A camera obscura is one example of an optical instrument or device. These either process light waves in order to enhance an image, or they analyze light waves to determine more specific characteristics of the image. Currently in existence are many different optical devices: interferometer, photometer, polarimeter, reflectometer, refractometer, spectrometer, autocollimeter, vertometer, and others. Invented over a span of several centures, many different optical aides have come into existence. Along with the camera obscura, these include the camera lucida, the magic lantern, and the black mirror or claude glass. All rely on optics. Optical aids enhance accuracy. Hence, the camera obscura captured photos. Using similar design, the camera lucida was an optical device used by artists as a drawing aid. The device was patented in 1807 by William Hyde Wollaston, but speculation regarding whether he merely reinvented a device mentioned in Dioptrice by Johannes Kepler in 1611. Regardless, the device performs an optical superimposition of the subject being viewed, allowing the artist to simultaneously view the subject and the surface. The way the ‘technology’ works is similar to that of a double exposure in photography. The black mirror was also another device invented for drawing. It was a small, dark tinted and convex mirror that abstracted the subject reflected in it from its surroundings. This reduced and simplified the color and tonal range of the subject. These two devices took an understanding of the optics working in the camera obscura and used them in two newer devices that aided in drawing and not photography.
While optical aides enhance accuracy, depending on the specific device used, various distortions also result in the product. This gave rise to the Hockney-Falco thesis, which suggests that “advances in realism and accuracy in the history of Western art since the Renaissance were primarily the result of optical aides such as the camera obscura, the camera lucida, and curved mirrors, rather than solely due to the development of artistic technique and skill.” Arguments can be made both for and against this thesis. Regardless of who stands correct in that argument, optical devices such as those mentioned above also become incorporated in the development of performed art. Invented in the 17th century, the magic lantern or laterna magica, was a type of image projector. A concave mirror gathers and projects light through a slide with an image printed on it. As the light rays cross through a small opening inside they hit a lens. This enlarges the image and projects it onto the wall or screen the lantern is directed at. Following this invention, Phantasmagoria was invented in France in the late 18th century. This used the abilities of the magic lantern to create a type of theatre which used a modified magic lantern to “project frightening images onto walls or semi-transparent screens, frequently using rear projection.” Invented in the past, the camera obscura was also tinkered with by others in the past to give rise to new devices and uses.
Similarly, in the present day we can find different takes and recreations of the old invention. From left to right in the four images below we can see a camera obscura with the lens at the top, one made out of a cardboard box, a wooden one, and a metal one. The two images below those four show a girl who made a backpack to record what she saw as she was out walking similarly to why and how the camera obscura was constructed – to capture a record of the world as it was being experienced. Artists frequently revisit the old device to recreate modern interpretations. Buildings have been constructed that are themselves camera obscura devices. Also there is a frequency of lighthouses that have the devices at their top. Antique and modern models of all the devices discussed above can be found on the internet for purchase as well. Art continuously reminds us of our connection to the past.
Sources:
http://wiki.arch.ethz.ch/twiki/pub/Fron ... bscura.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FakAB ... bscura.jpg
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