Subject
Cameras (fwd)
From
Date
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From: Phil Howerton <phil@carolina.rr.com>
There is an absolutely fascinating article in the Jan 31, The New Yorker,
"The Looking Glass," by Lawrence Weschler about the theories and
discoveries of the artist David Hockner regarding the use of cameras
lucida and obscura by the great masters (!) for, basically, tracing (!)
the images of their subjects from reverse, upside down projections of
these instrumentalities rather than using the older methods of
mathematical projections, grids and such. If nothing else, it is
provoking an interesting and amusing dog fight between Hockney, who seems
to have all the-- quite revolutionary-- evidence and the art history
oligarchy. The article concentrates on the "camera lucida" but from my
inspection of Webster's 2nd and the description of how the artists worked
(dark room screened from a light room with curtains and a peephole through
which the image is projected), it would appear that the method was perhaps
a combination of the two, the camera lucida and the camera obscura.
Knowing, but not fully understanding (particularly the reversal, inversal)
the many references in Nabokov to cameras lucida and obscura and not
finding it indexed in Boyd, I wonder if anyone would care to comment on
the use of these principles/instruments (more than simply mirrors) in
Nabokov and, perhaps, wonder along with me if Nabokov didn't maybe
somewhere score another scientific coup on the "professionals" and
anticipate Mr. Hockney's discoveries. I remember particularly, the scene
in Pnin, of the painting of the reflected scene in the side of an automobile. It seems to me that the effect of reverted/inverted people, places and language is a constant and important theme in Nabokov and I would like to know more about it.
Phil
P.S. The article also provides an interesting historical context to
creative=right brain postulates and, particularly, to the exercise of
Betty Edward's (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) in which she
explains that students draw much better if they view the portrait subject
(photograph) upside down (quite true), which, according to Hockney, is
exactly what the Great Masters were doing!
Philip F. Howerton, Jr.
2812 Sunset Drive
Charlotte, NC 28209
"To be proud, to be brave, to be free"
There is an absolutely fascinating article in the Jan 31, The New Yorker,
"The Looking Glass," by Lawrence Weschler about the theories and
discoveries of the artist David Hockner regarding the use of cameras
lucida and obscura by the great masters (!) for, basically, tracing (!)
the images of their subjects from reverse, upside down projections of
these instrumentalities rather than using the older methods of
mathematical projections, grids and such. If nothing else, it is
provoking an interesting and amusing dog fight between Hockney, who seems
to have all the-- quite revolutionary-- evidence and the art history
oligarchy. The article concentrates on the "camera lucida" but from my
inspection of Webster's 2nd and the description of how the artists worked
(dark room screened from a light room with curtains and a peephole through
which the image is projected), it would appear that the method was perhaps
a combination of the two, the camera lucida and the camera obscura.
Knowing, but not fully understanding (particularly the reversal, inversal)
the many references in Nabokov to cameras lucida and obscura and not
finding it indexed in Boyd, I wonder if anyone would care to comment on
the use of these principles/instruments (more than simply mirrors) in
Nabokov and, perhaps, wonder along with me if Nabokov didn't maybe
somewhere score another scientific coup on the "professionals" and
anticipate Mr. Hockney's discoveries. I remember particularly, the scene
in Pnin, of the painting of the reflected scene in the side of an automobile. It seems to me that the effect of reverted/inverted people, places and language is a constant and important theme in Nabokov and I would like to know more about it.
Phil
P.S. The article also provides an interesting historical context to
creative=right brain postulates and, particularly, to the exercise of
Betty Edward's (Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain) in which she
explains that students draw much better if they view the portrait subject
(photograph) upside down (quite true), which, according to Hockney, is
exactly what the Great Masters were doing!
Philip F. Howerton, Jr.
2812 Sunset Drive
Charlotte, NC 28209
"To be proud, to be brave, to be free"