In his foreword to this groundbreaking volume, Nobel Prize winner David Hubel expresses the hope that "in the future, visual neurobiology will enhance art much the same way as a knowledge of bones and muscle has for centuries enhanced the ability of artists to portray the human body." The future begins now, with this far-reaching book. In Vision and Art, Harvard neurobiologist Margaret Livingstone demonstrates that how we see art depends ultimately on the cells in our eyes and in our brains. She begins by offering a comprehensive account of the biology of vision, drawing on the history of science and her own cutting-edge discoveries. She explains cogently how the eye and brain translate different wavelengths of light into the colors and forms of the world around us. She then turns to art and delves into the science underlying various phenomena in painting, using many examples - from the mysterious allure of the Mona Lisa to the amazing atmospheric effects of the Impressionists - to illustrate her points. Along the way, she shows how similar effects can be used to enhance the impact of advertisements, and explores the different ways images look in paintings, in photographs, on TV, and on computer screens. Accompanying Livingstone's lively and lucid prose are many easy-to-understand charts and diagrams that clarify her points. Some of these illustrations are based on simple and elegant experiments that show us how the human visual system translates light into color. Others demonstrate how cells in the retina code information and send it to the brain. Still others shed light on how great painters devise techniques to fool the eye into seeing depth and movement. By skillfully bridging the space between science and art, Vision and Art will arm artists and designers with new techniques that they can use in their own craft and thrill any reader with an interest in the biology of human vision. (Publisher)