Color Perception in Art by Faber Birren (review)

Books 245 will learn much in this interesting, well-written and partisan book. Geaeke des %hens. 3rd ed. Wolfgang Metzger. Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt/Main, Federal Republicof Germany, 1975. 676 pp., illus. DM128.00. Reviewed by Rpddf Arnheimf In the hands of the gestalt psychologists,experimentson visual perceptionhave had an artisticflavorfromthe beginning. Thisis so because men like Wertheimer, Kohler and Koffka concentratedon the organizationalprocessesthat give form to therawmaterialofretinalstimulation.Quitenaturallythesemen were interested in the arts and often drew examples from the various media. This is true also for WolfgangMetzger,who has written on art education, creativity, etc. His principal work, however,hasbeen instrictexperimentationand inthetheoretical discussion of the gestalt principles. His book on the laws of seeing,firstpublishedin the early 19409, has now growninto an impressive and expensive tome, richly illustrated and equipped evenwith red-green spectaclesfor stereoscopicand stroboscopic demonstrations. Metzger’s chapters deal with the usual topics of perceptual investigations. For the lint time, however, we receive a systematic survey of the many brilliant studies of the past decades, among them prominently those of Kanizsa, Metelli, Galli,Vicarioand their teams at Triesteand Padua. There is no lack of curiosities, magic tricks and puzzles, but the author remindshis readersthat allthese‘illusions’areonly conspicuous symptomsof the fact that constantlyand universallyall aspects of the visual field are subject to modifying interaction, which distinguishes the ontogrum (physical projection on the retina) from the phenogram (experienced image). Of particular interest is the extensive treatment of movement perception, in the course of which the art historian might note that Duchamp’sdemonstrationson the turntable are preceded by Benussi’sequallyimaginativeexperimentson ‘stereokinetics’, published in 1927. In depth perception, the question of exactly howdisparateimagescombinein binocularvision isshownto be a richly revealing problem. Unfortunately, the phenomena of visual expression are given short shrift and the discussion of color is limited mostly to properties it shares with brightness. There are choicetidbits, such as the note on why weavers use checkerboardpatterns only for clowns’costumes. Metzger writes a gracefully relaxed prose and he speaks his mind sharplywhen he dealswith his adversaries.His arguments against attempts, held over from Helmholtz, to explain perceptual organization through noncommittal references to ‘past experience’ should act as a coup de gruce. And when it comesto thepoliticallyinspiredobjectionthat statementson the general functioningof the human mind are worthless because theyneglectideologicaldeterminants,Metzgeriswillingtoreply: ‘Since the way in which, under similarcircumstances,a bird, a rat, a fish, or an octopus,and in somerespectseven a fly, seethe world sharesessentialfeatureswith the vision of man-a fact on which Sovietand American psychologistsdo not disagretit is hard to understand why the world should look different to the professor who puts the garbage out on the curb than to the sanitation man who collectsit.’ JMfferencea in V M P e r c e p t i o n :Tbe Individual E y e . Jules B. Davidoff. Academic Press, London and New York, 1975. 231 pp., illus. Reviewed by H e r b e r t W.m e * * Iswhat we seereality?Oristheworldabout us a constructof our eyesand brain?When Ilookatan object,iswhat I see thesameas what another sees? These are questions that interest not only philosophers but also physiologists, psychologists and artists. DavidofTsbook surveysworkspublishedinjournals that would normally not come to the attention of artists and art educators. The topicstreated are short-duration observablephenomena, such as afterimagesand effectsof eye strain, and long-duration phenomena caused by organic color vision defects and by cultural influences. An informative chapter discusses the development of visual perception from infancy to adulthood, which has been studied by observing, for example, eye movements. One part deals with 2- and 3-dimensional visual illusions.(Red-green spectaclesare supplied with the book for viewing some anaglyphic pictures.) The final part concerns interpretation, such as when insufficient visual information is providedto a viewer. Thebook iswell-illustrated.Many pictures concern generally unfamiliar visual illusions, which, in particular, should be of use to those interested in Op art. Examples of illusionsin a number of recentpaintings, including works by Picasso and Dali, are provided. Color P e r c e p t i o nin Art. Faber Birren. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976. (88 pp., illus.) $12.50. Reviewed by E .BNce GOldSteiO# The premise of Faber Birren’s book is that recent discoveries...