PERSPECTIVE

Perspective in art usually refers to the representation of three-dimensional objects or spaces

in 2 d artworks. Artists use perspective techniques to create a realistic impression of depth,
‘play with’ perspective to present dramatic or disorientating images.
Perspective can also mean a point of view – the position from which an individual or group
of people see and respond to, the world around them.

Figure 1 John Wonnacott, The Norwich School of Art (1982-84)

Have you noticed that things look bigger if they are close to you and smaller if they are
further away? This is perspective. It is perspective that helps make things look three
dimensional – and creates a sense of space receding into the distance. There are two types
of perspective: linear perspective, and aerial perspective (sometimes also called atmospheric
perspective).
Linear perspective
If you look along a straight road or a railway track, the edges of the road or tracks look as if
they are coming together in the distance. This is called linear perspective. With linear
perspective parallel lines move together as they recede away from you. The point at which
the lines appear to meet is called the vanishing point.
Figure 2Julian Opie , Imagine you are driving.

To create the impression of a road heading away into the distance, artist Julian Opie has placed a
single vanishing point more or less at the centre of the image. The edges of the road meet at this
point and suggest a sense of receding space. (Perspective that uses a single vanishing point like this,
is sometimes referred to as 'one-point perspective').

To represent three-dimensional objects or buildings, artists often use two (or more) vanishing points.
Have a look at this sketch by J.M.W. Turner. He has placed a vanishing point at either side of the
paper and then drawn the top and bottom lines of the two walls of the building so they meet at
these points. The walls look as if they are going back into the distance, which makes the building look
three-dimensional.

Figure 3Joseph Mallord William Turner Traching of a perspective Construction of a house (c. 1810).
Aerial or atmospheric perspective
As well as using lines to create the impression of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional
surface, there are other techniques artists use. Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers
to the effect that the atmosphere has on the appearance of things when they are looked at from a
distance.

Figure 4 William Ratcliffe, Hampstead Garden Suburb from Willifield Way (c. 1914)

If you look at a view from a high building or the top of a hill, buildings, trees, hills and other
landscape or city features look blurred or hazy in the distance. The further something is away from
you, the less clear its details are and there is less tonal contrast (the contrast between lights and
darks). Colours also become less bright the further they are away and blend more into the
background colour of the atmosphere – which is blue (unless there is a sunset, when it is red!).

In William Ratcliffe's painting of a suburban street, the houses and gardens in the foreground are
detailed and brightly coloured. But the hills, buildings, and trees in the distance are painted in shades
of faded blue and purple and it is hard to make out their shapes and details.

Figure 5 Carol Rhodes. Ridge (1999)

Artist Carol Rhodes uses aerial perspective in her paintings of landscapes – which look as if they have
lierally been painted from an aeroplane! Ridge 1999 shows a view from above of a vast empty
landscape. At first glance it looks like an abstract composition. But we can make out a few details that
suggest it is a landscape – the ridge, what looks like a road, and perhaps an airport landing strip. As
the landscape stretches into the distance however the features become so indistinct in the
atmospheric haze that they are impossible to identify.

Surrealist artists used linear perspective to create strange cityscapes with sharp angled buildings and
empty receding streets.

Figure 6 Giorgio de Chirico. The Uncertainty of the Poet (1913)

The shadowy receding arcade in Giorgio de Chirico's The Uncertainty of the Poet 1913 adds an eerie
backdrop for his odd (and very surreal) foreground still life. Tristram Hillier makes use of perspective
to create an equally eerie(strange) urban scene of squares, shadows and buildings.

Perspective and abstraction

The main idea behind cubism was to represent three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional
canvas by bringing together different views of the objects. This often leads to a disorientating sense
of perspective. Instead of receding into space objects seem flattened out – or have angles and planes
that we don't expect to see.

Op artist Bridget Riley often plays with perspective in her abstract paintings and prints that explore
optical effects. The three-dimensional ridges of Blaze 1964 recede in a mesmerising spiral. While
in Untitled [Fragment 1/7] 1965 she manipulates linear perspective to create this three-dimensional
abstract shape.
Figure 7 Bridget Riley. Untitled (Fragment 1/7) 1965

Thomas Struth also made use of perspective in his photographs of urban scenes. But rather than
emphasizing the drama of architecture, he used perspective to highlight the ordinary. In 1991, two
years after the unification of East and West Berlin, Struth began working on a series of photographs
of streets in cities in the former East Germany. The cities had previously been inaccessible from the
West. All the photographs are taken from a similar viewpoint: he places the camera in the centre of
the road at eye level, creating a one-point perspective that leads the viewer's eye along the streets.
The slightly shabby East German world that Struth depicts is one in which time is presented as having
stood still.

Figure 8Thomas Struth. Wittenberg 1991

In the below artwork by Carey Young, two rows of industrial buildings (yellow on one side and blue
on the other) recede dramatically to a single vanishing point at the centre of the image. The stark
perspective and symmetry of the buildings contrast sharply with the curled up figure in the
foreground. No one else is around, and the emptiness of the scene is heightened by the large
expanse of cloudy sky.
Figure 9 Carey Young. Body Techniques, 2007

Perspective in art can also be explored in relation to the viewpoint of artists and how they use this
in making their work. All of us have an individual perspective which affects how we think about
and respond to the world around us. Lots of things affect our perspective including our gender, our
race, our cultural background, our education and our histories and experiences.

Many artists use art as a tool to explore their experiences and make people aware of their
perspective.