Art in Proportion in Art

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_rectangle

Golden rectangle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the geometrical figure. For the Indian
highway project, see Golden Quadrilateral.

A golden rectangle is one whose side lengths are in the

golden ratio, or approximately 1:1.618.

A distinctive feature of this shape is that when a square

section is removed, the remainder is another golden
rectangle; that is, with the same proportions as the first.
Square removal can be repeated infinitely, in which case
corresponding corners of the squares form an infinite
sequence of points on the golden spiral, the unique
logarithmic spiral with this property.

According to astrophysicist and math popularizer Mario Livio,

since the publication of Luca Pacioli's Divina Proportione in
1509,[1] when "with Pacioli's book, the Golden Ratio started
to become available to artists in theoretical treatises that
were not overly mathematical, that they could actually
use,"[2] many artists and architects have been fascinated by
the presumption that the golden rectangle is considered
aesthetically pleasing. The proportions of the golden
rectangle have been observed in works predating Pacioli's
publication.[3]

Contents

[hide]

• 1
Constructio
n
• 2
Applications
• 3 See also
• 4
References

• 5 External
links

[edit] Construction

A method to construct a golden rectangle. The square is

outlined in red. The resulting dimensions are in the golden
ratio.
A golden rectangle can be constructed with only
straightedge and compass by this technique:

1. Construct a simple square

2. Draw a line from the midpoint of one side of the square
to an opposite corner
3. Use that line as the radius to draw an arc that defines
the height of the rectangle
4. Complete the golden rectangle

[edit] Applications

• Le Corbusier's 1927 Villa Stein in Garches features a

rectangular ground plan, elevation, and inner structure
that are closely approximate to golden rectangles.[4]
• Jan Tschichold describes the use of the golden
rectangle in medieval book designs

[edit] See also

• Fibonacci numbers
• Kepler triangle
• Leonardo of Pisa
• Silver ratio
• Golden rhombus

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1
INNOVARSITY offers e-Learning For Life experiences
- that comes from-
e-Learning about demonstrable innovations - with -
e-Learning from people whose ideas foresaw them - and -
e-Learning to implement them –b y -
e-Learning to recognise -
The GREAT DIVIDES* that inhibit human progress –
because –
“Sometimes we need to look at those things that ‘go
without saying’
– to make sure they are still going”
[ Carl Becker 1920 ]
“The world we have created today has problems which
cannot be solved
by thinking the way we thought when we created them“
[ Albert Einstein ]
ART IN PROPORTION IN ART
INNOVARSITY
THIS ‘GREAT EDUCATION DIVIDE’ [GD/1/4 ]
- between academic studies and occupational
practice
“ART IN PROPORTION AND PROPORTION IN ART”
Others in the series :
GD/1/1 - MY CAREER JOURNAL
GD/1/2 - LEARNING FOR LIFE – A CURRICULUM FOR
THE BRAIN
GD/1/3 - THE ARTS AND EDUCATION
GD/1/5 - COMMUNITY COLLEGES
GD/1/4

2
SEEING ART IN PROPORTION and PROPORTION IN ART
Antony.V.Trowbridge.
Imagine a music academy where a teacher plays you all the
‘best’ symphonies from Beethoven to Bruckner and then
tells you to write a symphony. This in effect is the manner
of teaching all visual arts - especially architecture in which
the student is exposed to all the ‘best’ examples – with the
supposition that they would be likely to design something
worthy. By contrast, Music appreciation, playing and
composing are all handled by having an understanding of
the basic scales and rules of harmony, from which it is
learned how to arrange, manipulate and even break them
creatively –a skill which all the great composers have
perfected through practice and dedication.
For centuries, the ‘Holy Grail’ has been sought for the visual
equivalent of the musical scale that would explain why any
work of art or architecture can be described as ’beautiful’.
Historically each attempt can be traced to the current
philosophies and theories of the universe of the time, from
those of the classical orders of Ancient Greece to the
Renaissance by such as Vitruvius and Leonardo Da Vinci on
to the industrial 20th century by Hambidge, Edwin Lutyens
and Le Corbusier with his ‘Le Modulor’
In an ordered universe specific ‘laws’ are commonly
recognised, such as gravity. But while the realm of
aesthetic expression and judgment continues to be ruled by
mystique and personal whim, the question arises whether
the arts can have any significance in a society dominated
by science and technology. This in not merely a question
facing artists, but calls to question the very values, ethics
and structure of society itself – for all past great civilizations
and eras of cultural expression were notable for their
integration of philosophy, religion, art and science which
permeated all of life.
By contrast again, the 20th century has seen the arts
regarded as a marginal activity, as a ‘soft option’ or
something merely to be patronized, tolerated - or in certain
social quarters to avoided as an agent of revolution. So if
the image of an artist conjures up a vision of an unkempt,
irrational, non-conforming individualist - and the scientist as
a white coated analyst and the businessman as a lounge-
suited calculator - then something has to be missing in their
perceptions of each other. It is however, understandable
that those scientists and businessmen, who devote their
time to the alleviation of suffering, should come to regard
the seeming indiscipline in the arts as being incompatible
with their vocations, and can be further offended by the
‘humaner than thou’ posture of artists with their platitudes
on the supposed benefits of the humanities’
The claim that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’
provides a seeming immunity from any restrictive aesthetic
constraints as impositions; but can also be an excuse for
laziness and or a lack of skill.
3
An the absence of any aesthetic laws a culture anarchy has
developed with demands for ‘freedom’ from anything in the
way of their ‘creativity’. To the anarchist all laws are
restrictive. To the conformist, any law is better than none.
While it takes only the dull repetition of the parasite or the
dilettante to maintain a convention, it takes a creative mind
to keep alive a tradition. Unfortunately any attempts to
cross the divide between the arts and sciences with ‘potted
art or science appreciation courses’ invariably end up
confirming each other’s prejudices.
Meanwhile, the general public, confused by the more
hysterical fringes of spontaneous artistic expression are
finding they are losing touch with or any faith in the
meaning or value of the arts in their lives. Indeed, it is
difficult to defend the accusations when the arts are
governed by mystique and expressed in anarchy - much of
which can be traced to an urge to be different for its own
sake with the use of some new technique or effect which
usually turns out to be no more than another bombardment
of the senses. Undoubtedly many artists feel a need to
protest against any mindless technological or social
conformity by using shock tactics. But an ability to shout
louder than others offers no justification for others to listen
– It is more likely to drive them further away.
Moreover the capacity to respond to emotional stimuli is
soon dulled by repetition – however provocative; for no
horizon more perpetually recedes than that of seeking to
satisfy the senses by satiating them. When the composer
Richard Rodgers was asked about the source of his
inspiration, he described it as controlled emotion “To
express
something over which you have no control is no basis for art
or anything else’”
Architectural education
The search for an equivalent visual scale with the idea of a
‘perfect shape’ has no more validity than a ‘perfect’ note or
a ‘perfect’ chord. It takes two notes to form a relationship
and three to make a harmony - as Pythagoras originally
proved to be a product of physics through his experiments
on the logarithmic division of musical string lengths.
Many attempts have been made to impose or suppose
various mathematical or geometric patterns on certain
works of art or natural forms including the human figure as
proof of the existence of such a ‘code’. But Peter Scholfield,
in his scholarly book “Theory of
Proportion in Architecture’who had traced the long historical
search for a scale of visual
values, insists that because visual perception is
experienced in both two and three dimensions that any
code had to be grounded in pure mathematics and three
dimensional geometry - and not from any references to or
analyses of any natural, human or material forms however
fascinating or supportive. Nevertheless he concluded from
his extensive research the uniqueness of the ‘Golden Mean’
held the most appeal, despite its ‘irrational’ nature and the
inappropriateness of the ‘Fibonacci’ series as a form of
measurement. i.e.
1 - 1- 2 – 3 - 5 - 8 - 13 - 21 - 34 - 55 - 89 - 144
Psychologists have long been interested in the seeming
human compulsion for pattern- making by asking whether it
is an instinct like hunger which is satisfied by many
different tastes ? However, what has been established is
that a certain blindness to beauty can lead to tastelessness,
vulgarity, kitsch and a general degradation of the living
environment. But on a deeper level, such blindness can lead
to psychological distress causing insensitivity, superficiality,
tactlessness and violence with a loss of identity and
purpose. Conversely, it is held that greater psychological
health is induced by a true appreciation of beauty, which in
the act of creation can produce a victory over frustration
and discouragement, bringing with it a moment of
transcendent joy in discovering the ancient wisdom that
“Beauty is truth – and truth beauty” -

4
The consistent assumption and expectation of the existence
of a visual scale has logically
followed the criteria that :
Because we do respond to certain works of art – so :
- Just what are we responding to ? and so :
- what is doing the responding ?’ – and since :
- any sensory stimulus supposes a change in brain energy
patterns – therefore :
- there has to be some frame of reference against which
any variation in brain rhythms
can be measured - and so :
- because visual perception is experienced in three
dimensions - then
- any scale or code should find expression in mathematics
and geometry – and :
- it would have to apply in all our senses - and be consistent
with all the arts,
‘Beauty is in theBrain of the beholder’
This, instead of beauty being in the ‘Eye of the beholder’
the following neurologists and
other specialists have now shown to exist in a form of
‘genetic code’ in the brain - which
all human beings have in common - that accords with the
logarithmic pattern of the
uniquely, progressively additional Gold Mean series :
[1.618 x 1.618] = 2.6i8 + 1.618 = 4.236 + 2.618 = 6.854.+
4.236 = 11.090 etc…
Alan Gevins, a neuroscientist and computer specialist who,
in using 3-D images, identified distinct wave patterns he
called ‘perception sets’ whereby the brain constantly tuned
and re-tuned itself as it aligned itself to changes in its
environment. This means that anyone learning to play
music is in fact ‘tuning’ their brain by responding to its own
inherent patterns of harmonic relationships, which through
biofeedback can bring about an enhancement of aesthetic
judgment. This Yehudi Mehuhin confirmed to me, was
indeed the relationship he had with his violin.
The concert pianist and neurologist Manfred Clynes
established certain ‘sentic patterns’ that reflected specific
emotional states to music, regardless of race or culture.
which then resolves the question of different kinds music
with many different scales has a sound neurological basis to
which other cultures can and do respond as the expression
has it – “Like a duck takes to water” – even though it may
be hatched in a desert.
S.L. Sherwood, who studied visual perception following the
research of Kenneth J.W. Craik, by using the calculus of
infinite differences to the bipolar levels, also concluded that
the properties of depth, continuity and contrast are basic
responses of sensory stimulation in which every receptor
has a logarithmic spiral with the Fibonacci series
Similarly, Conrad Mueller in his work ‘Sensory Psychology’
confirmed that all the senses appeaedr to operate in an
approximate way to a logarithmic pattern, accepting the
capacity of all systems for adaptation
Kit Pedlar of the London Institute of Ophthalmology in a
study of the three-.Dimensional nature of visual perception,
observed that the processes of interconnecting nerve
stimuli between the photo- receptors of the retina and the
ganglion cells places the eye in relation to the brain as a
computer terminal to a central processor.
5
APPLICATIONS
As long ago as the 18th century Thomas Campion
formulated a Fibonacci-based pattern from which a
composer could avoid standard harmonic pitfalls in
orchestration. Music therapy has become a recognised
medical and educational tool from the early works of Hans
Berger at Jana University who in 1923 demonstrated how
certain rhythms of the brain changed patterns in rates of
breathing, blood pressure and circulation. Latterly from Ira
Altschuler to Donald Campbell, research has shown some
positive effects of Baroque music on a person’s studying
and negative effects of ‘hard rock’ sounds.
The question remained however as to how a scale of
mathematical and geometric proportions be facilitated in
the design process. Having been exposed to a week-long
interaction with Richard Buckminster [Bucky] Fuller at Natal
University, it seemed necessary to equate his synergetic
tetrahedral geodesics with the classic Platonic geometry of
the pentagon, circle and square, plus the logarithmic spiral
with which the Golden Mean had always been identified. In
considering the basic relationships in an equilateral triangle
of the base to height and to its the centre of gravity it was
found to be a ratio of 1 : 1.5. This when applied to the
Fibonacci series, a new practical series emerged that had a
direct relationship with the foot-inch system of
measurement i.e.
1
1
2
3
5
8
13
21
34
55
89
144
1.5 1.5
3.0 4.5 7.5 12.0 19.5 31.5 51.0
82.5 133.5 216.0
Having followed the advice of Peter Scholfield to eschew
any relationship with the human figure, curiosity beckoned
and the possibility of equating this triangulated series was
too great. In taking a double triangle with a height of3 1 .5
as a possible basis, the figure turned out to be consistent
with the classic proportions of the Venus de Milo height of
1.618 m and other statistical analyses. [See below]
Thereupon all traditional male- orientated representations is
changed from the impaled male images of Da Vinci and Le
Corbusier to a flexible form that accords with the art of
ballet –:
This configuration also appears
to justify the use of ‘figure drawing
’ as a key aspect of art training

Art in Proportion in Art

Art in Proportion in Art, © Antony V. Trowbridge. While

accepting the normal copyright conditions of this material,
you are invited, indeed encoura... (More)

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5
Uploaded:
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Category:
Creative Writing > Essays
Rated:
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Innovarsity
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