Art and Representation: New Principles in the Analysis of Pictures
Willats holds degrees in mechanical sciences and psychology and has trained as a sculptor at the Royal College of Art, giving him a special expertise in perception, the formal structure in painting, and their application to artificial intelligence. While this book is well written and avoids the jargon of semiotics and deconstructivism, the five-page glossary will often need to be consulted. Definitions of "picture primitives" and "scene primitives" are of note along with the interesting and significant comments on children's drawings. As a treatise, it is a highly technical addition to Ernst, Gombich's Art and Illusion (Oxford Univ., 1960. reprint, 1988) and Rudolf Arnheim's Art and Visual Perception (1954), but with more limited appeal; it is not for general readership. For larger academic collections.?Mary Hamel-Schwulst, Towson State Univ. Lib., Md.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.