Summary
Part 1: The Limits of Likeness
In the introduction to Art and Illusion, Gombrich poses the question, "Why have different eras and cultures depicted the visible world in such varied ways?" He seeks to answer this question throughout his book. Initially, however, he offers a critical overview of the history of style and the psychology of representation. With that groundwork laid, he moves on to Chapter One, "From Light into Paint." Here, Gombrich mentions that English painter John Constable once said, "Painting is a science." Like Constable, Gombrich believes that science plays a role in both the creation and appreciation of art. He elucidates the various techniques artists have developed over time to capture light in their paintings.
Chapter Two, "Truth and Stereotype," starts by exploring how a picture cannot be classified as true or false, unlike its caption, which can be evaluated in such terms. Gombrich further explains that when artists set out to create images, they begin not with what they physically see, but with an idea or concept, which he refers to as a "schema." According to Gombrich, the schema is "the initial broad category that is gradually refined to match the form it is meant to replicate." Therefore, when depicting a person, animal, landscape, or object, the artist requires a starting point, as Gombrich notes, "you cannot create a faithful image out of nothing." Additionally, an artist is inclined to identify "certain aspects in the scene around him that he can render. Painting is an activity, and thus the artist will more likely see what he paints rather than paint what he sees."
Part 2: Function and Form
The first chapter, "Pygmalion’s Power," delves into the relationship between the artist and creation. Gombrich argues that the goal of the artist is not merely to produce a likeness but to create something real. In this process, the artist begins with a general idea, such as the concept of a chair, and refines it until it embodies the specific chair being painted.
This section discusses the evolution of Greek art from rigid depictions to more realistic representations. Gombrich argues that this shift exemplifies the idea that creating precedes imitation. In other words, an artist or a culture starts with a basic framework, which the artist refines and adjusts to achieve a closer resemblance to their intended vision. Gombrich then delves into the "essential geometric relationships that artists need to understand to construct a convincing figure." In this exploration, he examines the Medieval and Renaissance "drawing books," which utilized geometric shapes as instructional tools for teaching drawing. According to Gombrich, these books "serve as a repository of formulas or schemata that spread across Europe." He likens these books to fundamental vocabularies, providing artists with the foundational elements of the artistic language. However, Gombrich emphasizes that "effective portrayal" is only attainable when artists transcend these formulas and show a readiness "to correct and revise."
Part 3: The Beholder’s Share
This portion of the text centers on the viewer's role in interpreting an artist's work. Gombrich connects this concept to the psychological phenomenon known as "projection," where individuals project their own desires and traits onto others. Similarly, viewers of art project their personal classifications onto the images created by artists. In this dynamic, the artist creates, and the viewer projects; both actions are essential in forming meaning.
In a key section of Part Three, Gombrich addresses "the perception of symbolic material," drawing from his experience as a monitor for the British Broadcasting Corporation during World War II. He explores how our knowledge and expectations shape what we perceive or hear....
(This entire section contains 1337 words.)
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The more predictable a word is, the less attention we pay. As Gombrich puts it, "Where we can anticipate we need not listen. It is in this context that projection will do for perception." In other words, the viewer fills in the gaps through projection, projecting the image they expect into "an empty or ill-defined area."
Similarly, incomplete visual images prompt viewers to finish the image: artists offer clues that the viewer must use to complete the picture. No matter how meticulously artists work, they cannot capture every detail of reality. It is the illusion they create that enables the viewer to fill in the gaps. Gombrich states, "I believe that this illusion is assisted by what might be called the ‘etc. principle,’ the assumption we tend to make that to see a few members of a series is to see them all." Additionally, the viewer's expectations and the context of the image influence the meaning they assign to an image.
In Chapter 8, titled "Ambiguities of the Third Dimension," Gombrich explores the concept of perspective and how space is represented in art. The central challenge is creating the illusion of three dimensions on a flat, two-dimensional canvas. A painting inherently has only height and width, so to convey depth, artists must master the technique of perspective. Gombrich emphasizes, "One cannot insist enough that the art of perspective aims at a correct equation: it wants the image to appear like the object and the object like the image." He argues that perspective relies on the viewer's expectations, particularly regarding the size-distance ambiguity. Viewers gauge the distance of objects based on their perceived size, and artists exploit this assumption. Contrary to Gestalt psychologists, Gombrich contends that understanding perspective in a flat image is a learned skill, not an inherent ability, drawing on the ideas of philosopher Sir Karl R. Popper. Thus, paintings that incorporate perspective are considered illusionist, designed for viewers who "willingly suspend disbelief" and see what they anticipate rather than what is physically present. In contrast, Gombrich attributes the emergence of cubism to a "radical attempt to stamp out ambiguity and to enforce one reading of the picture—that of a man-made construction, a colored canvas."
Part 4: Invention and Discovery
Following his discussion on interpretation, Gombrich provides a concise history of perception, referencing figures such as Bishop Berkeley, John Ruskin, and Roger Fry. He asserts that "all thinking is sorting, classifying." After summarizing John Ruskin's views, Gombrich dismisses Ruskin's idea of the "innocent eye." He believes this concept is unattainable because no human eye is "innocent," meaning unaffected by prior experiences and attitudes. The eye is linked to the brain and the viewer's experiences, shaping how they perceive meaning. For artists, this process is heavily influenced by their ability to see their subjects within the context of artistic traditions. Gombrich notes, "A painting, as Wölfflin said, owes more to other paintings than they owe to direct observation."
In this section, Gombrich also discusses the significance of experimentation. He agrees with Constable, who regarded art as akin to natural philosophy or science, that "only experimentation can show the artist a way out of the prison of style toward a greater truth. Only through trying out new effects never seen before in paint could he learn about nature. Making still comes before matching."
Gombrich sets himself apart from the nineteenth-century frameworks of both art and science, which held the belief in the possibility of neutral observations, known as the concept of induction. Gombrich contends that "pure observation" is unattainable in either discipline. Instead, he asserts that all observations are based on hypotheses, which in turn shape expectations. It is only by testing these hypotheses that scientists and artists can modify their existing understanding of reality.
In one of the book's most captivating chapters, Gombrich delves into the topic of caricature, building on his earlier collaboration with Ernst Kris. He incorporates the insights of Freud and other psychologists to explore the "minimum clues of expression," which are the features that allow a viewer to recognize a face with just a few lines. Gombrich concludes this section and the book with a discussion on the parallels between "the language of words and visual representation." He concludes that "the true miracle of the language of art is not that it enables the artist to create the illusion of reality. It is that under the hands of a great master the image becomes translucent."
