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Anamorphosis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Philip Hickin
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Extract

If you visit the Manchester Museum of Science and Technology take a look at the sculpture in front of the museum. There are two large stainless steel objects, a sphere and an inverted cone. On the ground around the cone are variously shaped patterns of black and brown. However, when the patterns are viewed as reflected from the cone they take on the portraits of four famous scientists connected with the city of Manchester (see figure 1 on the previous page). This is an example of anamorphosis, or anamorphic art. Anamorphosis refers to an image or drawing which is distorted so that it can only be recognized when viewed in a particular way, or using a special device (like the cone in the above example). The word is derived from the Greek anamorphoun - to transform.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 76 , Issue 476 , July 1992 , pp. 208 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1992

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References

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