On Max Wertheimer and Pablo Picasso: Gestalt Theory, Cubism and Camouflage
That art and camouflage are related was anticipated in the 1890s by Abbott H. Thayer, an American painter with a lifelong interest in natural history. It was Thayer who discovered countershading, a variant of natural camouflage in which the upper surfaces of an animal's body are colored darker, the undersides lighter. Many animals are countershaded (rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, certain birds, and so on), particularly those that are active during daylight and respond to intrusion by remaining motionless.
Countershading, Thayer noticed, is the inverse of shading, by which artists create the appearance of solidity or three-dimensional volume on a flat surface by coloring shapes darker on the underside and progressively lighter toward the top. When a countershaded animal is observed in the wild, its white undersides counteract the effects of the overhead sun. It is colored darkest on those parts of the body that are most exposed to sunlight, and lightest on those that are mostly in shade. As a result, it appears flat and insubstantial, making it less visible as a solid, three-dimensional "thing."
-from the essay: http://web.mac.com/gesamtkunstwerk/iWeb/The_Poetry_of_Sight/GestaltAndCamouflage.html
by Roy R. Behrens | The Thinking Eye
Posted by Stubbornson at May 25, 2006 04:33 AM