Chapter 4: Realism and Perspective

I enjoyed this chapter a lot more than the first two, I'll have to admit. Maybe it's because I'm an Art History major, but the subject and content of the chapter was much easier for me to wrap my mind around, and I found the text a lot more interesting. Although, on the other hand, the definition of realism is now more confusing than ever. Chapter 4 is broken up in the following sections: Visual Codes and Historical Meaning, Questions of Realism, The History of Perspective, Perspective and the Body, The Camera Obscura, and Perspective in Digital Media.

In the introduction, the author sets up the idea that "realism" is actually more broad the we, in western society expect, "...realism has been linked to a surprisingly varied set of conventions and approaches" (141). The following pages of the chapter explain this thesis. As we move to the first section of the chapter, this quote suck out to me, "It is possible to read the history of art as the history of the relationship between ways of seeing and the forms that representation of the real has taken in different periods" (143). The quote is a great transition to Visual Codes and Historical Meanings.

I am not an expert in art history (yet), but just through 19 years of life, I have to tools and cognitive ability to date something just by its appearance. This section explains that as "visual codes", and how these codes and conventions change overtime, "...we look at images of the past differently today than they were viewed during the time in which they were created" (143). Furthermore, "Particular visula styles can thus help us to generally date an image, evoking an earlier moment in history" (143). For example, I can tell something is from the mid 20th century, if pastels, chrome, starburst shapes, and poodle skirts/greaser fashion are being shown, just to name a few; this section really ties into our movie poster research and project.