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| Left: John Singer Sargent, Madame Gautreau Right: Eyetracking heatmap |
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| Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews |
Hill says, "Faces matter. After twenty-plus years of conducting market-research studies, I can tell you most definitively that nothing changes the underlying pattern. If there's a face involved, as much as seventy percent or more of all the gaze activity goes to the face(s) present."
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Previously on the blog:
Eye Tracking and Composition
Men, Women, and Eye Tracking
Images from the book "First Blush: People's Intuitive Reactions to Famous Art" by Dan Hill
True I noticed all of Madam X's items you pointed out immediately... maybe I'm getting old... but I also thought the rendering of the right arm by Sergeant was fascinating and spent some time staring at that...
ReplyDeleteArturo, also, those of us who are aficionados of this painting know the story of the shoulder strap, which has occupied a bit of my attention, especially when looking at the actual painting. But evidently this group is unaware of that aspect of the piece.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally just a few days ago I came across a reproduction in an antique store. MY gaze immediately went to that strap on the right shoulder. I had a nice conversation with the shopkeeper, who knew nothing of the controversy. Certainly she'll never consider the painting in the same way again.
ReplyDeleteMr. Hill needs to do another study, this time measuring people who know the story.
And now makes me wonder if he choose to include this painting in his study for just that reason.
I wonder if studies have been done to determine whether an artist focuses on the same elements as other people. I suspect we do focus more on faces, but not to the same extent. It would be interesting to see if we have a wider area of vision or possibly less - forcing our imagination to fill in more detail from the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteSandra, yes, studies have been done on whether artists see differently, and they do. Here's a previous post about it: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/do-artists-see-differently.html
ReplyDeleteSo, does the eye-tracking pattern, shown here in these paintings, coordinate with the "golden mean" ratio in any way? Composition is important -- but is a pretty face (or revealing gown) something that simply over rides composition in the end?
ReplyDeleteJane, here's a thorough discussion of the Golden Mean and Composition: http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2013/01/mythbusting-golden-mean-part-1.html
ReplyDeleteIt seems like her striking jaw line capture people's attention. And it is a gorgeous line...
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know if eye tracking studies have been done on landscape paintings without human figures? I'v been trying to find something like that but I can't seem to find any good examples. I'm curious if the conventional rules hold up without the trump of people in the image
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed this blog, as always, and thought maybe the eye mapping might have looked a little different back in 1884! So I had fun with my gouache paints altering the eye map of Madam X's image,which I would gladly have shared, but unfortunately adding images to your comments isn't possible?!
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