The stereoscopic art of Ludwig Wilding
With the invention of the stereoscope, Charles Wheatstone transformed not only our
vision of pictures, but also our understanding of some intricacies of spatial perception.
In his obituary notice in Nature, the following comments were made by Signor Volpicelli
of the Academia dei Lincei: ``Our countryman, Leonardo da Vinci, in 1500, or there-
abouts, conceived and was the first to affirm, that from a picture it was not possible
to obtain the effect of relief. But Wheatstone, reflecting profoundly in 1838, on the
physiology of vision, invented the catoptric stereoscope, with which he philosophically
solved the problem of the optical and virtual production of relief ''.
Thus, the stereoscope could restore the dimension of depth missing in single pictures.
But have many such paired paintings been produced by artists since Wheatstone's
death? There certainly are some, and they represent tours de force on behalf of the
artists, but they have not attracted much attention. In 1970s an alternative technique was
devised by the artist Ludwig Wilding.
Paintings in two-dimensions allude to the depth that they do not contain: a variety
of stratagems is enlisted to convey the impression that surfaces on the picture plane
are at different distances from the viewer. The lengths to which artists have gone to
fool the eye attests to the difficulty of achieving this (Ebert-Schifferer 2002). Another
strategy is to produce two paintings with defined horizontal disparities between them
and viewed with the aid of a stereoscope. If the paintings are large then they are
typically placed facing one another and combined by means of a mirror stereoscope.
Such paired pictures are individually flat and the depth is determined by disparity.
Some novel techniques, like autostereograms, have been introduced in recent years and
they have been adopted by computer artists, engaging immense popular appeal.
It is as though artists were reluctant to introduce the physical dimension that they
were striving to simulate. Wilding has done precisely this, but the result is the percep-
tion of a far greater depth than is physically present. Moreover, his technique does
not involve any additional viewing devices. It is based on disparities between moire¨
fringes generated by the interference of transparent and regular repetitive patterns
separated slightly in depth. Figure 2 is taken from a pamphlet (Wilding 1977) and
the work shown was on display at a large exhibition that Wilding held in 1978 at the
Marburg meeting that saw the founding of the European Conference onVisual Perception
(ECVP). The work is large (180 cm square) and real relief is relatively small (about
5 ^ 15 cm). None the less, the apparent stereoscopic space can be much greater, and it
varies with the viewing distance of the observer (because disparity between the moire¨
fringes varies with viewing distance). At the meeting, people were seen walking towards
and away from the works in order to determine the limits of depth that could be seen
before rivalry set in. The front surface of the work shown in figure 2 was made out of
strips of black elastic nailed to the top and bottom of the frame, whereas the transpar-
ent front was screen-printed on plastic in other works. The stereoscopic depth can be
produced from curved as well as flat surfaces, and opposite directions of depth are
often incorporated in the same work.
The relationship between the spatial frequencies of the transparent and printed
patterns determines the direction and amount of the depth seen, and they can be given
precise mathematical descriptions (Kondo et al 1990). If the spatial frequency of the
foreground (transparent) grating is m cycles degÿ1 and that of the background (printed)
grating is n then that of the moire¨ fringes will be m ÿ n cycles degÿ1 and the depth is
given by [m=(m ÿ n)]6d, where d is the physical separation between the two gratings.
If m 4 n, then the moire¨ fringes are seen protruding, whereas for m 5 n they appear
to recede. The latter is generally more compelling because the stereoscopic space
seems to lie behind the frame of the work. Lateral head movements yield motion parallax
the velocity of which follows the formulations given above (Kondo et al 1990).
It is difficult to demonstrate the stereo effects in two dimensions, but an attempt
is made with the paired photographs in figure 3. A better way of experiencing the
depth effects is to consult the article by Spillmann (1993): it is accompanied by trans-
parencies and printed designs by Wilding which enable the depth to be experienced
more directly. The printed pattern can be folded rather like the surfaces in figure 3.
By far the best way of experiencing these remarkable effects is to see the actual works.
Ludwig Wilding's artwork can be found in many galleries around the word. They were
seen by those who attended the Marburg meeting and Wilding also staged an exhibi-
tion at the ECVP at Bad Nauheim in 1986 (see Spillmann 2003). Another excellent
chance is now offered with a major retrospective exhibition to mark Wilding's 80th
birthday. The venue is the Museum fÏr Konkrete Kunst in Ingolstadt, Germany, and
his exhibition is on display from May 20 to July 1. Ingolstadt is the home of the sole
German museum devoted to Konkrete Kunst.Within Germany the concept of concrete
art has a particular resonance: it is distinguished from abstract art and it reflects an
emphasis on the cold and calculated line, standing for nothing else and allowing little
involvement of the artist's hand, let alone emotions.
Wilding's stereoscopic art has fascinated not only perception but also Perception.
They have been reproduced in several articles, and have been analysed in detail in the
journal (Spillmann 1993; Wade 1978; Wade et al 2005). Wilding's art is not confined
to stereo interference patterns, nor to two-dimensional moire¨ patterns: he has exam-
ined the perception of space utilising a wide variety of phenomena, including spatial
illusions, anamorphoses, perspective paradoxes, fractals, moving moire¨s and apparent
motion, all of which will be on display in the exhibition.
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Formation
1949 –50 Studium der Kunstgeschichte und Philosophie, Universität Mainz
1950 - 52 Kunstgewerbeschule Mainz
1952 – 54 Studium bei Willi Baumeister, Kunstakademie Stuttgart
1955 – 67 Tätigkeit als Designer in der Textilindustrie
1967 – 69 Lehrtätigkeit an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg
1969 – 92 Professur an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg
1961 – 65 Beteiligung an Ausstellungen der Künstlerbewegung „Neue Tendenzen“
1955 Erste Überlagerungs-Strukturen
1960 Objekte mit Scheinbewegung
1971-72 Rämliche Irritationen
1972 Stereoskopische Objekte und Bilder
1974 Anaglyphen-Bilder
1979 Stereoskopische Bilder mit Präzisionsraster (PSR)
1980 3D-Fotographie und 3D-Film
1982 Psychografien zur Übung der Spontaneität
1984 Rämliche Collagen (RC)
1986 Komplexe Scheinbewegung (SBST)
1987 Microstrukturen (MST)
1996 Geometrische Formveränderungen (FV)
1997 Reflexionsobjekte (FVRFL)
1998 Anamorphosen (ANAM)
1999 Paradoce Körper (PAR), Stereoskopische Spalt-Objekte (SPAST)
2004 Erste farbige Wechselobjekte und Strukturbilder
Exhibitions
E = Solo Exhibitions a selection
1952 Museum Leverkusen, Junge deutsche Maler, D
1953 Kunstkabinett, Duisburg, (E), D
1961 Nove Tendencije 2, Musej suvremene umjetnosti, Zagreb
1964 Nouvelle Tendance, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, F
1965 Galerie Denise René, Paris, (E), F
1965 Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1971 Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, (E), D
1973 Kölnischer Kunstverein, (E),D
1974 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, (E), D
1975 Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren, (E), D
1976 Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, (E), D
1977 Kongress Wahrnehmungspsychologie, Marburg, (E), D
1978 Galerie Klihm, München, (E), D
1979 Galerie Schoeller, Düsseldorf, (E), D
1980 Galerie Christel, Stockholm, (E), S
1981 Gilman Gallleries, Chicago, (E), USA
1982 Isetan-Museum, Tokio, (E), J
1982 Museum Quadrat, Bottrop, (E), D
1983 Arte programmata e cinetica, Palazzo Reale, Mailand, I
1986 Max-Plank-Institut, Bad Nauheim, (E), D
1987 Mathematik in der Kunst der letzten dreissig Jahre, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum,
Ludwigshafen, D
1988 Ulmer Museum, Ulm, (E), D
1990 Overbeck-Gesellschaft, Lübeck, (E),D
1997 Landesmuseum Mainz, (E), D
2002 Museum der Stadt Grünstadt, (E), D
2003 Altes Rathaus, Göttingen, (E), D
2004 Arte Struktura, Mailand, (E),D
2004 Lies and Illusions, Hayward-Gallery, Sammlung Nekes, London, UK
2005 L’Oeil Moteur, Musée d’art moderne e contemporain, Strasburg, F
2005 Museum Modern Art, Hünfeld, D
2005 Internationales Kongresszentrum, „Vienna“, Wien, A
2006 Die Neuen Tendenzen, Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, D
2006 Eyes, Lies and Illusions, acmi, Melbourne, AU
2007 Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, USA
2007 Op Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, D
2007 Museum für Konkrete Kunst, Ingolstadt, (E), D
2008 Winter Group Show, “Kleinformate”, Galerie La Ligne, Zürich, CH
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