Home-Light and the Arts

EGN 2080 Light and the Arts, is an elementary course in optics and light, with applications focusing on the fine arts.
The basic issues are:

(1) what is light?
(2) how is light generated?
(3) how does light interact with the eye and brain?
(4) how does light interact with matter?

These will be explored in the context of art as follows:

(1) the spectral content of incandescent light, sunlight, fluorescent light, etc., and how the artists Velazquez, Degas, van Eyck, Hopper, et al choose the colors/shades in their paintings to reflect (for lack of a better word!) the lighting conditions;
(2) the tricks used by Duhrer, Michaelangelo, Dali et al to evoke the various illusions of perspective, depth, etc.;
(3) the physics and chemistry of color and its manipulation by van Gogh, Hudson, etc. in their works. Other topics such as gallery and stage lighting, photographic technology and art, and preservation/restoration will be discussed as time permits.
Description: A course about understanding light and vision, as evidenced in the fine arts, from the scientific and the human viewpoints. Early theories of light; light in culture and art; how the eyes and brain interpret light; light in quantum theory and the theory of relativity; illumination, optical devices, and the 21st-century technology of light. Hands-on experimentation with light.
This course satisfies the Fine Arts General Education Requirement.
Course Prerequisites: High school physics.
Recommended Texts:

1. David R. Falk, Dieter R. Brill, David G. Stork. Seeing the Light : Optics in Nature, Photography, Color, Vision, and Holography, Wiley NY, ISBN: 0471603856
2. Waldman, G., Introduction to Light: the Physics of Light, Vision, and Color, Dover Publications, New York NY - 2002 - ISBN: 0-486-42118-X
3.Web access is also required.

Due to legal issues, I am unable to provide users with complete powerpoint files; specifially the images are not mine and are propietary. I suggest you download the zip file - then unzip the powerpoint files. Each pages contains a hot link to the image that should appear. Load these images into your class file and resize them to your taste, prior to presenting your lecture. Lecture notes are also attached in this zip file. Further Information describing the lectures.

Linked Lectures.zip