Using Shadows In Art

It has been suggested that some of the earliest art ever made occurred when someone decided to trace their own shadow. Leonardo da Vinci found that depicting shadows in art were essential in order to give the illusion of spatial depth and perspective. Some modern artists and photographers began using the shadow as an important element of their work, at times allowing the shadows they found to be the subject of the art. Below are some examples of famous art works using shadow, as well as several pictures taken by Artsology.
Above: Photograph by Paul Strand, Wall Street, 1915.	Right: Photograph by Alexander Rodchenko, Girl with a Leica, c. 1934.
Below: Photograph by Alexander Rodchenko, Steps, 1930.

Artsology decided to see what kind of pictures we could come up with, using only a camera to capture existing shadows.

All pictures below by Mark McKinney, © Artsology

If you have any shadow-inspired pictures that you would like to send to Artsology, please e-mail them to us and we'll post the most-interesting pictures!

To learn more about shadows from a scientific point of view, with some interesting examples of how shadows can create optical illusions, check out this feature: Shadows In Science and Art.