eller

Part 1, Shadow theater, the process
Part 2, Papercuts and storytelling
Part 3, Shadow art, paper art
Part 4, Palaeolithic Animation

In this fifth installment, I will again talk about some inspiring art pieces (in the widest sense) that involve a shadow, silhouette, and/or paper craft component.

''Waldschattenspiel' (Shadow in the Woods) by Walter Kraul

The Waldschattenspiel is an impressive board game for children aged 5+, and it's played in a dark room, by moving a tea light through a forest. A full English-language review with pictures can be found here. The trees cast shadows. There are two variations how you can play this, both of them cooperative: A) The players are supposed to meet under a certain tree while staying in the shadows all the way, and a game master moves the candle according to certain rules. If you're hit by light, another player needs to come to your rescue so you can move again. B) You move through the forest, but if you end up in the shadows, you get lost. You can be rescued by another player if they use a mirror thingy to reflect the candlelight to your location.

...it's pretty brilliant, and I LOVED this as a little child, when I played this with my parents! I suppose I learned a few things about perspective and geometry along the way? But mainly, it's the atmosphere - the room is dark, and there's only one small, flickering light... It's very primal (actually, come to think of it, this is also how cave art and shadow theater work!) and instinctive, and playing it feels good. I was never a fan of non-competitive games, but I was making an exception for this one.

Safety note: if you think a game that involves combining paper, open fire, and little children has a few practical issues, you'd be correct. This is why the instructions are very clear that only a grown-up is supposed to move the burning candle. Seriously.

'Instrument Buch' by Peter Apian

This is actually a math book... From 1533. (This is one of the rare cases in which I actually bought an expensive facsimile of an old book.) I'm including this not only because you all know I'm obsessed when it comes to sundials and related tech (what can I say; I really like shadows), but also because Peter Apian included some suuuuuuper nice volvelles. (Even more of those can be found in his Astronomicum Caesareum.) That is, pictures the reader was supposed to cut out and build quadrants and other observational instruments from. YAY! The whole text is surprisingly interactive for a book this age (and I think the only way the author got away with that was by founding his own print shop: I strongly suspect he did that because any publishers he showed his work to would have balked, but hey), including many woodcut illustrations (works by H. Brosamer and M. Ostendorfer) as well as those lovely paper sheets for crafting. It's a great piece of art. And, by the way? The math is impeccable.

Apian is often overlooked as a mathematical researcher, because he deliberately aimed this book at the lower classes. The author had some freakishly modern ideas about education: he stated the opinion it's totally possible to teach math to peasants if you remove all the fancy words. The Instrument Buch is designed to be read (and crafted, and used) by people without an academic background! The explanations can be understood without any previous mathematical education. Somehow, the author managed to pull this off without dumbing the content down - many of the shown scientific instruments are his own designs, and they're excellent, but he explains their use in a very straightforward way that, apparently, disqualified him as an intellectual. (Seriously, check the works of some of his contemporary math authors like, say, Copernicus. That stuff is not actually better, it's just phrased in a fancier way...) The content of the Instrument Buch is all you ever need to know about projections: absolutly enough to pass a Geology 101 exam, presented in a straightforward no-nonsense way. It's still one of the best textbooks out there (if you ignore the somewhat antiquated language), and yes, that's my professional opinion. It makes Apian one of my fave math authors. Also: PRETTY PAPERCRAFT STUFF!!!

'Silhouettes Tarot' by Masa Kuzuki

A lovely tarot deck, and it's in silhouette style illustrations... I believe this did not actually involve any paper cutting, but digital painting of black silhouette images in front of colorful background illustrations - which is an artistic style I had not encountered before. (I'm used to simple, single-color backgrounds for silhoutte art.) It really works, though! The background illustrations are also in a clear, ornamental style, so the whole concept feels very natural. I've never written a full deck review, and that's because I rarely use this deck, but I enjoy having it in my collection and occasionally looking at the pictures!

'Picture This: How Pictures Work' by Molly Bang

This is the reference text for artistic composition: the author explains the effects of certain spapes and compositions on the viewer, and how to use these effects in your art. She does this... with papercuts. (The example story she uses is 'Little Red Riding Hood', because clearly, papercuts and fairy tales just go together. LOL) The visuals are deceptively simple, with nothing distracting from the effects of the composition, and the explanations short but to the point... This is a definite recommendation for anyone interested in the visual arts, not just for those of us who are into papercuts and/or shadow theater. No matter what you do - drawing, painting, papercrafting - the principles of composition are the same, and knowing which psychological effects you can induce in your vievers is extremely useful. If you ask me, this is the best guide to visual composition on the market.

...okay, this is getting long-ish again. There's more awesome art, and I guess I'll have to continue this series further. LOL