HOW THEY DID IT – A BRIEF LOOK AT THE ROLE OF GEOMETRY IN ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Abstract:
For most of us art is a synonym of painting, sculpture and sometimes calligraphy. We consider also music as a form of art. For an average person art has nothing in common with mathematics or even geometry. However, if we will look into the history then we will find that Ancient Greeks considered art and mathematics as tightly connected disciplines. There were many artists who have been inspired by mathematics and studied mathematics as a mean of complementing their works. The Greek sculptor Polykleitos recommended a series of mathematical proportions for carving the ideal male nude. Renaissance painters turned to mathematics and many of them became accomplished mathematicians themselves. We can find mathematics in creations of the middle century Islamic artists as well as Gothic masons. In this lecture I will explore some examples of art from various regions and cultures of the world. I will briefly examine the role of mathematics, in particular geometry, in creation of these works of art. My major objective will be to show how geometric constructions were used to create these examples of art. I will start from Islamic art that is the most geometric art ever created, then I will examine some Celtic and Cosmati designs, and finally I will show the geometry behind the Gothic tracery.
Tea Time: 3:30pm, R707(七樓休息室)
2012-03-29 16:00 ~ 2012-03-29 17:00
Prof. Miroslaw L. Majewski (New York Institute of Technology)