The Damaged Eye Flashcards
Optical distortions, a blurred image
Myopia
Common in animals
15-20% of caucasains, 60-70% japanese - does this explain their stronger preference for red?
High % in jews and egyptians - have a longer history of civilisation and reading a lot… did this make them short sighted?
48% of artists in the impressionist period were myopic - did it cause the style?
Accommodation errors
Accommodation errors occur as a function of age. Being short sighted improves with age
The myopic artist is reduced to painting what he sees
Loss of detail
Effect of mass persists
Loss of fine detail
Lower spatial frequencies preserved (colour)
Colours run together
–> peripheral imagery, indeed employed by the impressionists
Optical distortions, a foggy image
Cataract
Cataract develops if the eye collects too much UV light
Slowly progressive disease, vision deteriorates slowly. There is colour distortion towards warmer colours (red, brown, yellow)
E.g. Monet
Retinal distortions, a lost image
Central scotoma = lose central vision completely
e.g. Degas
Had myopia, retinal degeneration (inc. photophobia, reduced sensitivity to light and colour contrast)
Avoided plein air, preferred close-ups, ballerinas
His drawing graudally decreased in spatial frequency as his vision became worse and worse
He tried to overcome his handicap by changing all the resources he had and his technique (Went from oil painting to pastels which he could apply with his hands, began sculpting when he could no longer paint)
Lots of imagination and expertise
Retinal distortions, a yellow image
Xanthopsia, seeing in yellow
Causes: abuse of toxic substances e.g. alcohol, modern drugs, snake venom, digitalis. Diabetes, Glaucoma, Psychosis
…
a yellow image
Van Gogh (1853-1890)
His paintings went from dark, earthy colours to light.
He might have had a cerebral tumour, syphillis, glaucoma, digitalis poisoning, BD…
Agrees with a possible diagnosis of Xanthopsia. He was given digitalis for epilepsy, even painted his doctor with it (foxglove)
Toxic substances
People tried to enhance their creativity using drugs in Van Goghs time. E.g. Absinthe, many depictions of this.
Colour vision is very vulnerable to such toxic substances
Other explanations for Goghs use of yellow
Fascination with colour - he studied colour science, experimented before finding his own style
Deliberate use of colour contrast - to show personality, as in his chairs as portraits of people
Didn’t necessarily need drugs to stimulate his imagination
Loved the colour yellow? However he did use a yellow pigment that was very toxic…
Deficiencies and style
Some deficiencies would almost certainly give rise to different representations. Might these have been influential to the creation of new artistic styles?
