Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing
What is it that makes the work of Monet, van Gogh, da Vinci, and Warhol  so visually arresting? How do our eyes and brains coordinate to perceive line  and color?Neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone addresses these and many other questions inVision and Art, a lively look at the science underlying art. She writes  accessibly, but with plenty of technical depth, on such matters as the nature of  light and the visible spectrum, the organization of visual-image processing, the  structure of the vertebrate eye and brain, and individual and culturally  conditioned perceptions of color. Using well-known works of art as case studies,  she offers fascinating bits of trivia (on, for instance, how pastels are made  and why purple dyes are so rare) alongside practical information for artists  (for example, how high-contrast contours and evenly distributed luminance  attract the eye).The result is a literate, lucid blend of art and science that will appeal to  artists and connoisseurs alike.--Gregory McNamee