DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42067#0094
72
Representative art
by which we recognize the object, while others that are not charac-
teristic, or at least less characteristic, are considered as irrelevant.
In the latter case we are interested solely in the visual picture that
we receive at any given moment, and the salient features of which
attract our attention.
This method is more realistic than the other only if we claim that
the essence of realism is the reproduction of a single momentary
visual image and if the selection of what appears a salient feature
to us is given a paramount value.
In sculpture or modelling in the round these problems do not
appear in the same form. Here also attention may be directed
primarily towards the representation of the essential, and the same
principles of selection may appear that are found in graphic art, but
the arrangement of the parts does not offer the same difficulties that
are always present in graphic representation. As soon as man is
confronted with the problem of representing a three-dimensional
object on a two-dimensional surface and showing in a single, per-
manent position an object that changes its visual appearance from
time to time, he must make a choice between these two methods.
It is easily intelligible that a profile view of an animal in which only
one eye is seen and in which one whole side disappears may not
satisfy as a realistic representation. The animal has two eyes and
two sides. When it turns I see the other side; it exists and should
be part of a satisfying picture. In a front view the animal appears
foreshortened. The tail is invisible and so are the flanks; but the
animal has tail and flanks and they ought to be there. We are
confronted with the same problem in our representations of maps of
the whole world. In a map on Mercator projection, or in our
planiglobes, we distort the surface of the globe in such a way that
all parts are visible. We are interested only in showing, in a manner
as satisfactory as possible, the interrelations between the parts of the
globe. We combine in one picture aspects that could never be seen
at one glance. The same is true in orthogonal architectural drawings,
particularly when two adjoining views taken at right angles to each
Representative art
by which we recognize the object, while others that are not charac-
teristic, or at least less characteristic, are considered as irrelevant.
In the latter case we are interested solely in the visual picture that
we receive at any given moment, and the salient features of which
attract our attention.
This method is more realistic than the other only if we claim that
the essence of realism is the reproduction of a single momentary
visual image and if the selection of what appears a salient feature
to us is given a paramount value.
In sculpture or modelling in the round these problems do not
appear in the same form. Here also attention may be directed
primarily towards the representation of the essential, and the same
principles of selection may appear that are found in graphic art, but
the arrangement of the parts does not offer the same difficulties that
are always present in graphic representation. As soon as man is
confronted with the problem of representing a three-dimensional
object on a two-dimensional surface and showing in a single, per-
manent position an object that changes its visual appearance from
time to time, he must make a choice between these two methods.
It is easily intelligible that a profile view of an animal in which only
one eye is seen and in which one whole side disappears may not
satisfy as a realistic representation. The animal has two eyes and
two sides. When it turns I see the other side; it exists and should
be part of a satisfying picture. In a front view the animal appears
foreshortened. The tail is invisible and so are the flanks; but the
animal has tail and flanks and they ought to be there. We are
confronted with the same problem in our representations of maps of
the whole world. In a map on Mercator projection, or in our
planiglobes, we distort the surface of the globe in such a way that
all parts are visible. We are interested only in showing, in a manner
as satisfactory as possible, the interrelations between the parts of the
globe. We combine in one picture aspects that could never be seen
at one glance. The same is true in orthogonal architectural drawings,
particularly when two adjoining views taken at right angles to each