Rectangle after Rectangle
November 30, 2018 8:48 AM Subscribe
How did the rectangle become Western art’s anatomical limit? "This is about the dominance of the rectangular format in a certain tradition of picture making, a dominance that still holds today and extends well beyond the medium of painting. The book, the photographic print, the screen, and the museum—which has tended to favor this format—all guarantee that we encounter most pictures in rectangular frames."
"A picture that comprises figure and ground requires an enclosed field. Without an enclosure, the space around its figure(s) will not necessarily read as part of the picture; enclosure is, therefore, the originary act that gives rise to the picture but also limits it. Nothing says this enclosure needs to take the shape of a rectangle, but the history of Western art, at least, makes the rectangle look like a virtually inescapable anatomical limit. What follows are three episodes in the longue durée of this rectangle, each a moment in which the rectangular format moves into an ascendant position over one curvilinear format or another."
"A picture that comprises figure and ground requires an enclosed field. Without an enclosure, the space around its figure(s) will not necessarily read as part of the picture; enclosure is, therefore, the originary act that gives rise to the picture but also limits it. Nothing says this enclosure needs to take the shape of a rectangle, but the history of Western art, at least, makes the rectangle look like a virtually inescapable anatomical limit. What follows are three episodes in the longue durée of this rectangle, each a moment in which the rectangular format moves into an ascendant position over one curvilinear format or another."
Nothing says this enclosure needs to take the shape of a rectangle
The human field of vision is essentially rectangular, when peripheral vision is included.
Writing was developed independently in at least two places (Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica). In both cases the writing systems generally arrange the text into consistent, rectilinear rows and columns. (Sumerian example; Epi-Olmec example; Maya script). A desire to use space efficiently leads naturally from rectilinear text arrangement to rectilinear media.
For both the text and the physical media, rectangles are easier to lay out and replicate than curves or more complex polygons. Rectangles tile the plane, and rectangular prisms efficiently fill three dimensional space.
The triumph of the rectilinear codex—the form of the book we still know today—over the curvilinear scroll, around the year 300. ... The scroll, therefore, falls under the sign of the spiral, whose curvilinear lines go on indefinitely.
That seems like a bit of a stretch. Scrolls are just long rectangles wound up for easy storage. And many scrolls (e.g. the Dead Sea Scrolls) are subdivided into rectangles. The real difference between a scroll and a codex is just whether the sheets or membranes are stitched end to end or all along one side.
posted by jedicus at 9:11 AM on November 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
The human field of vision is essentially rectangular, when peripheral vision is included.
Writing was developed independently in at least two places (Mesopotamia and Mesoamerica). In both cases the writing systems generally arrange the text into consistent, rectilinear rows and columns. (Sumerian example; Epi-Olmec example; Maya script). A desire to use space efficiently leads naturally from rectilinear text arrangement to rectilinear media.
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For both the text and the physical media, rectangles are easier to lay out and replicate than curves or more complex polygons. Rectangles tile the plane, and rectangular prisms efficiently fill three dimensional space.
The triumph of the rectilinear codex—the form of the book we still know today—over the curvilinear scroll, around the year 300. ... The scroll, therefore, falls under the sign of the spiral, whose curvilinear lines go on indefinitely.
That seems like a bit of a stretch. Scrolls are just long rectangles wound up for easy storage. And many scrolls (e.g. the Dead Sea Scrolls) are subdivided into rectangles. The real difference between a scroll and a codex is just whether the sheets or membranes are stitched end to end or all along one side.
posted by jedicus at 9:11 AM on November 30, 2018 [21 favorites]
The article seems to very conveniently elide even in the first paragraph that a scroll is, actually, just a convenient way to tote around a rectangle.
posted by tclark at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by tclark at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2018 [12 favorites]
I'm guessing the triumph of the Cartesian plane, the shift from vector to raster displays and graphics hardware and other tech only solidifies the triumph of the rectangle. Although the curving of phone edges and additions of notches for cameras is an interesting countertrend.
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:13 AM on November 30, 2018
posted by BrotherCaine at 9:13 AM on November 30, 2018
I'm looking forward to widespread adoption of the hemisphere. Best shape for both planetariums and laser shows. Computer monitors are taking small steps in this direction by introducing curved screens, but so far they only curve along one axis.
posted by RobotHero at 9:37 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotHero at 9:37 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I feel like the article would be more interesting to engage with as a survey of historical developments in visual media format and manufacturing than as an implied argument that needs to be defeated. There are, absolutely, practical (particularly manufacturing) factors driving the ongoing predominance of rectangular material, and that's also totally fine, but I think there's probably more meat to be gotten at by talking about how that predominance affects visual media, and what working outside of that rectangular frame has allowed and can allow, than by declaring the rectangle inevitable repeatedly.
Scrolls are just long rectangles wound up for easy storage
a scroll is, actually, just a convenient way to tote around a rectangle
The article does later note that the unbounded nature of the scroll allows for a different, more free-form approach to the placement and shape of marginalia and illustration. A very long rectangle is, for sure, still technically a rectangle, but it's also a good bit different in its possibility space than one with relatively proportionally similar side lengths; and erasing the top and bottom boundaries of the unit page (or, I guess, restoring the absence of those boundaries if we're looking back from books to scrolls) is interesting enough territory to think about that it seems kinda needless to dismiss it with geometric pedantry.
posted by cortex at 9:37 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Scrolls are just long rectangles wound up for easy storage
a scroll is, actually, just a convenient way to tote around a rectangle
The article does later note that the unbounded nature of the scroll allows for a different, more free-form approach to the placement and shape of marginalia and illustration. A very long rectangle is, for sure, still technically a rectangle, but it's also a good bit different in its possibility space than one with relatively proportionally similar side lengths; and erasing the top and bottom boundaries of the unit page (or, I guess, restoring the absence of those boundaries if we're looking back from books to scrolls) is interesting enough territory to think about that it seems kinda needless to dismiss it with geometric pedantry.
posted by cortex at 9:37 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
"The most important thing in art is The Frame. For painting: literally; for other arts: figuratively -- because, without this humble appliance, you can't know where The Art stops and The Real World begins. You have to put a 'box' around it because otherwise, what is that shit on the wall?" - Frank Zappa
Rectangular frames are surely the easiest to make.
posted by merlynkline at 9:42 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Rectangular frames are surely the easiest to make.
posted by merlynkline at 9:42 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm still waiting for that point in the near future where we all decide to cut off the corners of our papers/documents/books like they do in Battlestar Galactica.
posted by Fizz at 9:47 AM on November 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 9:47 AM on November 30, 2018 [8 favorites]
Is this a parallel universe where tondos or heart books don't exist or does the author just ignore whatever does not fit in their thesis
posted by sukeban at 9:47 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by sukeban at 9:47 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
This continuous length of text invites unframed or at least laterally open images that float across the surface of the scroll in its various states of being rolled and unrolled.
Excuse me while I scroll down a ways to see if this web page takes up that invitation at any point.
posted by sfenders at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Excuse me while I scroll down a ways to see if this web page takes up that invitation at any point.
posted by sfenders at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Are there non-western traditions that consistently use something non rectangular?
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2018
posted by Dr. Twist at 9:48 AM on November 30, 2018
A very long rectangle is, for sure, still technically a rectangle, but it's also a good bit different in its possibility space than one with relatively proportionally similar side lengths; and erasing the top and bottom boundaries of the unit page (or, I guess, restoring the absence of those boundaries if we're looking back from books to scrolls) is interesting enough territory to think about
But if you look at actual ancient scrolls (in languages that read side to side, top to bottom at least) they are oriented horizontally, like this:
Page 1 [stitching] Page 2 [stitching] Page 3
And those pages are all rectangles of similar size.
So while the people creating those scrolls could have utilized the essentially indefinite width of a scroll (or length, depending on how you look at it), they chose not to. They were just used as a way to collect together and transport what would otherwise be a stack of loose rectangles.
I think the more interesting question is, okay, now that we're in a culture where raw materials are cheap and can be easily made into arbitrary shapes, what can we do with non-rectangles.
posted by jedicus at 9:49 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
But if you look at actual ancient scrolls (in languages that read side to side, top to bottom at least) they are oriented horizontally, like this:
Page 1 [stitching] Page 2 [stitching] Page 3
And those pages are all rectangles of similar size.
So while the people creating those scrolls could have utilized the essentially indefinite width of a scroll (or length, depending on how you look at it), they chose not to. They were just used as a way to collect together and transport what would otherwise be a stack of loose rectangles.
I think the more interesting question is, okay, now that we're in a culture where raw materials are cheap and can be easily made into arbitrary shapes, what can we do with non-rectangles.
posted by jedicus at 9:49 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
There are at least a few technical reasons for rectangles being cheaper to create and easier to use, it's not an entirely aesthetic decision.
I have to say, I was remembering Battlestar Galactica with its octagonal paper sheets and the unanswered question of where all the snipped off triangles were going.
Not only is western art largely constrained to rectangles, so is *everything else*. Doors, windows, structural framing, furniture, air conditioners, and a large number of manhole covers for starters. They're easy to construct, stack nicely, and make full use of the space they take up.
It could be the all these things are done for obscure aesthetic reasons, but I'm just not seeing it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I have to say, I was remembering Battlestar Galactica with its octagonal paper sheets and the unanswered question of where all the snipped off triangles were going.
Not only is western art largely constrained to rectangles, so is *everything else*. Doors, windows, structural framing, furniture, air conditioners, and a large number of manhole covers for starters. They're easy to construct, stack nicely, and make full use of the space they take up.
It could be the all these things are done for obscure aesthetic reasons, but I'm just not seeing it.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
The human field of vision is essentially rectangular, when peripheral vision is included.
I would say it was more similar to an oval than a rectangle. It's a blobby shape made by overlapping two circles with a notch cut out where the nose gets in the way.
Anyway, getting back to the post, I am fond of the circular pictures taken by the original Kodak camera, which used the whole coverage circle of the lens. Every lens produces a circle of light like this, but digital camera sensors are always rectangular, which is sad.
posted by w0mbat at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
I would say it was more similar to an oval than a rectangle. It's a blobby shape made by overlapping two circles with a notch cut out where the nose gets in the way.
Anyway, getting back to the post, I am fond of the circular pictures taken by the original Kodak camera, which used the whole coverage circle of the lens. Every lens produces a circle of light like this, but digital camera sensors are always rectangular, which is sad.
posted by w0mbat at 9:51 AM on November 30, 2018 [4 favorites]
The built-up world is rectilinear, rectangular. You're in a box right now, most likely, or going home to one. A box full of boxes. A rectangular frame is easy to build and makes best use of wall space. I would be surprised if paintings were anything but rectangular.
posted by pracowity at 9:53 AM on November 30, 2018
posted by pracowity at 9:53 AM on November 30, 2018
The circle as a framing device feels very unnatural and far more restraining than does a rectangle. Just take a look at the examples in the link. All of the circle examples strike me as if you are seeing something through a tube, and the scene depicted feels far more cut-off than do rectangular framings.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:14 AM on November 30, 2018
posted by Thorzdad at 10:14 AM on November 30, 2018
The songs just play one right after the other. This is an excellent rectangle.
posted by whuppy at 10:27 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by whuppy at 10:27 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
David Hockney has been doing some interesting things with shaped canvases recently.
posted by spudsilo at 10:32 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by spudsilo at 10:32 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I'm also gonna have to disagree with "rectangular" vision. It's certainly oblong, since we can see a larger angle horizontally than vertically, but it's not rectangular. Our lenses, pupils, and retina are not rectangular. Also, our oblong vision wouldn't explain why so many types of media are oriented with their long axis on the vertical.
As for paintings, photographs, books, etc. I think that's more an accidental quirk of the history in some ways. While rectangularity and straight lines are the norm in cultures all over the world, it's not universal. Paintings are rectangles because walls are rectangles but it didn't have to be that way. If we all lived in domes or cylinders, decorations adorning those buildings might be more curvilinear.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:58 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
As for paintings, photographs, books, etc. I think that's more an accidental quirk of the history in some ways. While rectangularity and straight lines are the norm in cultures all over the world, it's not universal. Paintings are rectangles because walls are rectangles but it didn't have to be that way. If we all lived in domes or cylinders, decorations adorning those buildings might be more curvilinear.
posted by runcibleshaw at 10:58 AM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Curves are for sculptors, architects and submarine captains.
posted by romanb at 11:03 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by romanb at 11:03 AM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
"It's hip to be square." --Huey Lewis
posted by chavenet at 11:05 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 11:05 AM on November 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
"Devine to define, she's moving to define, so say so"
-- Talking Heads, The Great Curve
posted by idiopath at 11:41 AM on November 30, 2018
-- Talking Heads, The Great Curve
posted by idiopath at 11:41 AM on November 30, 2018
All of this is reminding me of my librarian days and this one Italy travel book that was shaped like the leaning Tower of Pisa (that is to say, an elongated rhombus). Fucker was impossible to shelve satisfactorily and I know some of my fellow OCD librarians dreamt of banishing that thing to the booksale one day.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:46 AM on November 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:46 AM on November 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
Apparently the author has never heard of the golden ratio. It's pretty hard to get through an art education without learning about it.
In terms of framing, circles waste a lot of space. However, we certainly see tons of them in jewelry and ceramics, so it's not like the art world is bereft of curvilinear shapes.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:35 PM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
In terms of framing, circles waste a lot of space. However, we certainly see tons of them in jewelry and ceramics, so it's not like the art world is bereft of curvilinear shapes.
posted by Autumnheart at 12:35 PM on November 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
One of the things that distinguished Mac and Windows in the 80s was the Mac's use of non-rectangular elements, even rounded corners on the screen area itself, whereas Windows steadfastly used rectangles almost everywhere.
It was a difference most people didn't pick up on consciously, but it made for a very different feel to the two visual designs and made them appeal to different sets of people.
There was a technical reason for the difference, but actually that was a side effect of the difference in design. The early Mac software only had that capability to do complex shapes because Steve Jobs demanded it from the engineering team, because of how he wanted things to look.
posted by w0mbat at 1:20 PM on November 30, 2018
It was a difference most people didn't pick up on consciously, but it made for a very different feel to the two visual designs and made them appeal to different sets of people.
There was a technical reason for the difference, but actually that was a side effect of the difference in design. The early Mac software only had that capability to do complex shapes because Steve Jobs demanded it from the engineering team, because of how he wanted things to look.
posted by w0mbat at 1:20 PM on November 30, 2018
Rounded rectangles periodically re-emerge in UI design, though a lot of that usage is where the rectangle is rounded very slightly by only a few pixels. Take a look at your browser tabs, your URL field, your search fields your text entry fields, your text highlights--there's a mix.
And speaking of that, you can pretty much go all day about how, in the last couple decades, we've seen a TON of evolution in regard to people moving from square, or mostly square, visual products (CRT TVs and monitors) to rectangular ones, from 4:3 proportion to 16:9. And to more devices--not just desktop monitors and laptop screens, but mobile devices of varying proportions. Circular elements are limited almost entirely to images, and you really don't see them very much. And this is a field in which design and usability is continuously being developed, as opposed to art arguably being limited to those incredibly few people whose work survived to be examined by the larger public.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:42 PM on November 30, 2018
And speaking of that, you can pretty much go all day about how, in the last couple decades, we've seen a TON of evolution in regard to people moving from square, or mostly square, visual products (CRT TVs and monitors) to rectangular ones, from 4:3 proportion to 16:9. And to more devices--not just desktop monitors and laptop screens, but mobile devices of varying proportions. Circular elements are limited almost entirely to images, and you really don't see them very much. And this is a field in which design and usability is continuously being developed, as opposed to art arguably being limited to those incredibly few people whose work survived to be examined by the larger public.
posted by Autumnheart at 1:42 PM on November 30, 2018
Curves are for sculptors, architects and submarine captains.
And nature. Nature likes curves.
Maybe we prefer rectangles because they are so clearly our own.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:42 PM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
And nature. Nature likes curves.
Maybe we prefer rectangles because they are so clearly our own.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:42 PM on November 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
All of this is reminding me of my librarian days and this one Italy travel book that was shaped like the leaning Tower of Pisa (that is to say, an elongated rhombus). Fucker was impossible to shelve satisfactorily and I know some of my fellow OCD librarians dreamt of banishing that thing to the booksale one day.
Clearly, the solution would be to build all of the bookshelves as leaning, elongated rhombuses!
*Flees the wrathful mob of torch-and-pitchfork-wielding OCD librarians*
posted by darkstar at 4:39 PM on November 30, 2018
Clearly, the solution would be to build all of the bookshelves as leaning, elongated rhombuses!
*Flees the wrathful mob of torch-and-pitchfork-wielding OCD librarians*
posted by darkstar at 4:39 PM on November 30, 2018
Now I want to figure out a way to have a circular (or arbitrarily-shaped!) EVF on my camera, so that I can see what it does to my framing. Hmm.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:15 PM on November 30, 2018
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 5:15 PM on November 30, 2018
Clearly, the solution would be to build all of the bookshelves as leaning, elongated rhombuses!
All my cheap-ass particle board bookshelves do that on their own after a few years of use.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 10:36 AM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
All my cheap-ass particle board bookshelves do that on their own after a few years of use.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 10:36 AM on December 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
We live in a post-and-lintel civilization, a trabeated society.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:07 AM on December 10, 2018
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:07 AM on December 10, 2018
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