The Artist's Eyes

Michael F. Marmor,

James G. Ravin

James Ravin

4.18 · Rating details · 33 ratings · 6 reviews

In this fascinating juxtaposition of science and art history, ophthalmologists Michael Marmor and James Ravin examine the role of vision and eye disease in art. They focus on the eye, where the process of vision originates, and investigate how aspects of vision have inspired and confounded many of the world's most famous artists.

Why do Georges Seurat's paintings appear to ...more

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Hardcover, 224 pages

Published October 1st 2009 by Harry N. Abrams (first published 2009)

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Feb 08, 2019 Amrita Kaur rated it it was amazing

This book was made for me. With degrees in both Art and Optometry, I found this book endlessly fascinating. It entailed everything from unique art history facts, to dissecting art styles and the possible visual pathology that many have contributed to varying artists different styles. Good for both anyone who likes art or science!

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Oct 29, 2012 Ruth Charchian rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction

This book demands more than just a cursory glance in order to fully appreciate the depth and breadth of the fascinating content the authors present to us. There are several chapters on the effect of color on our brain and eye demonstrating how our brain and eye can, in fact, lie to us. There are several chapters on the aging eyes of Rembrandt, Pissaro, Cassatt, Monet as they progressed from early to mature to late paintings. This book, after a careful read, changed the way I will look at art in ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Jina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I really, really enjoyed this book. I loved the layout and the topics the authors covered. They provided ample examples and proof for their many hypothesis on different artists, however they acknowledge a lot of what they discuss is merely theories when an artist is deceased and there are no medical records/evidence. The authors were very informative and thorough without being too technical and difficult to understand. While it was interesting to look at art through an artist's eyes in Looking ...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Grady rated it it was amazing

The Marriage of Science and Art

THE ARTIST'S EYES: VISION AND HISTORY IN ART is an illuminating book written with intelligence and considerable insight by Drs. Michael Marmor and James Ravin who share the common threads of interest in their study of vision and the anatomy and physiology and function of the eye and their passion for art. The result is a book of great interest for scientists, art collectors, art historians, and student and practicing artists. The authors have presented the aspects The Marriage of Science and Art

THE ARTIST'S EYES: VISION AND HISTORY IN ART is an illuminating book written with intelligence and considerable insight by Drs. Michael Marmor and James Ravin who share the common threads of interest in their study of vision and the anatomy and physiology and function of the eye and their passion for art. The result is a book of great interest for scientists, art collectors, art historians, and student and practicing artists. The authors have presented the aspects of vision - the normal visual perception and all of its variations (astigmatism, nearsightedness, farsightedness, changes with age, use and lack of use of corrective lenses, diseases of the eye (glaucoma, cataracts, etc), and diseases of the body (metal poisoning, infection, drugs side effects, etc) that alter the manner in which the eye perceives and object. According to Cezanne 'Monet is only an eye, but what an eye!' and 'The sky is blue, no? It is Monet who discovered that.' Such quips are dusted throughout this fascinating book on how the eye functions and fails to function.

Divided into chapters or sections that deal with variations of normal vision, each of these sections features artists whose impairments altered the way they viewed their subjects. 'Why do Georges Seurat's paintings appear to shimmer? Why is it that the eyes in certain portraits seem to follow you around the room? Are the broad brushstrokes in Monet's Water Lilies due to cataracts? Could van Gogh's magnificent yellows be a result of drugs? How does eye disease affect the artistic process? Or does it at all?' The authors discuss artists from Rembrandt to Chuck Close with the bulk of exploration being with the Impressionists - a fitting group to study as they were presenting impressions of the world through their eyes and less concerned with the camera obscura detail that fascinated earlier artists. A description of the effects of bilateral cataracts on Monet's painting is one of the longer episodes in this book: 'I no longer perceived colours with the same intensity, I no longer painted light with the same accuracy. Reds appeared muddy to me, pinks insipid, and the intermediate or lower tones escaped me. As for forms, they always appeared clear and I rendered them with the same decision. At first I tried to be stubborn. How many times ... have I stayed for hours under the harshest sun sitting on my campstool, in the shade of my parasol, forcing myself to resume my interrupted task and recapture the freshness that had disappeared from my palette! Wasted efforts. What I painted was more and more dark, more and more like an 'old picture', and when the attempt was over I compared it to former works, I would be seized by a frantic rage and slash all my canvases with my penknife.'

At times the writing feels as though the artistic gifts of the artists discussed are too categorically described by disease or dysfunction of vision. Doubtless it added to the way they painted, but does it explain the special gifts of expression that have guaranteed them a place in visual history? There is a point when the arts can be 'explained ' by scientific method but beyond that is the quality of genius that filled the brains and hands of these gifted men, with or without perfect vision.

The book is rich in illustrations - of anatomy, of visual information, and of both details and various stages of paintings by the artists discussed. It makes for a great read!

Grady Harp ...more

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