Anamorphosis

The history of anamorphoses goes way back to the Renaissance. Painters experimented with cylindrical and conical mirrors. They painted the anamorphosis while looking in those mirrors and produced something barely recognizable. To see the painting normally you had to use a mirror with the same shape. Artists like Istvan Orosz are taking this even a step further by making both the normal and the distorted image meaningful.

The Mysterious Island - Istvan Orosz, 1983
	Actually this is a deformation. The landscape served as cover for the book "The Mysterious Island" from Jules Verne. If you place a cylindrical mirror at the top of the landscape, you can see the face of Verne himself.

The Ambassadors - Hans Holbein, 1533
	This is a famous painting with a lot of hidden symbolism and meanings. The most eye-catching and intriguing is the warped skull in the front of the painting (the gray stripe). A lot has been written about the meaning of this skull, it is said to be a symbol of the mortality of man. You would have to look at it from a very sharp angle to see the skull.
View on Allposters.com
Ambassadors: home page More than you ever wanted to know about Holbeins Ambassadors.

What do you see? (Was siehst du?) - Erhard Schon, 1538
	Just to inform you : people have always been perverts. But back in the days, they had to cover it up a little. When you look at this picture from 1538, you notice a man and a woman to the left, and a somewhat strange landscape to the right. When you held the original and looked at it from the right, in a very sharp angle, you saw the couple doing a little more than kissing.

The Well - Istvan Orosz, 1998
	In this picture, a drawing of M.C. Escher is hidden in a very special way. You must put a cylindrical mirror on the well, in the reflection you can see the face of Escher.

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait, 2005
	This very original coaster was made for Guinness to revive their tagline. When the coaster is placed, the text on it is unreadable. When the glass is placed on it - still nothing. But when the beer is poured in the glass, you can read the text perfectly in the reflection on the glass (those who wait ...). To really understand the tagline, look for it on Youtube.
Good Things Come To Those Who Wait You'll understand the Guinnes coaster better.

Slim-Fast billboard
	Want to loose weight fast ? It doesn't get any faster than on this billboard. Look at it from the front and you'll see a rather fat lady. Then walk to the side of the board and you'll see the same woman, but a lot thinner. And of course she's presenting the weight-loss product there that made it all possible.

Maths Year 2000 Anamorphic Art In-depth explanation of how anamorphosis works. Art of Anamorphosis History and usage of anamorphosis plus software to make some yourself.