Forced Perspective

About

Forced Perspective is a photography technique used to create an optical illusion where a subject or object is strategically placed to appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is.

Origin

The approach of using perspective in art dates back to the Renaissance. Perspectival anamorphosis, or something created that requires a specific vantage point to view, can be traced back to Leonardo da Vinci and his eye, sketched circa 1485.^[1]

German painter Hans Holbein the Younger’s^[2] 1533 painting “The Ambassadors,” famously featured a hidden skull that could only be seen from specific perspectives.

Spread

In the early 2000s, collections of these images were sent often enough that Snopes^[20] made an entry about the artists in 2005. In 2007, WebUrbanist^[16] and MetaFilter^[17] both brought attention to the technique. In 2009, The Daily Mail^[18] covered Muller’s work, and Instructables.com^[19] posted a how-to guide.

In October 2006, Flickr^[6] user John Robinson uploaded a vintage photograph from the 1930’s of his uncle “jumping” over a house.

“My uncles loved playing with cameras and even had a darkroom in the basement of the house in the picture.

A pervasive examples is a trend where tourists photograph themselves interacting with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Flickr^[8] has over 300 tagged results, and the practice was documented on Mighty Optical Illusions^[9] in August of 2006. At 1:20, the following video shows people posing for these pictures in the park that surrounds the tower.

In May of 2005, Michael Hughes^[10] began taking a series of photographs in which he replaced landmarks with souvenirs. and the entire series is chronicled on his Flickr^[11] page.

In 2007, Hughes uploaded another perspective related set, this time with postcards or photographs taking the place of scenery while traveling. Several of these are chronicled at Mighty Optical Illusions.^[12]

In Street Art

Artists use forced perspective in street art to create alternate landscapes or impossible scenes. Kurt Wenner^[13] began the movement in the mid-1980s after selling all of his belongings and moving to Rome to study art. His work was the focus of a 1987 National Geographic documentary titled “Masterpieces in Chalk.” Julian Beever, another well-known perspective artist, began making making works with chalk in the mid-1990s.^[14] In the following video, photos of both Wenner and Beever’s work are shown from several perspectives.

In 2009, German artist Edgar Mueller^[15] posted a time-lapsed video from the 2008 Festival of World Culture. The video shows how he created his art and the ways people interacted with it.

Notable Examples

External Links