The Artful Eye

This volume provides fascinating insights into the links between art and science, mind and brain. With contributions from Richard Gregory, Roger Penrose, David Hubel and others, The Artful Eye offers a brilliant introduction to the science behind the perception and enjoyment of art in essays ranging from topics in the physiology of the brain, development of sight in infants, and the significance of faces, to the physics of images and the mathematics of impossible objects. There are essays on perspective--especially of Vermeer's use of the camera oscura --alongside an examination of the art of the forger, portraits of artists and scientists, and a personal statement by the late sculptress, Dame Elisabeth Frink. With over 200 illustrations--including beautifully reproduced color plates by Hockney, Magritte, Vermeer, and others-- The Artful Eye will appeal to psychologists, vision scientists, and all those interested in how science and art mix to create the aesthetic experience.

Professor R. L Gregory, who edited The Oxford Companion to the Mind (OUP, 1987), is at the Department of Psychology, Bristol University. Dr J. Harris and Dr P. Heard are both at that same establishment, while Dr D. Rose is at the Department of Psychology, Surrey University.