Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Rhetoric of Anamorphisms 1

Anamorphisms are similar to linear perspective in that images are distorted (as distance distorts images). The distortions that characterize anamorphic art tend to be non-linear (using cones, cylinders, logarithmic acceleration or deceleration, etc.). Indeed, a view has been expressed that "... presents anamorphosis as a geometrically based rhetorical figure". 2 Thus anamorphosis is a form of rhetoric tacens: a silent, non-textual rhetoric that bypasses consciousness. 3 As color distortions are not usually included in anamorphic distortions, an apparently "normal" image may thus be distorted, and unless the viewer understands how to visually decrypt the image, the distorted image will not be understood, and the viewer will miss hidden "messages" such as political, erotic, religious propaganda and other socially rejected images. The visually "encrypted" information may even include writing. The anamorphic art of four people are discussed here: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), Erhard Schön (1491-1592), and Emmanuel Maignan (1601-1676).
Rhetoric in art has several interpretations. One major aspect of rhetoric is the audience. Who exactly are the people in the audience? Several "audiences" have been proposed, and reviewing some of the different ideas of who the audience is, is instructive:
  1. Art critics.
  2. Art historians.
  3. Artists.
  4. The general public (for example: Russian "realism", the public defines art [Stalin], or for those that opposed "Degenerative Art" [A. Hitler], religious art. People such as [Plato] opposed "perspective", thus the audience must oppose "perspective" for philosophical reasons.
  5. Art for the "common man" [Andy Warhol].
  6. Art for art's sake (only the gods and goddesses constitute the audience). [Victor Cousin].
  7. Medical doctors (only those qualified in medicine can recognize diseases depicted in art).
  8. etc.
It is significant that the size of the "audience" (important in rhetoric) for different people could vary dramatically!
The above discussion is especially relevant to both the topics of linear perspective, as well as anamorphisms. Linear perspective and anamorphisms are characterized, at times, by ambiguity. Leonardo Da Vinci (he was aware that distortions of perspective were inevitable in art). Specifically, ambiguity could arise in interpreting paintings using linear distortion, and ambiguity could also arise in interpreting anamorphisms. A painting by Jan Dibbets ("Perspective Correction — My Studio I, Square on the Wall of My Studio") has a square painting on a wall in a room. The room is in perspective, but the square on the wall is NOT in perspective. Or, is the square on the wall in correct perspective, and the room is in incorrect perspective? Similarly, anamorphic images present an ambiguity: are the unencrypted paintings seen in correct perspective, or are the "hidden" (encrypted) painting seen in another perspective is correct? These questions might be viewed as focused upon non-issues, that paintings like those of Jan Dibbits are "pathological", created specifically to be ambiguous, and of interest ony to those so educated about art that they have confused art with philosophy or "post modernism", etc. However, the view has been expressed that art may be viewed as the rhetoric of "allegory". 4

Leonardo da Vinci: inventor of Anamorphism
Jan Dibbets': perspective can be ambiguous!
Political Anamorphism (Erhard Schön)
Erotic Anamorphism (Erhard Schön)
Religious Propaganda Anamorphism (Emmanuel Maignan)
Censored Image Anamorphism (Erhard Schön)
Landscapes (Athanasius Kircher)

1 A good source of information about anamorphic art may be found in "Anamorphic Art", by Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Harry N. Abrams, 1969
2 "The Rhetoric of Perspective: Realism and Illusionism in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Still-Life Painting", by Hanneke Grootenboer, Univ. Chicago Press, 2005, p. 108
3 ibid., p. 107
4 "The Rhetoric of Perspective: Realism and Illusionism in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Still-Life Painting", by Hanneke Grootenboer, Univ. of Chicago, 2005, pp. 151, 152

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