neoclassical trompe l’oeil
Furth center for the performing art at trine university in angola, indiana
Written by: Conrad Schmitt Studios
Neoclassicism, or new classicism, takes inspiration from Greek and Roman art. Buildings in the neoclassical style use elements from traditional architecture, tying newer buildings to antiquity. This reference is not only meant to revive earlier styles but also to legitimize current structures through this call to the past. The Neoclassical style was popular for civic centers and other public buildings in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries.
In 2013, Conrad Schmitt Studios worked to create a trompe l’oeil, or hyper-realistic, mural at the Furth Center for the Performing Arts at Trine University in Angola, Indiana. Trompe l’oeil, French for “fool the eye,” is a technique that makes a two-dimensional space seem like a three-dimensional space – like you could reach out and touch it. Trine University Professor Emeritus, Dr. Tom Tierney collaborated with CSS designers to create a playful illusion of a cherub peeling back the ceiling to expose brick. The mural required seven weeks of painting with two CSS artists painting on-site (in-situ). This painted scene directly pulls from the dome architecture evident in the Pantheon in Rome, Italy (not to be confused with the Parthenon at the Athenian Acropolis in Greece).
The mural features a circular opening directly in the center of the composition. Its center serves as the vanishing point for the scene, which uses linear perspective to create the illusion of depth and distance. While CSS artists painted a night sky with gold stars for this project, Rome’s Pantheon has a literal opening, allowing visitors to see the sky and even witness the elements. This physical opening is called an oculus, Latin for “eye.” Just like our own eyes that take in light, the size and shape of an oculus determine how much light enters the building through an opening. The design for the Furth Center’s interior lighting is placed around the perimeter cove of the dome, creating the impression that light is coming from the dome itself.
On the interior of the dome, beneath the painted oculus, visitors will notice square-shaped recessions. This architectural structure is known as a coffer, which serves to hollow out material from a dome, making it lighter. While the Pantheon has concrete coffers that physically recede, these additions by CSS are painted, rather than sculpted or carved. When creating three-dimensional work in other decorative projects, our studio often utilizes plaster as a means of creating relief ornamentation. However, in this instance, two-dimensional painting creates the illusion of a three-dimensional space.
The mural composition also features a hallway near the bottom of this painted dome, flanked by classical Greek columns. The three primary variations in these column tops, or capitals, include Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders. Doric is the simplest of the three, while the Ionic and Corinthian capitals include more ornate details. An easy way to remember Ionic is that it sounds like “eye-onic,” and these isolated, scroll-shaped details look like two eyes. These spiraled scrolls are called volutes. Corinthian is the most elaborate of the three, and features acanthus leaves as an ornamental detail in addition to volutes.
Lounging underneath these historical orders is a Trine student haphazardly balancing on the balustrade, looking as if he is about to fall. While the student does have winged shoes that could seemingly counteract a slip, his unique footwear aligns with the iconography of the god Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman). As Hermes was known to be a trickster, this student likewise represents a naïve state, further reiterated with his placement near a sculpture of Dionysus, the god of wine. Both order and disorder therefore present an entertaining illusion, reinforcing the value of theatre and performance at Trine University.
References:
Patheon https://www.pantheonroma.com/home-eng/
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pantheon-building-Rome-Italy
https://www.britannica.com/technology/oculus
https://smarthistory.org/the-pantheon/
https://smarthistory.org/greek-architectural-orders/
Hermes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes
Furth Center for the Performing Arts https://www.trine.edu/furth/index.aspx
Current case study on website: https://conradschmitt.com/project/t-furth-center-for-performing-arts/
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