A COMPARISON BETWEEN PICTORIAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES TO SHADOWS
  • The origin of painting

The ancient story of the Corinthian girl - the daughter of the potter Butades - who drew a line around her lover's shadow to keep a portrait of him

see the article by Robert Rosenblum (Art Bulletin, 1957), available in JSTOR (a University subscription): search 'shadow AND Butades'
  • Perception and shadows

an issue in psychology: perception from shapes and shadows

 perception: an article from the MIT Encyclopaedia of Cognitive Science , 1999
  • Shadows as touchsones of key concepts:

Shadows introduce key concepts:

    • time
    • contiguity
see a comparative study of the approaches of Gombrich, Baxandall, Stoichita
  • Shadows and multiple dimensions

We have already studied multiple dimensions; shadows add an extra argument. A three-dimensional volume casts a two-dimensional shadow; so conversely a two-dimensional shadow suggests the presence of a three-dimensional volume. The volume is of the next higher dimension by comparison with the shadow; continuing this argument, could we imagine a three-dimensional shadow which would be the image of a four-dimensional world?

see the work of Thomans Banchoff on dimensions and shadows