A Convex Canvas as an Aid to Augment Three-Dimensional Illusions in Painting
Mortimer Borne · Leonardo · 1974
Artists over the centuries have dealt with light and shadow, color and tone gradations (modeling), and linear and aerial perspective in their paintings to give the illusion of depth (three-dimensionality) on a two-dimensional surface. For discussions of these methods the reader can turn, for example, to Refs. 1 to 4. In the 1940's I decided to experiment with convex canvases to achieve illusions of depth in figurative and nonfigurative paintings using flat areas of color instead of modeling. Shaped canvases in various outside contours as well as rectangular shapes hinged to form 'corner paintings' have been resorted to, for example, by Malina and others [5-8]. Hoenich has used an hexagonal hyperbolic paraboloid shape in which the whole image can be seen only if the viewer moves about [9]. To make the convex support for a canvas, I construct a rectangular wooden frame with sweepbacks (on all four sides) from 4 to 8 inches or wider, depending on the overall size of the projected painting. The angle of the sweepback is generally about 15? away from the face. The central part of the support is left flat and is from 1 to 2 inches