In last week’s blog, I mentioned Leonardo Da Vinci and how his scientific knowledge may have influenced him creating his art pieces. I also introduced some of his pieces such as Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. In this week’s lecture film, I learned how Da Vinci calculated the angles mathematically to make those paintings stand out among other art pieces. Professor Vesna’s lecture made my obscure understanding of the mathematical aspect of Mona Lisa and The Last Supper very clear.
I was very interested in the term “Golden Ratio” and “Golden Rectangle” which were introduced in the lecture presentation. The pyramid in Egypt which "Golden Ration" was used never stops attracting people’s attention.So what is the effect of using golden ratio? According to McVeigh's article in The Guardian, the reason why it pleases the eye is because the human eye is capable of interpreting an image featuring the golden ratio faster than any other images.
Sunflowers are the example of plants which have a Golden Ratio seed arrangements. Computer Scientist, Alan Turning, introduced the theory about the occurrence of mathematical patterns in nature before his death in 1954 and his theory has recently been proven. This ratio maximizes the number of seeds that can be packed into a seed head. The golden ratio does not just please people's eyes but they are also an effective tool for ecosystem in nature.
While I was researching on different architectures and art pieces which use "Golden Ratio" and "Golden Rectangle", I found that there are some other types of ratio and one of them is “Golden Spiral”. Samuel Obara, a professor of Georgia University, says that the “Golden Spiral” is created by making adjacent squares of Fibonacci dimensions and is based on the pattern of squares that can be constructed with the golden rectangle.
Here is an example of using “Golden Spiral”.
This is The Great Wave, a woodblock print by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It was published in the early 19th century. The record does not show that he studied either math or science, however, The Great Wave looks as if it was drawn using the golden spiral ratio. That is probably why Hokusai became to be known as one of the best artists in Japan and he has influenced many western artists.
1) Freeborn, Amy. "Alan Turing's Final Experiment Completed and Theory Proven in Centenary Tribute." Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://news.yahoo.com/alan-turings-final-experiment-completed-theory-proven-centenary-110500414.html>.
2)"Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture." Golden Ratio in Art and Architecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2015. <http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt668/EMAT6680.2000/Obara/Emat6690/Golden%20Ratio/golden.html>.
3) McVeigh, Karen. "Why Golden Ratio Pleases the Eye: US Academic Says He Knows Art Secret." The Guardian. The Guardian, 28 Dec. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/28/golden-ratio-us-academic>.
4) Nikhat, Parveen. "Fibonacci in Nature." Fibonacci in Nature. University of Georgia, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emat6680/parveen/fib_nature.htm>.
5) "The Golden Ratio 2 - in the Life." MY ARTWORKS GALLERY. N.p., 10 Aug. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2015. <https://s719244.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/the-golden-ratio-2-in-the-life/>.
It's fun to read your blog which illustrates the mathematics in art through interesting and clear examples. More importantly, I enjoy your attitude towards the things that you are interested in. After you pick up several examples about golden ratio not only from art works but also from the nature to show the application of mathematics in art, you particularly do some research to explore the scientific reason behind the amazing phenomenon and concisely include them in your blog, making your blog more comprehensive and deep. Besides, the consistent discussion of the Da Vinci and his works from last week is a natural opening.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I would recommend you talk more about your own feeling of the integration of mathematics and art, besides your interest to some specific phenomenon or terms, but more generally towards the relationship of math and art, such as how you would juxtapose math, art, and science after learning the lesson. I think that would be more thorough.