Painting I / The Principles of Visual Perception
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the vocabulary of perception.

Wertheimer set out the laws of grouping in ______. Edgar Rubin published his ambiguous vase figure in 1915 to demonstrate the ______ and ground decision. The Gestalt tendency to adopt the simplest available organisation is called ______. The exaggerated light and dark edges the eye adds at a tonal boundary are ______ bands.

Word bank: 1923 · figure · Prägnanz · Mach · closure · 1915

Hints
  1. The second blank is the region read as the object.
  2. The last blank is a physicist's name from 1865.
Show the answer

Wertheimer set out the laws of grouping in 1923. Edgar Rubin published his ambiguous vase figure in 1915 to demonstrate the figure and ground decision. The Gestalt tendency to adopt the simplest available organisation is called Prägnanz. The exaggerated light and dark edges the eye adds at a tonal boundary are Mach bands.

Why

The last blank is the one that changes studio practice. Mach bands are added by the eye at every tonal boundary, so a perfectly even gradient still shows ridges, and a painter who chases those ridges with more blending is repainting something that was never in the paint.

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