Mathematics and art have not necessarily collided together,
instead they have been formed a third culture in the realm of literature.
The genre of science fiction has interested readers since
Americans first landed on the moon and in the last fifty or so years science
fiction novels have been the center of attention.
A very important novel that speaks to both math and art is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. L’Engle
is able to blend her artistic writing with science in an exceptional way. At
one point in her novel, L’Engle sends her protagonists into another world, one
that is only in two dimensions. Without even knowing it, her readers are thrown
into a place whose mathematical basis is much different from our Earth.
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| Mondrian Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow |
Perspective, space, art, and mathematics have a much closer
relationship than is assumed. Before L’Engle’s time, artists
like Leone Battista Alberti, author of De Pictura, or On
Painting, explored how math and perspective influenced art. As he clearly
states at the beginning of his work, “I will take first from the mathematicians
those things with which my subject is concerned” (Alberti). Like L’Engle Alberti
was able to see how mathematics directly influenced art.
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| The pyramids of Giza |
Someone
who was also able to embrace the relationship between math and art was the Dutch
artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). Mondrian’s art is largely remembered for its
use of rectangles. Though simple at plain sight, Mondrian Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow, exemplifies what mathematicians have termed as the
golden ratio. The number 1.618, sometimes also referred to as the divine proportion, is a phenomenon seen in art and math since
the pyramids of Giza.
Sources
Alberti, Leon
Battista, ed. N.p.. Web. 13 Oct 2013.
<http://www.noteaccess.com/Texts/Alberti/1.htm>.
L'Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1962. Print.
Mondrian, Piet. Mondrian Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow. 1930. Painting. en.wikipedia.orgWeb. 14 Oct
2013.
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fe/Mondrian_Composition_II_in_Red,_Blue,_and_Yellow.jpg>.
N.d. Photograph.
Travel House UKWeb. 14 Oct 2013.
<http://news.travelhouseuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Giza-Pyramids.jpg>.
WrinkleInTimePBA1.jpg. N.d. Photograph. en.wikipedia.orgWeb. 14 Oct 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WrinkleInTimePBA1.jpg>.
I liked your incorporation of literature to demonstrate the relationship between math and art. When I think of the word "art," what comes to mind are paintings, sculptures, etc. I failed to realize what a good medium literature is for the combination of these seemingly different subject areas. I think your point about the popularity of science fiction novels brings up an argument society's interest in the mixing of math and art.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Alyssa. Besides literature, films have been a really good medium for the mixing of math and art. They're the perfect place for mixing artistic style with science. Take the Star Trek series as an example.
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