Left and Right in Painting

This book presents seventeen analytic art historical studies of the various meanings of laterality in pictures, drawings, and prints as well as reliefs and sculptures. The discussion describes the effects of the spontaneous projection upon an artistic composition of the human experience of laterality and refers also to the beholder's habit of directional reading. The survey of the works of art ranges from the Late Antique murals of Dura Europos and religious imagery of the Middle Ages to the works of great Renaissance masters such as Giotto, Piero della Francesca, Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo as well as those of the Mannerists painters; two chapters on the graphic work of Albrechr Durer and of Rembrandt are followed by a study of some seldom considered aspects of the paintings of Ingres; contemporary art is represented by the expressionist works of Soutine, a selection of Italian Futurist paintings and some of the most representative works by Piet Mondrian. Referring to the iconographical traditions of the various subjects as well as the cultural and psychological backgrounds of each artist the author offers fresh insights into the works meaning.