During a fascinating conversation regrading ideal viewing distances for paintings/drawings that started here on smartermarx (and spilled over into Facebook), Trompe L’oeil artist and muralist Ron Francis introduced the considerations of perspective into the mix. His point was that the size/distance dynamic that was explored in the discussion may be quite limiting (esp. without considerations of a work’s representation of perspective). To this point he had shared an amazing work that dealt with mixing a traditional representation of perspective with an “anamorphic” section.
For those that may not be familiar, anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point (or both) to “reconstitute” the image (you can see how the latter can be quite relevant to our size/distance viewing discussion.) While very complex anamorphoses can be devised using distorted lenses, mirrors, or other optical transformations–the two main types of anamorphosis are perspective (oblique—like the popular street chalk drawings) and mirror (catoptric).
Regrdaing the work, Ron states, “Here I painted the bookshelf and books to be viewed directly from in front, but the elf and hole were supposed to be viewed from 45 degrees off to the right. (The elf and hole are anamorphic.)”
“Sleepy Hollow” 40 cm x 70 cm (approx 16" x 27") (Front View)
“Sleepy Hollow” 40 cm x 70 cm (approx 16" x 27") (View at 45 degrees)
To see more of Ron’s great work you can visit: http://www.users.on.net/~ronfrancis/