Eames 3-D Photographs
Eames
Office, Santa Monica
The difficulty with 3-D photography is the “multiplanar” effect, which
breaks the picture down into successive planes, depriving it of unity (it can be
seen here, deliberately, in a double self-portrait). The aim of the Eames
series of 3-D photographs was to find ways to nullify the multiplanar effect,
which is visible throughout the whole range of stereophotography.
This was the time of Hollywood’s interest,
and the Eames’ photographs certainly do resemble Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder in some superficial
aspects, as well as Schwitters’ Merzbau (in one). A very subtle arrangement of
foreground elements and recessive planes breaks down the flat-on-flat effect to
activate the scope of possibilities open to 3-D photography.
Thus, in photographs of the Eames House (Case Study House #8), strong
perspectives carry foreground to background, allowing delicate effects of
reflection (varied by other elements) to form artificial compounds of
perspective.
A still life on the breakfast table adds up
so many ranges in close-up that no plane can be fixed as a compositional
element.
The stunning “merzbau” picture regulates the
foreground as a scrim that projects toward the viewer and also leads into the
large studio area piled high with unfinished chairs in the background.
Pictures and studies of furniture include
one of a slim sofa on chrome legs against wood paneling and a checkered floor
beside a brass spittoon (balanced by a black homburg on the sofa). The subtle
projection of the sofa, its chrome leg reflecting on the linoleum tile, and the
delicate direct perspective combine to make it an exemplary study.
The essential problem raised by 3-D can be
simply stated as the addition of another dimension, which creates new
relationships among the elements of a composition, and must be reckoned
accordingly.