sandr037

There are times when genius comes out of left field. Eliel Saarinen is an example of this. Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was born, the second of seven children, to a middle class couple in the insignificant village of Rantasalmi, in the Grand Duchy of Finland, a small part of the Russian Empire. His father was a clergyman, and his mother was from a good middling family. There had been no artists on either side of the family up until then, but they were an intelligent, musical family, known for skill with languages (a useful trait in such a polyglot region). His parents were also known to be orderly, quick witted and cheerful. None of this naturally leads to artistic talent, but young Eliel had drive, and was given opportunities which he ran with. His family moved to a town near Saint Petersburg, which gave him the chance to experience the architecture of the Russian capital as well as the masterpieces in the Hermitage museum. This inspired him to sketch and paint whatever he saw, especially...

Everyone sees the world as a 3 (or more) point perspective. Glance over at the table or chair nearest you: you’ll see edges leading to the horizon to the left and right, but the verticals will be converging toward the center of the earth. Look over at the corner of your room, up where the ceiling meets the walls: again, convergence in 3 directions. One point perspective is ancient, and is a relatively easy thing to produce by hand. Two point perspective is a product of the Renaissance, and, although harder than one point, is nevertheless a skill that is easily learned. On the other hand, three point perspective has limited uses, and is difficult to lay out by hand. Indeed, 3 point perspective has been a trick used only on special occasions. At least that was the situation before CAD came into general use (but more on that shortly). So three point perspective is both familiar and, in terms of hand layout, rare. The basics of 3 point are easy to explain. Just pick a spot between 3 equal...