Overview

What determines the overall organization of visual form in the works of painting, sculpture, and architecture? Artists have sometimes ventured practical rules of thumb, and mathematicians have looked for formulas that would prescribe ideal spatial relations between shapes. This companion to Rudolf Arnheim's classic, Art and Visual Perception, shows how compositional form makes sense only when it utilizes visual symbols of the life experience that makes art meaningful.

Full Product Details

Author:   Rudolf Arnheim
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Edition:   3rd Revised edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780520261266

ISBN 10:   0520261267
Pages:   250
Publication Date:   19 October 2009
Audience:   Adult education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Further / Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Introduction I. TWO SPATIAL SYSTEMS A master key to composition. Centricity and eccentricity. Vectors and their targets. Interaction of the systems. II. CENTERS AND THEIR RIVALS Geometric and dynamic. The pull of gravity. The visual center underneath. Varieties of weight. Sculpture and the ground. Matisse under pressure. III. THE VIEWER AS A CENTER Self-centered vision. Various positions in space. A slab in suspense. Seeing the world sideways. The viewer as an influence. Looking into depth. IV. LIMITS AND FRAMES Enclosures spread energy. Tampering with the range. The functions of frames. Framed space not quite closed. Rectangular formats. Challenges to the middle. Perspective creates a center. V. TONDO AND SQUARE Floating shapes. Tondi stress the middle. The role of eccentricity. Disks inside. The oval. Squares balance the coordinates. Albers's nests of squares. Mondrian overrides centricity. A square by Munch. VI. CENTERS AS HUBS Providing stability. Tension through deviation. Dynamics of the human figure. Saltimbanques and Guernica. VII. CENTERS AS DIVIDERS Bipolar composition. The necessary latch. Diagonals. Noli me tangere. VIII. VOLUMES AND NODES Volumes and vectors interacting. Kinds of nodes. Nodes of the body. Faces and hands. Singing man. IX. SPACE IN DEPTH Perceiving the third dimension. Objects behaving in space. Enclosures replacing frames. The added view of projection. Continuity of space. What perspective contributes. Time in space. The symbolism of the frontal plane. X. CENTERS AND GRIDS IN BUILDINGS Grids prevail. Design in elevation. Design on the ground. Coping with full space. XI. FURTHERMORE Composition in time. Are there exceptions? A physical foundation. Composition carries meaning. Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

Reviews

It is the balance between the precision of [Arnheim's] specific analyses and their participation in a larger order of principles that makes Power of the Center such a satisfying book. * ARTnews * Arnheim was a distinguished psychologist, philosopher and critic whose work explored the cognitive basis of art-how we interpret it and, by extension, the world. * Cabinet *

Arnheim was a distinguished psychologist, philosopher and critic whose work explored the cognitive basis of art-how we interpret it and, by extension, the world. * Cabinet * It is the balance between the precision of [Arnheim's] specific analyses and their participation in a larger order of principles that makes Power of the Center such a satisfying book. * ARTnews *

Author Information

Rudolf Arnheim (1904-2007) was Professor Emeritus of the Psychology of Art at Harvard University and the author of many books, including Film as Art and Visual Thinking.

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