Artificial Light: Its Influence upon CivilizationLuckiesh, Matthew
History
Artificial Light: Its Influence upon Civilization
Luckiesh, Matthew
Electric lighting; Lighting -- History
The art museum affords a multitude of opportunities for utilizing the
expressiveness of light. This is more generally true of sculptured
objects than of paintings because the latter may be treated as a whole.
The artist almost invariably paints a picture by daylight and unless it
is illuminated by daylight it is altered in appearance, that is, it
becomes another picture. The great difference in the appearance of a
painting under daylight and ordinary artificial light is quite
startling, when demonstrated by means of apparatus in which the two
effects may be rapidly alternated. Art museums are supposed to exhibit
the works of artists and, therefore, no changes in these works should be
tolerated if they can be avoided. The modern artificial-daylight lamps
make it possible to illuminate galleries with light at night which
approximates daylight. A further advantage of artificial light is that
it may be easily controlled and a more satisfactory lighting may be
obtained than with natural light. Considering the cost of daylight in
museums and its disadvantages it appears possible that artificial
daylight with its advantages may replace it eventually in the large
galleries. If the works of artists are really prized for their
appearance, the lighting of them is very important.
Sculpture is modeled by light and although it is impossible to ascertain
the lighting under which the sculptor viewed his completed work with
pride and satisfaction, it is possible to give the best consideration to
its lighting in its final place of exhibition. The appearance of a
sculpture depends upon the dominant direction of the light, the
solid-angle subtended by the light-source (skylight, area of sky, etc.)
and the amount of scattered light. The direction of dominant light
determines the general direction of the shadows; the solid-angle of the
light-source affects the character of the edges of the shadows; and the
scattered light accounts for the brightness of the shadows. It should be
obvious that variations of these factors affect the appearance or
expression of three-dimensional objects. Therefore the position of a
sculptured object with respect to the window or other skylight and the
amount of light reflected from the surroundings are important. Visits to
art museums with these factors in mind reveal a gross neglect in the
lighting of objects of art which are supposed to appeal by virtue of
their appearances, for they can arouse the emotions only through the
doorway of vision.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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