“In the artistic chaos of these last years, when the absolute
liberation of the individual instinct has brought it to the
point of frenzy, an attempt to identify the harmonic
disciplines that have secretly, in every period, served as
foundations for painting may well seem folly. But this
folly is in fact wisdom. It is the way to a kind of
knowledge essential for whoever wants to paint…
--Jacques Villon, in Charles Bouleau: The Painter’s Secret
Geometry
Geometry and Art
and Geometry and Time
The “undifferentiated aesthetic continuum”
Perceptions in the flood…
The structure in the painting, the structure in the mind, the structure of the age…
The spiritualists say it’s “Psyche,” the natural scientists say “Nature,” the anatomists and the
psychologists say “Brain,” the philosopher says “Metaphysics.” Some say, “I don’t know.”
It’s “it”…
Primal space, the undifferentiated mass of all points…
But we can only experience the “undifferentiated as points…
Like the infinity of the totality of the stars as points, as constellations in the sky…
Studies of perception show we experience points as simple geometric forms…
From Vasily Kandinsky: Point and Line to Plane
And so over the centuries and in all the cultures of the world, the simple forms of points become the core of the simple geometric shapes and
volumes… the primaries of spirit (Sengai and Zen), sky (Kepler and Platonic solids to hold the orbits of planets) and earth (Cezanne)…
Artists used them—for instance very often the triangle--to make “harmony and serenity”…
Raphael—
Alba Madonna, early 16th C.
Note the use of a pre-established geometric composition—the triangle in a circle in a square— in order to achieve
Raphael—
“serenity
Alba and grace”
Madonna.
“Raphael adopted the artistic innovations of elder—from MarkinHarden
colleagues, Artchive
particular Leonardo and Michelangelo, and synthesized
them with his own aims. This did not pass Michelangelo by; and in 1541, long after Raphael’s death, M. was still
complaining in a letter that ‘everything he knew about art he got from me.’”
—from Mark Harden Artchive
Sometimes, the simple geometric form becomes the subject itself of the work of art…
Well, for us who might wish to use these perceptions and
ideas to compose a painting…
Just as any two points will tend to create a line between them…
So the corners of a rectangular format create points which create lines which create
the “Armature of the Rectangle” (Bouleu’s phrase)…
Which creates its own complexity…
Invisible, but ever present…
Italy, Florentine, early 16th c.
Raphael— Invisible, but ever present…
Transfiguration, early 16th C. When is it drama, or melodrama, or kitsch?
Invisible, but ever present…
Invisible, but ever present…
Invisible, but ever present when world meets the armature of the rectangular canvas…
And sometimes artists put it on first—a drawing by Claude Lorraine…
A more elaborate with possibilities, and also less obvious… “Rabatment”
A more elaborate with possibilities, and also less obvious… “Rabatment”
A more elaborate with possibilities, and also less obvious… “Rabatment”
A more elaborate with possibilities, and also less obvious… “Rabatment”
A more elaborate with possibilities, and also less obvious… “Rabatment”
But, the “primary” forms themselves: sources of art-craft of composition and secret craft of meaning…
But, theBut,
“primary”
the “primary”
forms themselves:
forms themselves…art-craft
sources of art-craft
of of
compositio,
composition
secret
andcraft
secret
ofcraft
meaning…
of meaning…
But, the “primary” forms themselves: sources of art-craft of composition and secret craft of meaning…
But, the “primary” forms themselves: sources of art-craft of composition… rabatment in :Primavera
But, the “primary” forms themselves: source of secret craft of meaning in Primavera…
But, the “primary” forms themselves…secret craft of meaning…
We have been looking at geometry as the measurement of space, but space is only in time…the drift of
autumn leaves will surely bury everything…
But, the “primary” forms themselves…secret craft of
meaning…geometry and the signs of the ages of time
Aion, the Roman god of time…
Aion, the Roman god of time…another version, this one with the keys of ???
So, to begin a study of the ages of time:
the “Arian Age” and the ancient geometry of
measuring without rulers to make
forms that will never change
Measurement by triangulation…
Measurement by triangulation…
How to measure the area of a circle…
How to measure the area of a circle…
The Greek geometric “Vocabulary”
The Greek geometric “Vocabulary”
The geometric “Crystal”
The geometric “Crystal”
The geometric “Crystal”
The geometric “Crystal”
The markers of the Arian age and its search for eternity…
So, to continue a study of the geometry of the ages of time:
the “Piscean Age” and the endless spiral
Detail from Altdorfer: the Battle of Issus
The Great Mosque at Samarra…
The Great Mosque at Samarra, the view from the top
So, the geometry of the Piscean Age…
The geometry of energy, of the diagonal…
The geometry of energy, of the diagonal…
The geometry of energy, of the diagonal…
My studio in those days…
Shells, the endless spiral of life…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
Poussin and The Funeral of Phocion
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
Poussin and The Funeral of Phocion
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
Poussin and The Funeral of Phocion
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
Poussin and The Funeral of Phocion
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning…
Poussin and The Funeral of Phocion
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning--
Watteau and The Embarkation for the Isle of Cythera
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning--
Watteau and The Embarkation for the Isle of Cythera
The craft of composition and the structure of meaning--
Watteau and The Embarkation for the Isle of Cythera
The markers of the ancient age and its search for eternity…
A marker of the present age and its search for the infinite spiral…
A marker of the future age and its ever changing unknown…
“In the artistic chaos of these last years, when the absolute
liberation of the individual instinct has brought it to the
point of frenzy, an attempt to identify the harmonic
disciplines that have secretly, in every period, served as
foundations for painting may well seem folly. But this
folly is in fact wisdom. It is the way to a kind of
knowledge essential for whoever wants to paint…
--Jacques Villon, in Charles Bouleau: The Painter’s Secret Geometry
