Art and Science of Perspective

The Art and Science of Perspective provides a central core of knowledge on visual, optical, and technical perspective for all practical purposes.

Behold the epic story of perspective. Discover our ambitious 30-year project to gather everything known on perspective, vision, imaging, and spatial topics. This one-of-a-kind monograph diligently explains the origins, principles, theories, types, facets, methods, phenomena, goals, functions, systems, instruments and applications of perspective, and purposefully guides further scholarly study.

Monograph on Perspective – printed volumes

The first two volumes of our monograph: The Art and Science of Perspective, are set to be published:

Past, Present, and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective :: TBD
Dictionary of Perspective (1,200 types/forms) :: TBD

We shall publish links to the books here when they are released. To receive an email notification of the release date in your country, email: alansradley@gmail.com.

The Past, Present, and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective and the Dictionary of Perspective are only available in a printed format.

Past, Present, and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective

The Past, Present and Future of Visual and Optical Perspective is an introduction to the Art and Science of Perspective book series; providing a sample of the diverse range of topics to be analysed in greater detail in subsequent volumes.

It can inspire and inform students, teachers, researchers, and practitioners about the origins, principles, theories, types/forms, applications, and epoch-making methods of visual and optical perspective. Clarified are the different facets of the subject by supplying strict logical definitions; while unifying all of the primitive notions, axioms, principles, and inference rules that relate to perspective types/forms and associated visual phenomena.

Dictionary of Perspective

Volume 2 of the Art and Science of Perspective is the first-ever Dictionary of Perspective, with definitions for 1,200 types/forms, which is far more kinds of perspective than almost anyone has realised exist (apart from Kim Veltman).

The dictionary presents a comprehensive inventory of visual and optical perspective categories, phenomena, principles, theories, methods, systems, instruments, applications, etc. Hopefully it becomes an instant classic and a cornerstone of knowledge for all ‘perspectivists’: with definitions of 3,200 terms and 1,200 types/forms of perspective, complete with synonyms, cross referencing, etc, that enhances understanding of the definitions.

Perspective Category Theory

In a strange quirk of fate, no book exists on the theoretical foundations of technical perspective; specifically to define, analyse, and unify all of the principles, types, forms, methods, instruments, systems, and applications of visual/optical perspective. Henceforth, we are gathering everything known on this subject into a monograph on technical perspective, entitled: The Art and Science of Perspective.

Explored therein will be the foundations of perspective in terms of elementary theory, and we shall identify all of the primary classes and the numerous sub-categories in this respect. We wish to minimise the number of primitive notions, axioms, principles, and inference rules relating to perspective phenomena; while unifying all known theories that comprise the entire subject matter of perspective (past and present aspects).

Desired are solutions to the paradoxes that have plagued perspective theories/methods throughout time, including the debate(s) over the nature of human vision and whether perspective is an objective or subjective method. Whilst it is certainly not possible to solve all such problems in this work, we aim to comprehensively identify and describe the nature and implications of many of these same issues. We wish to spark interest in visual and optical perspective, advance the subject by popularising it, and showcase the powers and capacities of related visual, imaging, and spatial concepts.

A key requirement is to unify or integrate the vast number of perspective principles, phenomena, theories, categories, forms, methods, systems, etc. Hence the approach presented, whereby we are building an accurate taxonomic tree of perspective types/forms, and formulating a theoretical framework that can support the use of perspective methods/systems as applied in all application areas.

We aim to unite all perspective knowledge in a single framework: perspective category theory (PCT), heralding the birth of perspective science as a primary branch of knowledge—with established foundational theory and, above all, unified laws.