Category Archives: art

WHAT ARE THE CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF SERIFS?

Posted on September 19, 2015 by Philip

WHAT ARE THE CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF SERIFS? Despite the practical reasons for or against serifs (legibility or time to load documents), it seems that it is hard to resist the temptation to analyze the broad cultural implications of the presence … Continue reading →

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MY EYE LOOKS AT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE PICTURE.

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Philip

MY EYE LOOKS AT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE PICTURE. James Gurney says that within a split second of looking at the drawing, his eye was drawn by the fact that the white space in the middle of the drawing … Continue reading →

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DOES THE ARTIST GUIDE YOUR EYE?

Posted on June 13, 2015 by Philip

DOES THE ARTIST GUIDE YOUR EYE? Art critics in discussing the composition of a painting will often describe how the artist guides your eye into and through the painting. I mentioned to Annalisa that when I look at a painting, … Continue reading →

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TAKING LONGER THAN 11 SECONDS.

Posted on June 4, 2015 by Philip

TAKING LONGER THAN 11 SECONDS.I was surprised that people on average look at the Mona Lisa for only 11 seconds.. In this post on LEGOS AND CONCEPTUAL ART, I said: “A lot of conceptual art bears only a few moments … Continue reading →

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HOW LONG DOES THE AVERAGE PERSON LOOK AT THE MONA LISA?

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Philip

HOW LONG DOES THE AVERAGE PERSON LOOK AT THE MONA LISA? Ellen Gamerman, Inti Landauro and Liam Moloney had an article in the Wall Street Journal (May 29) about how crowded the major tourist sites in Europe will be this … Continue reading →

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ALBERS AND COLOR.

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Philip

ALBERS AND COLOR. Having a daughter who is an artist has made Mary Jane and me more conscious of what we see. It was less than a month ago that I sent Mary Jane this wikipedia entry about Josef Albers … Continue reading →

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THE SCIENCE OF WHY THE DRESS CHANGES COLOR.

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Philip

THE SCIENCE OF WHY THE DRESS CHANGES COLOR. Adam Rogers explains the shifts in the colors of the controversial dress in terms of the adjustments which our brain makes to the information that the eyes give it. Our eyes have … Continue reading →

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IS THIS DRESS BLUE WITH A BLACK FRINGE OR WHITE WITH A GOLD FRINGE?

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Philip

IS THIS DRESS BLUE WITH A BLACK FRINGE OR WHITE WITH A GOLD FRINGE? This article by Adam Rogers on the WIRED web site explains the science behind a current controversy on the internet. As I started this post, I … Continue reading →

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THE BEAUTY OF SNOW.

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Philip

THE BEAUTY OF SNOW. The snow for Whittier is beautiful: “The old familiar sights of ours Took marvellous shapes; strange domes and towers Rose up where sty or corn-crib stood….” Whittier used Ralph Waldo Emerson’s The Snow-Storm (here) as a … Continue reading →

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WHEN TIMES NEW ROMAN WAS NEW.

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Philip

WHEN TIMES NEW ROMAN WAS NEW. Until I read this article by Meredith Mann on the New York Public Library blog, I had thought that the Times New Roman typeface was associated with the New York Times. Instead, it is … Continue reading →

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