Ihre Blütezeit erfuhr die Anamorphose im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, als sie als unterhaltsame optische Belustigung Einzug in die Haushalte hielt. Weitgehend mechanisierte Reproduktions- und Druckmethoden gestatteten eine Anfertigung in hohen Auflagen. Da kein Unikat mehr, war die Anamorphose somit jedermann zugänglich.
Heute führen gerade die aus jener Zeit stammenden Anamorphosen in vielen Museen ein einsames Schattendasein. Als optische Kuriosität nehmen sie in den großen Sammlungen der populären Druckgraphik eher eine Randstellung ein.
Optical illuisons in the form of anamorphoses were the artistic experiments of the Renaissance. These pictures seem to fool the viewer by hiding the original subject through intentional distortion that in turn produces new abstract forms. The fascinating interplay between the obvious and the hidden make the viewer experience the ambiguity of the illustrations.
namorphoses do not instantly reveal their true identity. Some of them have to be viewed from a certain angle; others even require the use of geometrical mirrors or apparatus fitted with optical prisms to rectify the distortion.
The flowering period of anamorphoses was the 18th and 19th century, in which entertaining optical family amusement spread everywhere. Production methods and painting techniques became more and more mechanised and thus paved the way for inexpensive reproductions made in large numbers of copies. As a result, everybody had a chance to buy anamorphoses.
Anamorphoses live a lonely and shadowy existence in most of todays museums. And as optical curiosity they have a rather marginal existence in big collections of popular printed graphic art. The present book is intended to give due credit to the anamorphoses. And, it is also an attempt to draw attention to the lost art of optical illusions.