CONTENTS

 
   about
   MICHAEL BETANCOURT NEWS
   movies: AESTHETICS
   movies: NEWS & REVIEWS
   movies: SHOWS & SCREENINGS
   random art notes
   random how-tos
   research: AVANT-GARDE MOVIES
   research: MOTION GRAPHICS
   research: VISUAL MUSIC
   theory: CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS
   theory: DIGITAL CAPITALISM
   theory: GLITCH & POSTDIGITAL
   theory: working notes

 

PORTFOLIO

 
Glitch Theory: Art and Semiotics by Michael Betancourt
Movies by Michael Betancourt

 michaelbetancourt.com
 Art of Light Organization
 Going Somewhere
 exhibitions [pdf]
 updates
 books
 contact
 purchase artworks

 
  Video Art listserv
 




 

SEARCH ARCHIVES

archives begin in 1996

  
The History of Color (or Visual) Music

story © Michael Betancourt | published July 3, 2004 | permalink | TwitThis Digg Facebook StumbleUpon  |  



research: VISUAL MUSIC

This is an older article (Animation World Magazine, 1997) that details the long history of "color music" (visual music) from its ancient origins into the modern use of movies to create it.

"Ancient Greek philosophers, like Aristotle and Pythagoras, speculated that there must be a correlation between the musical scale and the rainbow spectrum of hues. That idea fascinated several Renaissance artists including Leonardo da Vinci (who produced elaborate spectacles for court festivals), Athanasius Kircher (the popularizer of the "Laterna Magica" projection apparatus) and Archimboldo who (in addition to his eerie optical-illusion portraits composed of hundreds of small symbolic objects) produced entertainments for the Holy Roman Emperors in Prague." from The Dream of Color Music, And Machines That Made it Possible by William Moritz






 
 

 
 
  • The Dream of Color Music, And Machines That Mad...
  • more from research: VISUAL MUSIC

  •  
     
  • print

  •