The Painter's Secret Geometry

"This is an outstanding text for teachers and students." &; The Studio This richly illustrated examination of visual arts in the European tradition shows how the great masters employed the "golden mean" and other geometrical patterns to compose their paintings. Author Charles Bouleau explores a tremendous variety of ancient and modern works: the Parthenon friezes, Italian mosaics, the Bayeux Tapestry, and Gothic stonemasons' marks of France and Germany as well as paintings by Picasso, Kandinsky, Klee, and Pollock. His insightful expositions cast new light on such well-known works as Raphael's "The School of Athens," Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," Rubens' "Descent from the Cross," and Renoir's "Le Moulin de la Galette." Advancing step by step through each painter's vast body of work, the survey highlights new contributions from each period and artist. Every analysis is conducted according to strict methods, placing the work within the intellectual atmosphere of its time. Original, informative, and stimulating, The Painter's Secret Geometry reveals the framework of art as well as its most profound and secret poetry. This new edition of the cult classic is a vade mecum for any student of art history or artistic composition. "I found the material presented in this book to be fascinating. Though originally published in the 1960's it's tenets hold up well. It would lend itself well to an art history course or to anyone interested in the concepts outlines." &; Tacoma Public Library

Bouleau's classic illustrated work examines the essential reliance of European painting tradition on the golden mean and other geometrical patterns. From antiquity to the present, expert painters-including abstract modern masters such as Paul Klee and Jackson Pollock-have conveyed harmony through the mathematics of spatial division, ultimately giving geometry a crucial role as the foundation upon which these classics were built. For over half a century, The Painter's Secret Geometry has been a seminal work for students of art history and composition. Now this popular, rich analysis is back in print for today's artists and historians.If you would like a more economical Echo Point paperback version of Painter's Secret Geometry please search ISBN 1626549265.