new "liberation for artists."

By allowing for a fourth dimension, mathematics allowed artists to form new interpretations of depth.  For some artists, this meant taking a subject, and presenting it in uncommon perspective.  Such is much of the premise of Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott which in one instance notes that although one may causally view a penny, and normally see a circle, by simply taking that same penny from a new perspective one now has a infinite dimension of ovals, and in some perspectives the presence of a circle complete vanishes.

Spheres in Varied Perspectives

 Artists like Lazlo Maholy-Nagy used the newly liberated 4th dimension to create his shadow photographs of flowers.  The photos are but castes shadows of flowers, which offer a totally new perspective on a flowers, without even actually showing the real flower.

Flower c. 1925 Lazlo Maholy-Nagy

This concept of having a new depth in perception or interpretation is well simulated in this clip from a DC cartoon, in which Lex Luthor, gaining super sight, can suddenly see the world in an entirely new fashion.

 As if an artist having broken into the use of the fourth dimension, Lex sees the possibilities that a new sense of depth gives.  In a sense the idea of new depths means the ability to see greater opportunities.  This is the same for the relationship of mathematics and art.  They go hand in hand, because the advancement in mathematics means the opening of doors to new realities, pushing the creative processes and interpretations of artists literally to new depths.



Henderson, Linda . The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion. Leonardo, Vol. 17, No. 3. (1984), pp. 205-210.

"Dimension Refers to How an Objects Is Measured." Dimension Refers to How an Objects Is Measured. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
  
"Flower." - Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

"Lex Luthor's Grand Revelation." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.

Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1963. Print.

Week 1

Snow goes into detail to explain what he sees as the developing “Two Cultures” in the world.  They are simply described as the intellectuals (those inclined to literary and social studies), and the non-intellectuals (those of scientific practices such as biology, physics, chemistry, etc.).  Over all, Snow feels that over the course of history, especially at the point of the first true industrial revolution, the sciences and art were split and isolated, no longer having anything to do with each other.  Snow further reveals that this isolation of studies is heavily reflected by the education system, for example in the United States.

Coming in as a freshmen in 2011 to UCLA, this divide in the arts and sciences seemed to be very definite, it did not take long for me to learn academic geography with the entire student body choosing to identify as a North Campus (arts) or a South Campus (sciences) major.  However, in my studies as a Central and Eastern European Languages and Cultures Major, and as I near my graduation in this coming June, I have come to see this distinction is actually very misleading.  In reality our student body is encouraged to have diversification in both fields.  In my opinion, as well as the UCLA Curriculum, the studies of the arts and sciences offer interchangeable skills that can only be achieved through crossing the two.  Such a an idea of a person of both worlds was believed lost in men such as Leonardo da Vinci, a man known for both his art and inventiveness.

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci

 

 In response to Snow, my studies have also shown that art and science crossed paths with success during the Weimar Period with the Contructivist movement.  Strecker in The Mad Square  describes Photographers, who embraced new scientific advances in technology and industry, used it as a template and medium for their artistic expressions.

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, The Berlin Tower 1928

 

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy, Carnival: Composition with two masks 1934

 

Lazlo Maholy-Nagy took these photos, hoping to expose the hidden aesthetic beauty and attraction that is instilled in industry and technology (as well as the fact that newer technology in photography provided the method by which to create art), feeling the two are inexplicably intertwined.  In the end I wholeheartedly believe the greatest minds are those that seek the benefits and knowledge of all fields of study and practice.

 

 

Citation:

 



Strecker, Jacqueline. The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-37. Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011. Print.  

Bunyan, Marcus. "Art Blart." Art Blart. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://artblart.com/tag/laszlo-moholy-nagy-from-the-radio-tower-berlin/>.           

"Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci – Facts & History of the Drawing." Totally History Vitruvian Man Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. <http://totallyhistory.com/vitruvian-man/>.           

 "Anthony Luke's Not-just-another-photoblog Blog." : Photographer Profile ~ László Moholy-Nagy. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2015. http://anthonylukephotography.blogspot.com/2011/09/photographer-profile-laszlo-moholy-nagy.html. 

Snow, C. P. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1959. Print.