Portrait Artist Forum - View Single Post - Reading a painting and movement from left to right

Tarique Beg · 02-01-2002, 03:14 AM

I think if we grow up reading text and looking at books in two or three languages from our earliest years, we tend to make context switches without even being aware of it.

In India, most of us have to learn two compulsory languages, English and Hindi, plus our regional language. For me it happened to be English, Hindi, and Urdu.

Now, English and Hindi are read from left to right whereas in Urdu we read from right to left. In fact, we even open an Urdu book from what an English reader would consider to be the back cover. So, just as I automatically pick up an English or Hindi book so that the binding is on the left, I can't help picking up an Urdu book so that the binding is on the right (considered to be the back of the book by Westerners). If I were to read to the last page of an English book and close it, the binding is now on the right, whereas when you reach the last page of an Urdu book (Urdu uses the Persian Script) the binding is on the left after you close it. The strange thing is that all this happens automatically without consciously thinking about it.

I suspect, the same thing happens with visuals because just as I can't imagine an English comic book with the story flowing from the right to left, I can't imagine an Urdu comic book with the illustrations flowing left to right. I think our mind senses the surrounding context and then makes a psychological switch so that the visual looks right or wrong according to the context we sense.

Finally, this opens up an interesting question about whether portrait painters should take into account the predominant way the client and the viewers of the client's portrait will tend to interpret visual input. The question is, should the painting be more visually pleasing to the painter (as interpreted from the painter's cultural background), or should the painting be more pleasing to the client and the client's viewers (her/his family and friends from the same cultural/linguistic background).

02-01-2002, 03:14 AM	#5
Tarique Beg Juried Member Joined: Oct 2001 Location: Morgan Hill, CA Posts: 38	I think if we grow up reading text and looking at books in two or three languages from our earliest years, we tend to make context switches without even being aware of it. In India, most of us have to learn two compulsory languages, English and Hindi, plus our regional language. For me it happened to be English, Hindi, and Urdu. Now, English and Hindi are read from left to right whereas in Urdu we read from right to left. In fact, we even open an Urdu book from what an English reader would consider to be the back cover. So, just as I automatically pick up an English or Hindi book so that the binding is on the left, I can't help picking up an Urdu book so that the binding is on the right (considered to be the back of the book by Westerners). If I were to read to the last page of an English book and close it, the binding is now on the right, whereas when you reach the last page of an Urdu book (Urdu uses the Persian Script) the binding is on the left after you close it. The strange thing is that all this happens automatically without consciously thinking about it. I suspect, the same thing happens with visuals because just as I can't imagine an English comic book with the story flowing from the right to left, I can't imagine an Urdu comic book with the illustrations flowing left to right. I think our mind senses the surrounding context and then makes a psychological switch so that the visual looks right or wrong according to the context we sense. Finally, this opens up an interesting question about whether portrait painters should take into account the predominant way the client and the viewers of the client's portrait will tend to interpret visual input. The question is, should the painting be more visually pleasing to the painter (as interpreted from the painter's cultural background), or should the painting be more pleasing to the client and the client's viewers (her/his family and friends from the same cultural/linguistic background).