Curious perspective

The Mathematics of Anamorphosis in Art

Man on Stairs, by Istvn Orosz, 1991

Anamorphic pictures are usually described as distorted images which only get
their meaning if looked at in the correct way. Now, mathematicians from the
London Knowledge Lab are teaming up with artists, graphic designers and
sculptors to explore the technicalities in a seminar. This is in conjunction with
a Study Day at the National Gallery on how to view these curious images
and find out how to create their own.

John Sharp, visiting fellow at the London Knowledge Lab and organiser of the
seminar and Study Day, explained, Over the past 500 years, anamorphosis
has come in and out of fashion. It also moved from serious art to aristocrat's
toys, to recreational mathematics and back again. Its simple geometrical
nature has been neglected by art historians, and misunderstandings have
arisen as to how view anamorphic paintings.

There are two main sorts of anamorphosis used in art that which requires
the viewer to stand in a particular position to see the true image and another
sort for the viewer would need a special mirror to be able to make the image
meaningful.

London Knowledge Lab

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London WC1N 3QS
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The most famous example is the skull in Holbeins 1533 work, The
Ambassadors indeed, it took curators at the National Gallery some years to
work out what the splodge was at the front of the picture. Since then,
anamorphosis has been used by many artists and as a plaything of
recreational mathematics before it enjoyed a resurgence in art in the last half
century.

Artwork by Andrew Crompton, at the Museum of Science and Industry Manchester

The seminars aim to help visitors to see what the artists intended. But
studying the resolved images can also yield information about the history of
art and raise questions about how we look and see images generally and the
series hopes to explain both these issues from both art and mathematical
perspectives.

For more information, see www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art/

The seminars are organised by John Sharp (visiting fellow at LKL) and Phillip Kent
(researcher in mathematics education at LKL). There is a free technical seminar at the
London Knowledge Lab on Friday 12 December, 2.30 - 5pm and a Study Day for the general
public (fee payable) at the National Gallery on Saturday 13 December 10.30 - 4pm.

John Sharp, email sliceforms@yahoo.co.uk telephone 01923 675093

Phillip Kent: email p.kent@ioe.ac.uk telephone 020 7763 2156
London Knowledge Lab
23-29 Emerald Street
London WC1N 3QS
United Kingdom