Ray Bradbury Hompage    Ray Bradbury Forums    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  Imported Forums  Hop To Forums  Ray's Legacy    Warped Artistic Vision

Moderators: dandelion, philnic
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Warped Artistic Vision
 Login/Join
 
posted
Plausible arguments have been made that artists such as Van Gogh and El Greco portrayed the world as they actually saw it, with distortions filtered through physical conditions. How has Ray's poor eyesight influenced and inspired his artistic vision? Discuss.

"I certainly could go out and buy a good, tack-sharp lens that would take the perfect picture that's in focus from end to end. But instead, I spend an awful lot of time at that antique mall looking around for these lenses with just the right amount of decrepitude. The glue has to be peeling off of the lens elements, it’s great if its mildewed and out of whack..." - Sally Mann, Photographer
 
Posts: 7299 | Location: Dayton, Washington, USA | Registered: 03 December 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
posted Hide Post
Hmm.

I like the premise of the question, since I think it's fascinating to think that (to use another example I have heard) the impressionist painters were just short-sighted, and didn't realise they were impressionists.

However:

My eyesight, since age 11, has been about as poor as Bradbury's was during his prime writing years - judging from the thickness of spectacle lenses we see in classic photos of Ray.

But, and this is a crucial point, I wear glasses which correct my defects of vision, and surely Bradbury did as well. (I use the past tense because I imagine in recent years Ray will have suffered further deterioration due to age, and due to his stroke.)

So I would expect that Ray's poor eyesight will have had minimal impact on his artistic vision.

(Now an interesting case for study might be John Lennon, who was as short-sighted as I am but out of vanity refused to wear glasses in public until the mid-1960s - so during the peak years of Beatlemania he couldn't see the thousands of fans who were screaming at him at the top of their lungs!)


- Phil

Deputy Moderator | Visit my Bradbury website: www.bradburymedia.co.uk | Visit the Center for RB Studies: www.tinyurl.com/RBCenter
 
Posts: 5029 | Location: UK | Registered: 07 April 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata  
 

Ray Bradbury Hompage    Ray Bradbury Forums    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  Imported Forums  Hop To Forums  Ray's Legacy    Warped Artistic Vision