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Agrégation 2001 : image analysis

Responsable : Professeur Marie-Madeleine Martinet

 
Perspective
 

PERSPECTIVE (Extract from the CDROM ‘Georgian Cities’)

The representation of depth in space was done according to the geometrical rules of perspective, on which artists played variations to underline their purpose.

Example: http://come.to/William_Hogarth   Hogarth: Beer Street and Gin Lane (1750)

Beer Street puts into practice the rules of perspective: In Gin Lane two conflicting perspective schemes regulate the middle distance in a criss-cross pattern:
– the main buildings are in OBLIQUE VIEW (seen on the angle), which was favoured by Hogarth as being closer to life than the frontal view with a central axis, a structure parodied in Gin Lane.

– the receding oblique horizontals of the roofs and windows both on right and left converge on the SAME HORIZON.

The flagstones of the foreground also converge on the same line, but not on the same point, which shows that they are again placed obliquely in relation to the walls of the houses. Since they are slightly curved, stiffness is avoided.

These flagstones are also oblique in relation to the ground line, contrary to the usual orthogonal grid of paving stones in elementary perspective diagrams. This is a way of leading the eye into the picture in different directions, which gives a variety of movement loved by Hogarth.

– the oblique perspective scheme is underlined by the COMPOSITIONAL EFFECT of the pawnbroker’s sign, which is collapsing: it is placed on a main compositional oblique leading to the point where the horizon meets the left-hand frame. The oblique is symmetrical with the main construction line of the happy group below, suggesting a correlation between the prosperity of the population and the decadence of usury.

– there are TWO HORIZON LINES:
  • the orthogonals of the more distant house to the left L2 (eaves and roof ridge) converge on the same horizon line H as the orthogonals of the closest house to the right R1
  • conversely the orthogonals of the closest house to the left L1 (joints between the stones) converge on the same horizon as those of the more distant house to the right R2 (window sills)

– a further CRISS-CROSS PATTERN prevails FOR THE FIGURES: the line of sight of the figures to the left (FL) is not at the level of the horizon of the closest house L1 but on the horizon H of L2, and conversely the line of sight of figures FR is at , which is not the horizon of the house above them R1.

These formal anomalies suggest the distorted world created by gin, as well the author’s satirical vision.

 
 
 
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Dernière mise à jour : 27/01/2004
 
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AGREGATION 2001
Image analysis
Landscape & Hypermedia
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