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"The very universe of light is
the world of the visible"
Painting in art, has concentrated primarily
on the depiction of natural light and of artificial sources. You become aware of this
natural light perception when
confronted with the splendours of some of the Old Masters like Rembrandt.
He managed to capture light and shadows using the medium of paint.
The greatest artist of the Dutch
school, he was a master of light and shadow whose paintings,
drawings, and etchings made him a giant in the history of art.
Albert
Einstein solved the mystery of light's essence in 1905 through
wave-particle duality. Light is both an electromagnetic wave and a
current of particles. It is an energy that can
travel at a speed of 299,792,458 meters p/s. When white light hits
a prism it divides into different wavelengths that are
visible as colours. Its' brightness is measured in the term "Lux" and
"Lumen"
describes the amount of light that is
emitted from a light source. By applying what are known as "colour
filters" to white light, one filters away all but some of the
wavelengths leaving some behind. Hence a blue filter will leave
behind essentially blue light.
Very few media have changed our world in the last hundred years as much as electrical light. The
most diverse areas of everyday life, of working life, media, etc.,
have been transformed through the advent of artificial light - and
likewise, art. Since the beginning of the last century, artificial
light has increasingly illuminated ever more streets, shops, signage and houses in abundance and form. We live
surrounded by artificial light. Technology moves at such a pace with
ever evolving light sources. Observed from aeroplanes and satellites, the Earth
glows brightly like stars. Artificial light has altered people's
lives as a whole. Ever since the invention of the electric light
bulb, we have
lived in wonderful havens of artificial light.
Returning to the great Painters, by
painting the same motif in different conditions of light, Claude
Monet the impressionist, was able to depict light itself...the
objects become a mere background for his representation of light.
Artist
J.M.W.Turner 1775 - 1851, was perhaps the most famous English
Romantic landscape artist. He became known as 'the painter of
light'. He studied the science of light and colour, the theory in
particular that yellow was closest colour to the production of white
light in painting. Amongst his contemporaries he was a unique
artist, both in freeing himself from all past artist traditions and
art movements. He was to open the way for a visionary anticipation
of modern painting.
Paul
Cezanne said, "May I repeat what I told you here: treat
nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone, everything
brought into proper perspective so that each side of an object or a
plane is directed towards a central point. Lines parallel to the
horizon give breadth... lines perpendicular to this horizon give
depth. But nature for us men is more depth than surface, whence the
need to introduce into our light vibrations, represented by the reds
and yellows, a sufficient amount of blueness to give the feel of
air." (Paul Cézanne to Emile Bernard, 15 april 1904)
It is only since Heinrich
Hertz discovered in 1889, "that electric waves
reproduce exactly like optical waves" and have the same speed, i.e., that there is a
real and symbolic relationship between light and electricity, that a
universe of artificial light has had its influence on all of us. For
nearly a hundred years, artists have confronted this immaterial
medium in the form of light bulbs, luminous substances and neon
tubes, LEDs and powerful light sources. Art has increasingly
turned from the illusionary representation of natural light to the
real application of artificial light. Artwork is transforming
itself from a representative plain depicting
natural light - the prismatic metamorphosis into the colours of the rainbow
-
into a real sender of the utilisation of artificial light.
In the second half of the twentieth
century, especially in the 1960s, the medium of artificial light inspired a
growing interest in European artists and it is interesting to see how these
artists dealt with light, colour, and kinetics. The electrification of the world
inspired artists of different genres such as Futurism,
Kinetic Colour
Music and the Bauhaus.
Artists in the world of Theatre and Film have been inspired by
natural and artificial wavelength phenomena. Stage Lighting
Designers can transform a theatre environment into a believable
vision. Artists in Europe document the beginning of the interactive
and even virtual environments. Many artists implement light
statically, as well as with movement.
Through artistic directions such as painting, film, Kinetics,
and "Op Art", artificial light created an independent
medium: "light art".
FURTHER RELATED LINKS:
Reference
link regarding the history of the lighting and lamps:
The
History Of Theatre Lighting:
Introduction
to Theatre:
The
History of Lighting:
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