This thesis proposes a fresh engagement with the idea of the archaic as a means to recover and replenish some of the lost vitality suffered during what William Barrett characterized the modern period as “the gigantic externalization of life.” An introductory essay examines how the related ideas of the archaic, the primal, and the prehistoric have at key moments provided a source of creative energy for the arts of the last century. Collections of found material, and several photographic studies document the city of Niagara Falls—icon of American pop culture and faded relic of romanticism. The photographs present an alternative to the world of the touristic snapshot, and address the questions: In the age of simulation how do we know what is real anymore? Can we learn to see with archaic eyes?

Master’s thesis focuses on area of historic water reservoirs on Yellow Hill, situated between streets of Tomešova and Tvrdého. They continued to supply Brno with non-potable water until 1997 and TIC is currently looking for a new way to make water reservoirs accesable and more interesting to the general public. Due to the existence of underground reservoirs the site has remained undeveloped and is covered with dense greenery. Thanks to that, the character of the place is in the context of the surrounding build-up area very unique. The proposal not only respects that, but seeks to support it. The whole area is undergoing through new landscape design and is completed by three single-storey pavilions, which with their various functions ensure the operation of the site. The historic buildings that were used to manage the underground reservoirs are renovated and integrated into the operation of the site. An important part of the design is also the solution of barrier-free access to reservoirs, their interconnection and installation of optical device - the Camery Obscury in the oldest of the reservoirs. The whole place becomes more accesible and attractive for visitors.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Veranice Canato.pdf: 2119970 bytes, checksum: 0b3e2b259a68a1ec4980cdecd8d345a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-02 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In the year of 1604, with the objective to produce a theory, that would explain the refraction of light of celestial bodies and solve the existing problems in the observation of solar eclipses through camera obscura, Johannes Kepler published Ad VItellionem Paralipomena, quibus Astronomiae pars Optica Traditvr. Paralipomena has been raising the attention of history of science researchers since the first decades of the twentieth-century, and its classification, as either a continuity or a break with the treatises of optics developed during the Middle Ages, has become a controversial theme. Different aspects in this debate lead to a comprehension of Kepler's work as an appreciation of several studies of optics, astronomy and natural magic available at the end of sixteenth- century. Several studies available in Kepler s times, which probably contributed for his solution of the problems with the camera obscura, are presented in this dissertation in an attempt to show that Kepler s elaboration of his camera obscura theory, presented in chapter second of Paralipomena, is a consequence of this appreciation / Com o objetivo de apresentar teorias capazes de explicar a refração da luz nos corpos celestes e de solucionar problemas nas observações de eclipses solares com câmaras escuras. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) publicou, em 1604, o seu Ad VItellionem Paralipomena ,quibus Astronomiae pars Optica Traditvr. Esse livro vem despertando a atenção de pesquisadores em história da ciência desde as primeiras décadas do século XX e se constituiu como objeto de um polêmico debate em torno de sua classificação como uma continuidade ou uma ruptura com os tratados ópticos desenvolvidos no medievo. Os diferentes aspectos destacados nesse debate possibilitam uma compreensão do trabalho de Kepler como uma apreensão dos diversos estudos de óptica, de astronomia e de magia natural que circulavam no final do século XVI. Nesta dissertação, procuramos mostrar que a elaboração de sua teoria para a câmara escura, apresentada no segundo capítulo do Paralipomena, é uma conseqüência dessa apreensão. Para tal, procuramos analisar vários trabalhos que circulavam à época de Kepler e que possivelmente contribuíram para a sua solução dos problemas da câmara escura

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Before the publication of David Hockney’s book Secret Knowledge: rediscovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters in 2001, it was commonly believed that the first artist to use an optical aid in painting was the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Hockney, however, believes that the use of projected images started much earlier, as early as the fifteenth-century, claiming that evidence can be found in the work of the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Without rejecting Hockney’s pioneering work in this field, I nevertheless make the perhaps bolder claim that Italian artists were using the aid of image projections even before the time of Jan van Eyck, that is, as early as 1270. Although much of the information required to make an earlier claim for the use of optics can be found in Hockney’s publication, the key to linking all the information together has been missing. It is my unique contention that this key is a letter that has always been believed to have been European in origin. More commonly referred to as Roger Bacon’s Letter I show in detail how this letter was, in fact, not written by Roger Bacon, but addressed to him, and that this letter originated in China. Chinese knowledge about projected images, that is the concept that light-pictures could be received onto appropriate supports, came directly to Europe around 1250. This knowledge was expanded upon by Roger Bacon in his Opus Majus, a document which arrived in Italy in 1268 for the special consideration of Pope Clement IV. The medieval Italian painter Cimabue was able to benefit directly from this information about optical systems, when he himself was in Rome in 1272. He immediately began to copy optical projections, which stimulated the creation of a new, more individualistic, mode of representation in Italian painting from this time forward. The notion that projected images greatly contributed towards the development of naturalism in medieval Italian painting replaces the previously weak supposition that the stimulation was classical or humanist theory, and shows that it was, in fact, far likely something more technical as well. / Art History / D.Litt. et Phil. (Art History)

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is an investigation into the relationship between photorealistic painting and specific devices used to aid the artist in mediating the real. The term 'reality' is negotiated and a hybrid theoretical approach to photorealism, including mimesis and semiotics, is suggested. Through careful analysis of Vermeer's suspected use of the camera obscura, I argue that camera vision already started in the 17th century, thus signalling the dramatic shift from the classical Cartesian perspective scopic regime to the model of vision offered by the camera long before the advent of photography. I suggest that contemporary photorealist painters do not just merely and objectively copy, but use photographic source material with a sophisticated awareness in response to a rapidly changing world. Through an examination of the way in which the camera obscura and photographic camera are used in the works of four artists, I suggest that a symbiotic relationship of subtle tensions between painting and photographic technology emerges. This results in visions of the painted real that may be meaningful to contemporary society and have the ability to emotionally affect the viewer. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die verhouding tussen fotorealistiese skilderkuns en die spesifieke metodes wat die kunstenaar se vertolking van die werklikheid vergemaklik. Die term, 'realiteit' word krities oorweeg te midde van 'n saamgestelde teoretiese aanslag tot fotorealisme wat mimesis en semiotiek insluit. Deur 'n noukeurige analise van Vermeer se oënskynlike gebruik van die camera obscura, hou ek voor dat fotografiese sig reeds sedert die 17e eeu teenwoordig is. Hierdie gewaarwording dui op 'n dramatiese skuif vanaf 'n klassieke, Kartesiaanse perspektief en skopiese regime tot die model van visie gebied deur die kamera, lank voor die ontwikkeling van fotografie. Ek stel voor dat kontemporêre fotorealistiese skilders nie bloot objektief kopieër nie, maar fotografiese verwysings met 'n gesofistikeerde bewussyn in reaksie tot 'n vinnigveranderende wêreld gebruik. Deur 'n ondersoek na die wyse waarop die camera obscura en fotografiese kamera in die werke van vier kunstenaars gebruik word, stel ek voor dat 'n simbiotiese verhouding die subtiele spanning tussen skilderkuns en fotografiese tegnologie meemaak. Dit lei tot visionêre weergawes van 'n geskilderde realiteit wat 'n betekenisvolle posisie in die kontemporêre samelewing beklee en die moontlikheid besit om die toeskouer op 'n emosionele vlak te affekteer.

Before the publication of David Hockney’s book Secret Knowledge: rediscovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters in 2001, it was commonly believed that the first artist to use an optical aid in painting was the seventeenth-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Hockney, however, believes that the use of projected images started much earlier, as early as the fifteenth-century, claiming that evidence can be found in the work of the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. Without rejecting Hockney’s pioneering work in this field, I nevertheless make the perhaps bolder claim that Italian artists were using the aid of image projections even before the time of Jan van Eyck, that is, as early as 1270. Although much of the information required to make an earlier claim for the use of optics can be found in Hockney’s publication, the key to linking all the information together has been missing. It is my unique contention that this key is a letter that has always been believed to have been European in origin. More commonly referred to as Roger Bacon’s Letter I show in detail how this letter was, in fact, not written by Roger Bacon, but addressed to him, and that this letter originated in China. Chinese knowledge about projected images, that is the concept that light-pictures could be received onto appropriate supports, came directly to Europe around 1250. This knowledge was expanded upon by Roger Bacon in his Opus Majus, a document which arrived in Italy in 1268 for the special consideration of Pope Clement IV. The medieval Italian painter Cimabue was able to benefit directly from this information about optical systems, when he himself was in Rome in 1272. He immediately began to copy optical projections, which stimulated the creation of a new, more individualistic, mode of representation in Italian painting from this time forward. The notion that projected images greatly contributed towards the development of naturalism in medieval Italian painting replaces the previously weak supposition that the stimulation was classical or humanist theory, and shows that it was, in fact, far likely something more technical as well. / Art History / D.Litt. et Phil. (Art History)

Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio's Looking Glass is an ironic allusion to both the concave mirror and the biconvex lens. It was these simple objects, in colloquial terms a shaving mirror and a magnifying glass, which Artemisia Gentileschi and her father Orazio, learned from Caravaggio how to use to enhance the natural phenomenon of the camera obscura effect. Painting from a projection meant that Artemisia could achieve an extreme form of realism and detail in her work. This knowledge, which was of necessity kept hidden, spooked the Inquisition and also gave artists, who knew how to manipulate the technology, an extreme competitive edge over their rivals. This dissertation challenges the naive assumptions that have been made about Artemisia's working practices, effectively ignoring the strong causal links between art and science in Seicento Italian painting. Introducing the use of optical aids by Artemisia opens up her story to a whole new generation of scholarship. / Art History / M.A. (Art history)

This historical work focuses on the theory of photography. It is divided into three autonomous episodes chronologically correspond to three historical stages. These parts are connected with one genealogies of one possible reading of the photography. The first part deals with the historical circumstances and causes of the birth of photography. The second phase describes the later period of history of the Weimar Republic and photographic movement of Neue Sachlichkeit. The last part concentrates on Düsseldorf School of Photography and its current followers. These historical eras combines the aesthetic issues of cult and conceptual values, which is demonstrated on the way how read the photographic medium as a specific aesthetic phenomenon.

Artemisia Gentileschi and Caravaggio's Looking Glass is an ironic allusion to both the concave mirror and the biconvex lens. It was these simple objects, in colloquial terms a shaving mirror and a magnifying glass, which Artemisia Gentileschi and her father Orazio, learned from Caravaggio how to use to enhance the natural phenomenon of the camera obscura effect. Painting from a projection meant that Artemisia could achieve an extreme form of realism and detail in her work. This knowledge, which was of necessity kept hidden, spooked the Inquisition and also gave artists, who knew how to manipulate the technology, an extreme competitive edge over their rivals. This dissertation challenges the naive assumptions that have been made about Artemisia's working practices, effectively ignoring the strong causal links between art and science in Seicento Italian painting. Introducing the use of optical aids by Artemisia opens up her story to a whole new generation of scholarship. / Art History / M.A. (Art history)