The two dimensional art It is one that has only two dimensions (length and width) and is represented through paintings, drawings, photographs or television and cinema. His images lack physical depth; that is why they are also called flat images. In addition, they are represented or projected on a medium or flat surface.
The plastic arts are divided into two large groups: the two-dimensional plastic arts and the three-dimensional arts. One of the most representative characteristics of two-dimensional art is the flat nature of its images; but that does not mean that the artist does not represent the depth in the work through perspective.
The analysis of this type of art is carried out through the study of five basic aspects: the work space, drawing and line, balance and movement, texture, execution, color, light and contrast..
As for the different techniques, in plastic, two-dimensional paintings and drawings are created with various pigments, such as oils, acrylics, watercolors, tempera, ink, charcoal and pencils. For this reason, two-dimensional works of art vary in their characteristics according to the physical medium used..
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Two-dimensional art is as old as man himself, since its first manifestations - about 64 thousand years ago - were through cave painting. Through drawings painted on rocks in caves and in engravings, the caveman represented his way of life and daily life.
However, modern two-dimensional painting is relatively recent. It was not until the Middle Ages that substantial changes in composition and perspective were introduced. Before the 14th century there were very few or perhaps no successful attempts to represent the three-dimensional world realistically..
The preceding art -Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek- at least in the plastic field did not work on perspective in their works. In the first place, because it was a later discovery; secondly, because in the art of these periods three-dimensionality was represented only through sculpture.
In general, artists of the Byzantine, medieval and Gothic periods began to explore other ways of representing life and reality..
It was a very rich and beautiful art style in terms of expressiveness and colors. However, the images they represented were totally flat: they lacked the illusion of space and depth..
Art had to solve the problem of the two-dimensional nature of the media used until then in painting. From this, the artists began to worry about representing the world the way it really is; that is, three-dimensional.
This is how they discovered the system of illusion to represent reality as it is. In this way the sensation of space, movement and depth was created. The first masters to try it were the Italians Giotto (around 1267-1337) and Duccio (1255-1260 and 1318-1319).
Both began to explore the idea of volume and depth in their works and were the pioneers in the early technique of perspective. They used shading to create an illusion of depth, but they were still far from achieving the effect of perspective that we know in art..
The first artist to make use of linear perspective in a well-known work was the Florentine architect Fillipo Brunelleshi (1377-1446). The work was painted in 1415 and in this the Baptistery of Florence is represented, from the angle of the main door of the unfinished cathedral.
The technique of linear perspective projected in this work the illusion of depth on a two-dimensional plane through the use of “vanishing points”, in which all the lines tended to converge, at eye level, on the horizon..
From this painting, the linear perspective system was immediately copied and improved by other Italian artists..
- As its name implies, it only has two dimensions: height and width. It has no depth.
- Two-dimensional art techniques are only applied in flat spaces or mediums. For example, a photograph, a canvas or wood painting, a wall, a sheet of paper, or a picture on television..
- Two-dimensional plastic works can only be appreciated from a frontal perspective. This means that the relationship of this type of works with the viewer has a unique character. Otherwise the work cannot be seen or appreciated; therefore it is a must have perspective.
- In this type of work, the volume is not real but simulated or represented through perspective, light and shadow of the objects. This gives the feeling that the objects have a real volume.
- It is the most common form of graphical representation that exists.
These are some artists who, during different times, introduced changes in the way of representing two-dimensional art.
His name was Tommaso di ser Giovanni di Mone Cassai. He was a medieval Florentine painter and his work was decisive in the history of painting.
He is considered the first artist to apply the laws of scientific perspective, which were previously developed by Brunelleschi, to his paintings. His mastery over the rules of perspective was total.
His first most important work was Triptych of Saint Juvenal, in which his mastery of perspective is appreciated to create the effect of depth.
He is considered the most famous German artist of the Renaissance. His extensive work includes paintings, drawings, engravings and various writings on art..
One of the representative works of Dürer's two-dimensional art is Melancholia, an engraving on a copper plate made by the artist in 1514.
One of the most famous works of this Florentine artist, painter, scientist, writer and sculptor of the Renaissance period is The Mona Lisa or Mona Lisa.
This painting is a portrait of a woman with an enigmatic smile that has been the subject of all kinds of analysis and literature..
Towards the end of the 19th century, this French painter began to question the rules and structures of painting, causing his works to become almost abstract..
The techniques and the means used changed, covering the canvases with thick layers of paint applied many times with a spatula and not with the brush..
At the same time, he simplified natural forms using essential geometric elements. Here began the end of the academic composition according to the rules of perspective that had been established until then.
One of his representative paintings from this period of total revision of his work is The Sainte-Victoire mountain (1905).
Spanish painter and sculptor, considered the father of Cubism and one of the 20th century plastic icons. In his work The Avignon ladies (1907) Picasso portrays a group of naked women; it also breaks the mold and does not take into account depths or gaps.
American photographer well known for photographing Yosemite and Yellowstone parks and being a great advocate for wildlife conservation.
His two-dimensional and revolutionary work in the photographic field can be seen in the work Tetons and Snake River (1942).
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