In Looking at Art by Alice Elizabeth Chase, an artist must constrain himself to the limits of the canvas and thus he must limit the details of the landscape to his own interpretation. This interpretation significantly depends on the artist’s culture and background, his time period, and most importantly, the feelings on what he sees. Chase in Chapter 3 incompletely describes the evolution of art among different cultures throughout certain periods, and then in Chapter 4, she explains how artists from these periods tried to include as much information as possible in their paintings.
According to Chase in Chapter 3, landscapes from different cultures used their own standards of creating such works of art. Ancient Egyptian painting had simple shapes and symbols, rather than an accurate portrayal of the view. The rectangular-shaped pond drawn as a rectangle and the zigzag lines as the ripples portrays such simplicity. Roman landscapes featured scenes of nature coupled with legendary heroes or figures. On the other hand, the Chinese landscape suggested the moods of man and the concept of infinity to be most important. Chinese landscapes were meant to be read in episodes as in a book and their variation came from the shade of black ink and type of stroke.
Chase also mentions the conspicuous differences among the arts of the Flemish (northern) and Italian (southern) Renaissances and the medieval time period. The backgrounds in early medieval paintings were flat and gold, but as time progressed, artists grew interest in the secular world around them. In Italy, landscape was an accompaniment to the figures and story, while in Flanders, the landscape in the background was just as important as the story. The incredible “perfection of God’s world” had to be shown in Flemish paintings. The Dutch in fact adored the countryside and the sky.
Furthermore, the techniques of creating art greatly became more sophisticated over time. The modification of tones and the use of shadow evolved during the Renaissance, and as landscapes grew in popularity, artists developed a formula of light and dark areas to appeal to the eye. Such a formula led to the increased number of brownish landscapes in eighteenth-century Europe.
According to Chase, appeal and desire became major factors in determining popularity of different types of art in the nineteenth century. Englishmen ordered landscapes of real estates and pioneering artists, especially in the United States, painted the landscapes of the forgotten or unknown countryside. “Starry Sky” and “Mont Sainte-Victoire” were simply two paintings of landscapes characterized by the painter’s feelings and ideas that were flowing through his or her mind.
According to Chapter 4, artists of different periods used different methods to describe what is happening in the painting. Ancient Egyptians made the human figure into a map and accompanied their painting with hieroglyphics to describe the plot. In both ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, scenes created on walls often simplistically portrayed people, focusing more on the daily activities of man. At a palace wall in Nimrud, an artist suggested depth by overlapping and importance by size. The ancient Greeks also used a similar profile system on their pottery, but that later was replaced by a system in which bodies were drawn to indicate the third dimension. Chase further mentions that the modeling in light and shade can first be credited to the Greeks.
Afterwards, Alice Chase discusses perspective and how people in ancient times were not concerned with it, even though they must have observed it. It was not until the Middle Ages or Renaissance in which vanishing-point perspective was suggested. Artists then decided to look at perspective and vision scientifically. Albrecht Durer came up with a system of drawing lines for small objects at a comfortable distance. Other Renaissance innovators were amazed by perspective and foreshortening and thus tried many experiments. By the end of the seventeenth century, the art of perspective was mastered in Europe. However, the Chinese and the Japanese use isometric perspective, in which the parallel lines continue and do not come together at a vanishing point. In the isometric view, the viewer can see both the inside and outside of a structure.
There is no true way to represent space, according to Alice Chase. Vanishing-point perspective is what Western cultures are accustomed to and is more accurate in terms of what the eyes see. However, other systems more accurately show other features than vanishing point does.
Alice Elizabeth Chase has made essential points, worth mentioning, about art. However, she fails to mention other cultures around the world and how they have portrayed art. She focuses more on the art of Western civilization, and only briefly mentions the art of two ancient civilizations in the Middle East and two Oriental civilizations. Her knowledge is either incomplete or has purposely left these other civilizations out, such as African or even Native American civilizations. She overemphasizes space and only mentions art on a two-dimensional surface. Chase leaves out three-dimensional art, such as statues. Even vastly decorated edifices can be considered art to some. In her discussions, Alice Chase limits herself to only a few perspectives of art.