This course will trace the origins of the picture space/window/rectangle and its function; the issues of reality and illusion; touching the flat picture plane while experiencing deep space and how specific artists have interpreted this.

Looking through cardboard viewfinders, the class will draw from life what is inside the rectangle, using verticals to estimate angles “going in” and discovering the shapes of “empty” space.The rectangle is the front of a “picture box”: the invention of linear perspective, the definition of planes, the illusion of angles and how this system mimics the way we see. Using Matisse’s “Red Room” as an example, the class will first draw from life using contour and then fill in with color, emphasizing the importance of both “thing” and “not thing”.