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This article is about Anamorphosis in art, for other uses see Anamorphosis (disambiguation)

Anamorphosis is a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to use special devices or occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image. "Ana - morphosis" comes from the Greek words meaning "formed again." In other languages: αναμόρφοση (Greek), anamorphotisches Bild (German), anamorfosi (Italian), anamorfosis (Spanish), vertekend beeld (Dutch), anamorphose (French), anamorfoza (Polish), anamorfózis (Hungarian).

Contents 1 Types of Projection 2 History of anamorphosis 3 "Anamorphic" effects in the work of contemporary artists 4 Bibliography 5 See also 6 External links

There are two main types of anamorphosis: Perspective (oblique) and Mirror (catoptric). Examples of perspectival anamorphosis date to the early Renaissance (15th Century). The other type is called the mirror anamorphosis (or catoptric anamorphosis), occurring at the time of the baroque (17th century). In that case a conical or cylindrical mirror is placed on the drawing or painting to transform a flat distorted image into a three dimensional picture that can be viewed from many angles. The deformed image is painted on a plane surface surrounding the mirror. By looking uniquely into the mirror, the image appears undeformed. Current in the 1600s and 1700s, this process of anamorphosis made it possible to diffuse caricatures, erotic and scatologic scenes and scenes of sorcery for a confidential public.

These "anamorphoscopes" were invented in China and brought to Italy in the 16th century, about the time Renaissance artists like Leonardo da Vinci were mastering 3-D and discovering slant anamorphosis.

Leonardo's Eye (Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1485) is the earliest known example of perspective anamorphosis. Hans Holbein the Younger is well known for incorporating this type of anamorphic trick. His painting The Ambassadors is the most famous example for anamorphosis, in which a distorted shape lies diagonally across the bottom of the frame. Viewing this from an acute angle transforms it into the plastic image of a skull. During the 17th century, Baroque trompe l'oeil murals often used this technique to combine actual architectural elements with an illusion. When standing in front of the art work in a specific spot, the architecture blends with the decorative painting. The dome and vault of the Church of St. Ignazio in Rome, painted by Andrea Pozzo, represented the pinnacle of illusion. Due to complaints of blocked light by neighbouring monks, Pozzo was commissioned to paint the inside of a dome instead of constructing one. However, because it was flat, there was only one spot where the illusion was perfect and the dome looked real.

In 18th and in 19th century, anamorphic images had come to be used more as children's games than fine art. In the 20th century some artists wanted to renew the technique of anamorphosis. Important to mention Marcel Duchamp's interest in anamorphosis, some of his installations are paraphrases of anamorphoses (See The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even [The Large Glass]). Salvador Dalí also utilized the effect in a number of his paintings. Jan Dibbets conceptual works, the so-called "perspective corrections" are examples of "linear" anamorphoses.

The Swedish artist Hans Hamngren produced and exhibited a great deal of examples of the mirror anamorphosis in the 60s and 70s. Shigeo Fukuda Japanese artist has designed both types of anamorphosis in the 70s and 80s. Also Patrick Hughes, Fujio Watanabe, István Orosz, Felice Varini, Matthew Ngui and Kelly Houle are fine artists creating anamorphic images.

Another example is the footpath chalk paintings of Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever where the chalk painting, the pavement and the architectural surroundings all become part of an illusion. Art of this style can be produced by taking a photograph of an object or setting at a sharp angle, then putting a grid over the photo, another, elongated grid on the footpath based on a specific perspective, and reproducing exactly the contents of one into the other, one square at a time.

IMAX, Cinemascope and other wide screen formats use anamorphosis to project a surround image from a flat two dimensional film.

• Baltrusaitis, Jurgis: Anamorphoses ou Thaumaturgus opticus. Flammarion, Paris, 1984.
• Cole, Alison: Perspective. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London, 1992.
• Damisch, Hubert: L’Origine de la perspective. Flammarion, Paris, 1987.
• Du Breuil, La Pere: La Perspective pratique. Paris, 1649.
• Foister, Susan, Roz Ashok, Wyld Martin: Holbein’s Ambassadors. National Gallery Publications, London
• Kircher, Athanasius: Ars Magna lucis et umbrae in decem Libros digesta. Roma, 1646.
• Lanners, Edi: Illusionen. VerlagC.J.Bucher GmbH, München und Luzern, 1973.
• Leemann, Fred: Anamorphosen. DuMont Buchverlag, Köln, 1975.
• Leemann, Fred: Hidden Images. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, NewYork, 1976.
• Maignan, Emmanuel: Perspectiva horaria, sive de Horographia gnomonica…. Roma, 1648.
• Mastai, M.L.d’Otrange: Illusion in Art. Abaris Books, New York, 1975.
• Niceron, Jean-Francois: La Perspective curieuse ou magie artificelle des effets merveilleux. Paris, 1638.
• Niceron, Jean-Francois: Thaumaturgus opticus, seu Admiranda optices per radium directum, catoptrices per radium reflectum. Paris, 1646.
• North, John: The Ambassadors’ Secret. Hamblendon and London, London, 2002.
• Orosz István: Artistic Expression of Mirror, Reflection and Perspective. Symmetry 2000. Portland Press, London, 2002.
• Orosz István: The Mirrors of the Master. Escher Legacy. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 2003.
• Shickman, Allan: “Turning Pictures” in Shakespeare’s England. University of N. Iowa, Cedar Falls Ia. Art Bulletin LIX/1 Mar. 1977.
• Sakane, Itsuo: A Museum of Fun (The Expanding Perceptual World) The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, 1979 (Part I.) 1984 (Part II.)
• Schott, Gaspar: Magia universalis naturae et artis. Würzburg, 1657.
• The Arcimboldo Effect. (exhibition catalogue - Palazzo Grassi, Velence) Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, Bompiani, Milano, 1987.
• Stephen and Timothy Quay: De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)(film)

• Anamorphic widescreen
• Hans Holbein the Younger
• Andrea Pozzo
• Shigeo Fukuda
• István Orosz,
• Felice Varini

• What is an anamorphosis?
• Anamorphosis 3d multiples
• Phillip Kent: Art of Anamorphosis
• Jan Dibbets
• Patrick Hughes
• Contemporary works
• Kelly Houle
• István Orosz
• Shigeo Fukuda