The Tuning of the World by R. Murray Schafer (review)

Books 69 Perspective for Artists:The Practice and Theory of Perspective as Applied to Pictures, with a Section Dealing with Its Application to Architecture. Rex Vicat Cole. Dover, New York, 1976. 279 pp.. illus. Paper, $3.50. ISBN: 0-486-22487-2. Reviewed by B. V. Rauschenbach* Books devoted to problems of perspective are often overburdened by details of mathematical character that make them not so much difficult as of little interest for artists. The book by R. V. Cole advantageously differs from ordinary perspective courses due to the fact that it is based on simple rules and illustrative diagrams clear from the first sight. Taking into account artists’ interests, the author applies his rules not to abstract geometrical constructions but elucidates how to depict objects often encountered in artists’ practice. One may encounter such objects as ‘heads’and ‘clouds’ which are nontraditional for perspective courses. Besides illustrative diagrams of perspective construction, the book contains many sketches and drawings made by the author as well as reproductions of paintings by old masters properly illustrating corresponding ways of perspective constructions. Well thought-out methods of practical teaching perspective make themselves felt in the book, which is sure to be of use for artists. The book was first written more than 60 years ago and therefore does not reflect modern knowledge of psychology of visual perception. Size and shape constancy defining the aspect of spatial regional close to the artist is not taken into account. Nor does it mention the fact that disregard of size constancy in the picture leads to dimunition of faraway objects and enlargement of close ones. Today it would be worthwhile to supplement the first part of the book with a chapter dealing with recommended deviation from the rules of Renaissance perspective. In doing so, one might reveal rational roots of perspective which were used by post-impressionists. The second part of the book, being of historical character, is also nontraditional and of much use. Unfortunately the author did not pay proper attention to medieval pictorial art with its peculiar feature of inverted perspective. Furthermore, the ways of depiction prior to Renaissance perspective are treated as steps gradually leading from imperfect ways of depiction to ideal Renaissance ones. Meanwhile, Hellenic and medieval parallel perspectives transmit the geometry of visual perception of nearby objects more accurately than does Renaissance perspective. It would be desirable to show here both strong and weak points of different ways of transmitting spatial area without raising the Renaissance perspective to the level of impeccability. The third part of the book concerning perspective in architecture is too small to be of any use to an architect. It represents concise notes of an architect’s perspective construction which are meant for an artist and may be of use to him. Understanding Perspective. Radu Vero. Van Nostrand Reinhold, Wokingham, England, 1980. 191 pp.. illus. Paper, f7.45. ISBN: 0-44229088 -8. Reviewed by Richard Creme** Perspective drawing has fallen out of favor with many artists and art teachers, perhaps because of the very problems understanding Perspective seeks to remedy. All too often students are intimidated by the maze of lines in a completed perspective construction before they understand the relatively simple processes which underlie it. There is also a common feeling that perspective drawing techniques are complex and rigid mathematical rules which simply stand in the way of direct expression. In this book, Vero devotes much of his attention to training students in the ability to visualize in perspective, before puttingpencil to paper, so that perspective drawing can become a natural part of the creative, expressive process. The book begins with 100 mental exercises which help the student to visualize geometric relations of increasing complexity. Vero has a knack for picking very concrete and familiar examples to illustrate these abstract relations: he has us imagine a knife cutting a salami or piece of cheese in order to picture the intersection of a plane with a cylinder or parallelepiped. He emphasizes from the very beginning the importance of the ability to visualize the motion of objects in perspective and the shapes which they sweep out. This skill is invaluable to anyone who *Institute of Control Science, Profsojuznaja U1...