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Page 1
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)tive pitc
h in music
In: Leonardo - 8 _
1975 - p. 13-19
S&S ©
D
Barbara Hero
Pointing based on lative FPE În music.
Leonardo, Vol. 8, pp. 13-19,
[Note
27 Sf |bher
Abstract—The author's approach to painting changed direction in 1961 when she began
formal studies of music. She adopted relative pitch as a measure for quantitatively differentiating musical tones represented in her paintings. Specifically, the pitch of a tone was
designated in terms of the ratio of its frequency to that of middle C on a piano. She chose
a scale with the aid of the Lambdoma diagram or Pythagorean table,
The values of the
resulting relative pitches and their reciprocals were appropriate for the representation of
tones by radii or by areas in her paintings. In addition, for each musical tone she has
assigned a specific color, a designation that she generally keeps constant. All the paintings
of this series are of a geometrical character.
She calls attention to two interesting results that have a relationship to musical tones
in a circle offifths. For example, her assigned colors in a circle offifths appear as a sequence
of complementary color pairs. The planets assigned by G. Arnoux to musical tones, when
they are arranged in the order of ascending fifths, occur in a sequence corresponding to the
positions of the planets from the Sun,
Page 2
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)Source: Leonardo, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Winter, 1975), pp. 13-19
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1573182
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Page 3
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)Leonardo,Vol. 8, pp. 13-19. Pergamon Press 1975. Printed in Great Britain
PAINTINGS BASED
PITCH
MUSIC
ON
RELATIVE
BarbaraHero*
Abstract-The author's approachto painting changed direction in 1961 when she began
formal studies of music. She adoptedrelativepitch as a measurefor quantitativelydifferentiatingmusicaltones representedin herpaintings. Specifically, the pitch of a tone was
designatedin termsof the ratio of its frequencyto that of middleC on a piano. She chose
a scale with the aid of the Lambdomadiagramor Pythagoreantable. The values of the
resultingrelativepitches and their reciprocalswere appropriatefor the representationof
tones by radii or by areas in her paintings. In addition,for each musical tone she has
assigneda specificcolor, a designationthat she generallykeeps constant. All thepaintings
of this series are of a geometricalcharacter.
She calls attention to two interestingresults that have a relationshipto musical tones
in a circleof fifths. For example,herassignedcolorsin a circleof fifths appearas a sequence
of complementarycolorpairs. Theplanets assignedby G. Arnouxto musicaltones, when
they are arrangedin the orderof ascendingfifths, occur in a sequencecorrespondingto the
positions of the planets from the Sun.
I.
visual appearance of some of his score to paintings
in my 'W.R.S. Series'. I decided to work towards
a goal of making paintings in which musical tones
would be represented by radii or areas and by
colors.
Sabri recently described in Leonardohis paintings
related to elemental constituents of matter, where
choices of colors were made on the basis of prominent atomic spectral lines and the corresponding
area given each color was proportional to the
energy associated with its wavelength and frequency [3]. The forms that he used in representing
individual elements were chosen arbitrarily.
My approach was also to employ physics as a
basis but in my case I restricted the domain to that
of sound. The air close to a vibrating source (such
as a violin string) is set into vibration, giving rise
While I have often thought that an art work should
not need to be explained to viewers, I now do feel
that viewers should be told about its content and
how it is presented, especially in the case of nontraditional kinds of art. Such analyses made by
artists will generally be of benefit to themselves as
well. In 1951, a catalogue introduction to an
exhibition in which I participated stated that 'a
reflection of the universe can be found in the very
things we are inclined to overlook' [1]. Before 1961
I painted landscapes, based particularly on the
reflections of buildings and bridges in water. They
have a flat quality and the proportions I used were
chosen arbitrarily without much regard for threedimensional representation. (One of these landscapes is reproduced in Ref. 2.) Then a change
occurred in my approach when I began to study
musical composition and musical acoustics.
At first I began to make paintings that show a
combined influence of the appearance of water
reflections of buildings and of notes on a music
score (Fig. 1). I visualized, for example, the treble
clef score as a mirror image of that of the base clef,
with contrary emphasis, and I indicated chords and
ascending or descending notes by linear configurations of dark and light areas. In 1970, while looking
at the score 'Treatise' by the English composer
Cornelius Cardew, I was struck by a similarity in
.....
* Artist living at 48 Lawrence Street, Boston, MA
02116, U.S.A. (Received 14 May 1973.)
~
eP.
:is..... :
Fig. 1. 'W.R.S. No. 5', acrylic on canvas,36 x 48 in., 1961.
Page 4
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)to a train of pressure waves (i.e. sound waves) that
spread in air in sphere-like ripples rather like twodimensional ripples on a pool of water [4]. Sound
waves are designated quantitatively by wave-length
or, more commonly, by frequency. The pitch of a
musical tone is an acoustical property determined
by the frequency. Thus a tone of high pitch is one
of high frequency.
My approach is based specifically on the relative
pitch of tones, or, as will become evident below,
on the reciprocal of the relative pitch. The relative
pitch of a tone is determined by its position in a
scale. It is the ratio of its frequency to that of
another tone taken as a basis in the diatonic major
scale. The frequency ratio associated with a chosen
musical interval is independent of the actual frequencies of the tones. Thus, although the frequency
of the current international pitch standard has
varied during the past (i.e. the tone a' (la) in the
octave of c' (middle C) (do) has been assigned frequencies between 400 and 440) and the frequencies
of the other tones in the scale have varied accordingly, the relative pitch for each tone is constant
in the diatonic scale. It is the constancy of the
numerical ratios that led Pythagoras and his
followers to seek analogies between these ratios and
the distances of celestial bodies from a central
point [4]. In my work I have chosen as a basis
c' (do), although another tone such as f' (fa) might
also have been a good choice (cf. Table I). Thus,
for example, the relative pitch of e' (mi) is the
frequency of e' (330) divided by the frequency of
c' (264), to give 330/264, or 5/4, and its reciprocal
relative pitch is, then, 4/5. Similarly, the relative
pitch of C above middle C, i.e. c", is 528/264, or
2/1, and its reciprocal relative pitch is 1/2.
I should digress here to explain my nomenclature.
I use lower case letters throughout for representing
specific tones. Apostrophes and subscripts are
used to indicate octave ranges. Middle C is given
by c'; and C in the octaves above is given correspondingly by c", c'"', cv, . . .; C below middle C
is given by c (without an apostrophe or subscript)
and C in the octaves below are indicated correspondingly by subscripts, c,, c,, c,,, . . . Thus the
tones for C are represented in a sequence of
increasing pitch by ... . c,,
c,,, C, c, c', c,
c',
(these colors are the same for any octave), for
example, red, orange, yellow, green, green-blue,
blue (or violet) and black (or purple) (cf. Table II).
I chose the same colors for the spectrum for tones
as did Pythagoras and, centuries later, Newton [8],
but I made my choices only after I had realized
that these assigned colors would correctly assume
the positions of complementary colors on the cycle
of perfect fifths, which I discuss below.
I employ the relative pitch of a tone in a quantitative way in my paintings. For example, for the
f' (fa) (relative pitch 4/3) and d' (re) (relative pitch
9/8), I use the fractions 4/3 and 9/8 (or their
reciprocals 3/4 and 8/9) in determiningthe positions
of the shapes representingf' and d', respectively. I
do not often use a complete dodecaphonic scale,
i.e. one made up of 12 halftones (semitones),
because the relative pitch of its tones, for example,
g', does not match that of g' in the composite
scale that I use [9].
I derived the musical scale that I generally use
from the Lambdoma (or Pythagorean table), which
dates back to the ancient Greeks [6]. The Lambdoma is a square array of points having fractions
systematically assigned to the points. It can be
visualized very easily with the use of a sheet of
paper lined with square grids or, better yet, a sheet
of ordinary graph paper. The x-axis and y-axis
are drawn and the coordinate points along the
axes are numbered by integers, x = 0, 1, 2 ... and
y = 0, 1, 2 ... (Fig. 2).
The coordinates (x, y) of any point falling on an
intersection in the grid are interpreted as the
numerator y and denominator x of the fraction
y/x. Thus, the coordinates of point A (x, y) are
given by (3, 8) and the corresponding fraction
would be 8/3. If the point A were labeled 8/3 and
all other grid intersections were labeled in the same
18-
16
R
X
-1B(6,16)
/g,(16/6)
-
15-
/
1
db(15/
R
/X//^:8/9
5/6 R
4/5R
3/4 R
14
13-
//
2"
5^ ^/ ^ ^
12?
/
/16
- 9/10 R
//
"
2/3R
...
Within an octave, for example, c" to c'", the other
tones are labeled correspondingly by, e.g. e", f",
g"; or between c and c', they would be e, f, g; or
between c, and c, they would be e,, f,, g,. A plus
(+) or minus (-) superscript indicates that the
tone is raised or lowered by a difference of pitch
of about one-quarter of a semitone, for example,
a'+ [5, 6, 7]. I use capital letters to denote tones
without regard to specific octaves.
I assigned specific colors to selected tones within
an octave for their identification in my paintings
A.
Q\
Fig. 2. Lambdoma diagram.
Page 5
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)TABLE
I. A COMPOSITE SCALE.
TABLE II.
COLORS,
RELATIVE
PITCH BASED ON MIDDLE C
NUMBERS AND PLANETS ASSIGNED TO TONES
Tone
C
+
D-
D
EV+
E
F
F;
G
A~
AO+
A
Assigned
colors
red
scarlet
redorange
orange
yelloworange
yellowornage
green
green
greenblue
greenblue
blue
blueviolet,
violet
l
Assigned
planets
Venus Neptune
Mars
Mars
Unknown
Assigned
whole Numbers
[12]
Jupiter
54
51
48
45
Uranus
42
81 (80)
=
Pluto
Earth
Mercury
planet
[12]
j
76 (75)
72 (36)
=
Asteroids
Asteroids
68 (69)
Page 6
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)way, then Fig. 2 would take on the usual appearance of a Lambdoma grid. Here the fraction y/x
is taken to represent the reciprocal of the relative
pitch and hence the point A (3, 8) corresponds to
the tone g,, (8/3).
It should be pointed out that g,, is not uniquely
represented by point A. Point B, which is given
by (6, 16) also corresponds to g,,, because the
fraction 16/6 reduces to 8/3. Similarly, all the intersections along what I call the harmony diagonal
(1, 1), (2, 2), (3, 3) etc., represent the tone c', given
by the reciprocal relative pitch 1/1 (cf. Table I),
since all the fractions, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, . . . reduce to
1/1. Since the x-axis and the y-axis both extend to
infinity, such repetition occurs without limit along
all rays emanating from the origin.
The scale that I generally use, for which the
octave is c' to c", is associated with the dashed line
parallel to the harmony diagonal (Fig. 2). The
dashed line actually passes through points corresponding to the tones c" (1/2), g' (2/3), f' (3/4),
e' (4/5), e'~+ (5/6), d' (8/9) and d'V- (9/10). The
tones of the scale that are not on the line are
a' (3/5), a'~+ (5/8) and b'O+(5/9). I shall describe
later how I use these fractions in designing my
compositions. It is sufficient here to mention that
I prefer to work with fractions between 1/2 and 1/1.
If I had drawn my dashed line farther below the
harmony diagonal, then smaller fractions would
have been introduced. If the dashed line were
located above the harmony diagonal, then fractions
greater than 1/1 would be introduced. If the dashed
line were not parallel with the harmony diagram,
then fractions less than 1/2 and/or greater than 1/1
would tend to be introduced. Of course, a ray
could not be used, because it represents just one
tone.
While the color I use for a tone does not generally
change from one picture to another, the geometrical shapes that I choose conform quantitatively in design, size and arrangement with the
corresponding values of the relative pitch. I have
found Alain Danielou's book Semantiquemusicale
[9] a useful source for suitable geometric shapes.
Moreover, his tables and diagrams of 53 musical
tones within the octave, indicating the pitch of each
tone relative to that of c' in scales based on fifths
and thirds, was particularly helpful to me. These
scales with their relative pitches include not only
the diatonic scale but also tones that are slightly
sharped or flatted (indicated by one, two or three
plus or minus marks).
The idea of relating colors to musical tones is
not new; it intrigued Aristotle and Newton.
Numerous artists have proposed correspondences
between painting and music [e.g. 10, 11]. Rothschild discussed the application of her color-music
analogy in her paintings in Leonardo [10]. My
paintings are not based upon musical compositions
(although some were read as scores by Adam
Hubble, a flutist, and played while on exhibition
in October, 1973, at the Max Protetch Gallery,
Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) but they are based on
patterns, structures and sequences of tones. The
representations of tones are based in a quantitative
way on their relative pitch.
H.
The first way in which I expressed the tones of
a scale involved the following construction. I made
a series of concentric circles, or orbits, to represent
individual tones. The radius of each orbit was proportional to the reciprocal relative pitch of the
tone. My idea of using a circle to represent a tone
came from the analogy of a train of sound waves
of a single tone in air to the train of surface ripples
that is produced when a pebble is dropped into a
quiescent pool of water. Since the wavelength is
inversely proportional to frequency, the reciprocal
of the frequency is a measure of wavelength. In
this analogy and in others I discuss later it seemed
appropriate to represent tones by wavelengths or,
in fractional notation, by relative wavelengths (i.e.
reciprocal relative pitch).
I drew the circles using a thin string as a radius.
The full length R of the string for the major diatonic
scale (key of C major) represented the radius for
the circular orbit of c'. Since the reciprocal relative
pitch for c' is 1/1 and that for c" at one octave
higher is 1/2, I made the radius of the circular
orbit for c" half as long as the radius for c' by
simply knotting the string at its center. Rather
than folding a string over to divide it into thirds,
fourths, fifths, etc., I found it easier to measure the
radii directly from a large Lambdoma diagram. If,
for example, the full length of the string R (cf.
Fig. 3. 'Isoceles Trapezium', acrylic on canvas, wall space
78 x 78 in., 1973.
Page 7
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)Fig. 2) is located such that it fits vertically between
the harmonic diagonal and the x-axis, then the
rays corresponding to the tones in question will
intersect the string at the other radial distances, as
measured up from the x-axis. An accurate way to
determine the radius for a tone is to multiply the
length of the string R by the reciprocal relative
pitch.
I have used concentric circles to representmusical
scales. When the radii were particularly large, I
made circular arcs on separate canvases (which I
shall refer to as 'panels' or 'modules') that must be
hung in a specific way (Fig. 3). The small triangular
shape in Fig. 3 is colored yellow for e' (relative
pitch 5/4) (Table II) and its arc represents the
circular orbit. To the left of the triangle is a
trapezoidal panel in green, showing an arc for f'
(4/3) and another one in violet for a' (or b'I) (16/9).
To the right of the triangle is a small panel (yellow
orange) that represents e''+ (or d'I) (6/5), followed
respectively by panels for g' (3/2), blue; b' (15/8),
black and d'5+ (16/15), orange. The five largest
trapezoidal canvases can be fitted together to form
one trapezoid. All canvases are portions of a
triangle having an apex angle of 60?. I chose the
angle of 60? after learning that tones of interest in
music tend to be represented by points on the
Lambdoma diagram in the area between two rays
located at 30? to each side of the harmony diagonal
(Fig. 2). If one examines the values for the reciprocal relative pitch for the tones, one sees that
they progress in the following order: 2/3, 3/4, 4/5
and 5/6 as the scale descends. This I regard as a
contracting influence. On the other hand, the
following order obtains as the remainder of the
scale ascends: 8/15, 9/16, 15/16, an expanding influence. Such expansions and contractions are used
in many ways by musical composers to express, for
example, growth and decay, and rising and falling.
In making the series shown in Fig. 4, I adopted
the idea of expansion and contraction in another
way. Tones are represented by dotted circular
orbits whose radii are proportional to reciprocal
pitch. The squares presented horizontally increase
from the left progressively in linear dimension by
one unit. The squares represent reciprocal relative
Since the tone
pitches: 1/1, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 ....
represented by 6/7 (an unpleasant flatted e', or a
sharped a') is not customarily used, I represent it
by a white square. The eighth square was made to
represent the harmonic series by a series of progressively smaller and smaller triangular arrangements of squares. The 8 x 8 grid pattern contains 64 squares and, in accordance with the wholenumber scheme in Table II, I assigned to tone a'
the entire field of 64 squares. The biggest triangular
array contains 28 squares, followed by 16, 10, 6, 3
and 1, representing the denominator of the reciprocal relative pitch for the b'I (9/16), d' - (9/10),
e'I+ (5/6), g' (2/3) and c' (1/1) respectively. I could
have chosen a'+ (27/16) or d+ (15/16) for the
section of 16 squares.
I assigned the dimension of time to the vertical
axis at the left. I connected the upper left corner
of each square to odd numbers on the axis, forming the zigzag line, which to me suggests the contraction sensations of tones represented by the first
six squares and the expansion by the squares
beyond the seventh. The large tilted square symbolizes the importance of the diagonal (Fig. 2).
HII.
I found it interesting to consider the tones of the
major diatonic scale (representedby circular orbits)
in relation to the orbits of the planets of the solar
system after reading Georges Arnoux's [12] and
Albert Roustit's [13] speculative books on the
Fig. 4. 'Progressionby Squares',acrylic on canvas,76 x 36 in., 1971.
Page 8
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)subject. McClain's article is a recent pertinent
reference [14]. The assignments of planets to notes
by Arnoux are given in Table II.
If one considers the positions of the planets from
the Sun, one finds that the ratios of distances of
successive plants are in simple fractions corresponding to some of those of relative pitch, e.g.
Saturn is 1/2 the distance of Uranus, and Venus is
2/3 that of the Earth. If tones are considered in a
circle of fifths, starting with f' (Mercury) [12], then
the corresponding list of planets will occur in the
order of positions from the Sun (i.e. Mercury, f';
Venus, c"; Earth, g'; Mars, d"; asteroids, a'+;
Jupiter, e"+; Saturn, b'+). The painting 'Circle of
Fifths' (Fig. 5) was based on this idea. The construction of its design started with a circular band
in which the fifths c', g', d', a'+, e'+ are indicated
on the right. The assigned colors (cf. Table II)
are C, red; D, orange; E, yellow; F, green; G,
green-blue; A, violet. On the left side they are
B, purple, substituted for black; FO, dark green;
Cs, scarlet; GO,green-blue. When this color scale
is examined with respect to a sequence of fifths
(i.e. f', c', g', d"l, a"+, e'"+, b'+, f"$, c"$ (d"),
g"I (a' '+)), one finds that the complementary
colors appear in pairs in the sequence: red, blue;
orange, violet; yellow, purple; dark green, dark red;
green-blue, scarlet. Thus, since the circle of fifths
may be regarded as a sequence of harmonious
tones, I find it an interesting paradox that the
colors are arrangedin a sequence of complementary
colors or opposites. This is typical of the kinds of
analogies that can be found in apparently unconnected areas of knowledge. Such an unexpected
correlation intrigues me and has spurred me to
look further.
The radii of the circular arcs to the left of the
center are different from those on the right in order
to give the impression of a spiral that turns inward
in a clockwise direction. The circle of fifths in
music has traditionally been based on a spiral
concept, because when f'$ is reached at every
seventh step, the pitch of f'" and g" , which on a
piano would sound the same, are slightly different.
The flatted tones form a spiral going inwards on
an inner band to the right of center with the fifth
a'O+being pale grey; e"O+,pale blue; and b'l+,
very light grey. I call the white portion on the
hourglass shape an 'anticircle' because it cuts the
concentric circles. (Perhaps more descriptive than
a spiral would be the form of a triangle developed
by Victoria Glaser [15] for representing ascending
and descending series of fifths.)
The note f' for the planet Mercury was placed
at the center, on the 'anticircle', since it is the first
tone in my 'Circle of Fifths' and Mercury is the
first planet from the Sun. In the upper left-hand
corner of the painting, I have inserted four of the
remaining tones from this circle of fifths; dI', rust;
gilb (f"$), dark grey-blue-green; d"$ (e"l), yellow
grey-green and a"' (e"I+), grey-violet. The series
of concentric circles drawn immediately below the
center of the 'anticircle' represents the orbits of the
14 fifths: f', c'", g', d, a'+, el+, bl+, fi"i, c"
(d"b), gI'I (a"i+), d"'$ (e"l+), a"l (b"'+) and e"$
(f 1I+). It is important to mention that doublefifths
(a double fifth means skipping a fifth) place the
tones in the following ascending order: f', g', a'+,
b'+, c"$ (d"'), d"$ (e"l+), e"' (f" ), (f"), where after
seven tones (seven planets) the cycle begins again.
Descending single fifths place the second tine at
b'0+, the order reading: e"l+, al'+, d"i, gl', b'+,
e' +, a'+, d', g', c', f', or descending double fifths:
f"+, e"O+,d1", bl+, a'+, g', f', another example of
expanding and contracting that can be expressed
visually in a spiral form.
IV.
I have used also the whole numbers assigned by
Arnoux to musical tones [12]. For example, Fig. 6
(cf. color plate) represents the tone F. Arnoux's
set of numbers has an upper limit of 81, representing the tone F (Table II). According to
Arnoux, the reasons for using 81 as the base
number for F are many. For example, 81 is the
base number of an ancient Chinese musical system
(Fa-La). It is also the last number in the Pythagorean series of triples. The ratio 81/64 measures
Fig. 5. 'Circle of Fifths', acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 in.,
Page 9
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)the Pythagorean third and 81/80 expresses the
difference in relative pitch between Et and F. He
also pointed out the relationship between the
Pythagorean musical scale and the fabled 'music
of the spheres'.
In making the painting for the tone F, I proceeded as follows: I multiplied 81 (for F) by 2/3,
getting 54 (which represents C) and I then continued by multiplying 54 by 4/3, getting 72 (which
represents G). Alternative multiplications by 2/3
and 4/3 yielded 48 (D) and 64 (A). Taking 64 in
place of 63, I continued, obtaining 42 (E) and
finally 56(B). A descending sequence resulted
(81, 54, 72, 48, 64, 42, 56) and it corresponds to a
cycle of fifths.
First, I painted the entire ground green (24 x 24
in. panel), the color assigned to the tone F. Second,
I marked off 81 spaces, 1/4 inch apart, on its right
vertical side (y-axis) and 81 spaces along the
bottom (x-axis) numbering from right to left.
Third, I counted off 54 spaces along the bottom
side (x-axis) to locate the coordinates (x, y) of the
tone C (54, 0) and I made a red vertical line at this
location. Fourth, I drew a web-like system of lines
by connecting 1 on the x-axis to 81 on the y-axis;
2 to 80; 3 to 79; and so on until, finally, 81 to 1.
I repeated the same web construction of lines connecting points on the y-axis at the right with points
along the top from coordinate (64, 81) to (36, 81).
I then plotted small circles (difficult to see in the
reproduction, Fig. 6) to representthe musical tones
f'I+ (relative pitch 64/45), f'I++ (36/25), f'+ (27/20),
f'# (45/32), and f'+- (25/18) [16]. The circle for
fI+, for example, falls on the intersection of the
line ascending from the x-axis at x = 20 with the
line descending from the y-axis at y
27. The
white chevron-like area in the painting marks the
region where points representing tones are not
generally used in music would fall. For example,
the numbers 7, 11, 13 and 14 do not occur in the
ratios representing relative pitch for the tones in
Danielou's cycle of fifths and thirds [16]. The
picture for F, being based on the number 81, can
be used to plot points for all the other tones in the
octave; other paintings that I have made for A, C,
D, E and G, which are based on numbers below
81, cannot. The white grid of 16 squares (4 x 4)
near the center of the painting for F represents f'
19
(reciprocal relative pitch, 3/4); it appears also in
'Progression by Squares' (Fig. 4).
In conclusion, I wish to say that this project has
been a most stimulating one for me. Being an
artist and not a musician led me to try to depict
the mathematical aspects of musical scales in paintings. Since an initial idea seemed to lead reasonably
to another, it was as if I had tapped a rich vein of
interrelationshipsbetween aspects of musical scales
and visual art. I have used only a few of the many
ways musical scales might be approached. I hope
that what I have done will stimulate other artists
to apply the ratios for the relative pitches of
muscial tones. Since these ratios appear to be
particularly significant for human aural experience,
they may also be so for visual experience.
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Page 10
Voir dans le PDF(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)Top: Jacques Decaux. 'Mary' (name in Chinese 'seal' characters), enamel on copper, 50 x 80 cm.,
1966. (Fig. 1, cf. page 41.)
Centre, left: Barbara Hero. 'Tone F' of the series 'Fifths Depicted on Squares', acrylic paint on
canvas, 24 x 24 in., 1973. (Fig. 6, cf. page 18.)
Centre, right: Dick Cook.
'
Whistling Dixie', audio-kinetic object, Luminetic system, Plexiglas cube,
Formica base, incandescentlamps, 24 x 14 x 14 in., 1971. (Photo: G. de Grazio, Thibodaux,
LA, U.S.A.) (Fig. 4, cf. page 2.)
Bottom: Cynthia Polsky.
'Grotto, II', acrylic paint on canvas, 42 x 122 in., 1973. (Fig. 1, cf.
page 53.)
[facing p. 20]