Set of Visual Illusions

Anamorphosis in the art of the 21st century. Visual research concept. Studying the phenomenon of optical illusions for the preparation of the thesis, the author is faced with the concept of “anamorphosis”. These are unusual distorted images that “gather” in understandable only at a certain viewing angle. Translated from Greek: Ana - back, morphe - form (back to form). In the Dahl dictionary, anamorphosis is defined as an ugly but correctly distorted picture. (Electronic source https://slovar.cc/rus/dal/537199.html (accessed October 14, 19))  In the 18-19 centuries it became an entertainment for children and adults, ugly drawings displayed in curves, cylindrical and pyramidal or conical mirrors. The painting "Ambassadors" by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1533 is widely known. “In the foreground of the picture, a strange oblong object attracts attention, when you look from a certain angle, it turns out to be a human skull. Holbein used an anamorphosis technique in which the natural image of objects was distorted, resulting in a new unusual image. ” ) “Optical illusions in painting and graphics” A. Savelyeva 2007 p. 23) The game with the form and its interpretation by the viewer is the basis in the creation of works of op-art, imp-art, illusions, three-dimensional images and the works of surrealists, and anamorphoses are considered both as part of them and as an independent direction. In 21st century art, the word anamorphosis is applied to a wide variety of works from graphics to land art. The vagueness of the use of the term was the beginning of this study. The purpose of visual research is to study the concept of anamorphosis, identify its features and, following the path of transformation from 16th-century art, determine which works can be called anamorphic in the art of the 21 century. In works on the history of art and historical works of the late 20th century on the study of anamorphoses, it is possible to trace the history of the concept. The first known examples of anamorphosis can be found in the notebook of Leonardo Da Vinci in 1485, the child's face and eyes. A familiar eye and a round baby face can be seen when you look at the picture at an acute angle. Perspective distortion experiments became popular in the Renaissance. Then it was considered a miracle of art, designed to impress the audience, and the technique of execution was often kept secret. This opened up opportunities for creating fantastic, surreal designs and images, introduced an element of riddle and magic, and made it possible to hide elements of eroticism and political satire. A large selection of anamorphic images of the 15-16th centuries contains the scientific work of Jurgis Baltūšaitis in 1969. The author refers to Gaspar Scott, who formulated the definition of anamorphosis in 1657: “Instead of reducing forms to visible boundaries, anamorphosis projects the image beyond itself or distorts it so that only when view from a certain point does the image return to its normal form. " (Jurgis Baltusaitis / Anamorphic Art by Jurgis Baltrusaitis, 1969, p. 1) In the course of this visual research, anamorphoses in different directions of art were examined and the general principles of their embodiment were revealed. Thus, four main types of image distortion used in obtaining anamorphic images were distinguished: 1. Mirrored 2. Three-dimensional 3. Versatile 4. Multilayer. The study is divided into chapters according to these types.   Types: Mirrored - images that are decrypted using a mirror surface Three-dimensional - the initial image, located on a single plane, turns into the final one from a certain point of view Versatile - several resulting images are encrypted, for reading each of which there is a different viewing angle Multilayer - the initial images are on different planes, the final image gets by overlaying at a certain angle