Event Title
Macroanalysis and Art Historical Methods: The Case of Fernand Léger (Panel C)
Location
Room 407, South Hall
Start Date
30-9-2016 1:15 PM
End Date
30-9-2016 2:45 PM
Description
“Recently it has been shown that computers are able to perform the task of analyzing visual art. Such analysis provides a quantitative and objective approach to the understanding of art, and can expand on the ‘traditional’ subjective way fine art has been examined, appreciated, and studied in the past few hundred years” (Shamir, 2013).
While software has been shown to accurately sort artists into schools of art identified by art historians, and to show similarities between artists, and to authenticate paintings of questionable provenance, the question remains as to how macroanalysis can be effectively used to yield new insights into art history, artists, and artworks. Subjecting digital images of paintings to algorithmic analysis is not without its pitfalls. Current software cannot gauge irony, subversion, scale, and computers cannot easily recognize more abstract depictions and what they represent, for example. In addition, previous approaches have had difficulty creating an output that is easily understood in art history terms.
In this paper, we explore the particular case of Fernand Léger and his influences, using a new program developed at LTU to test and measure standard approaches to this artist’s work. Scholars have noted unequivocally that “Léger’s personal brand of cubism has little in common with Picasso and Braque.” Léger himself publically allied himself with Cezanne, Rousseau, and Cendrars. In this paper we validate and measure these statements by determining which artists Léger is most similar to and what features make his work distinctive.
This paper explores whether computer assisted methods validate and measure what we already know and what new insights might be obtained regarding Léger’s relationship to these artists.
Macroanalysis and Art Historical Methods: The Case of Fernand Léger (Panel C)
Room 407, South Hall
“Recently it has been shown that computers are able to perform the task of analyzing visual art. Such analysis provides a quantitative and objective approach to the understanding of art, and can expand on the ‘traditional’ subjective way fine art has been examined, appreciated, and studied in the past few hundred years” (Shamir, 2013).
While software has been shown to accurately sort artists into schools of art identified by art historians, and to show similarities between artists, and to authenticate paintings of questionable provenance, the question remains as to how macroanalysis can be effectively used to yield new insights into art history, artists, and artworks. Subjecting digital images of paintings to algorithmic analysis is not without its pitfalls. Current software cannot gauge irony, subversion, scale, and computers cannot easily recognize more abstract depictions and what they represent, for example. In addition, previous approaches have had difficulty creating an output that is easily understood in art history terms.
In this paper, we explore the particular case of Fernand Léger and his influences, using a new program developed at LTU to test and measure standard approaches to this artist’s work. Scholars have noted unequivocally that “Léger’s personal brand of cubism has little in common with Picasso and Braque.” Léger himself publically allied himself with Cezanne, Rousseau, and Cendrars. In this paper we validate and measure these statements by determining which artists Léger is most similar to and what features make his work distinctive.
This paper explores whether computer assisted methods validate and measure what we already know and what new insights might be obtained regarding Léger’s relationship to these artists.