Assemblage and icon in perception and art.

In The Problem of Form (1893), the German sculptor Adolf Hildebrand distinguishes categorically between perception obtained from multiple fixations or vantage points (G.: Bewegungsvorstellungen; we call these ‘assemblages’), and from purely ‘iconic’ imagery (G.: Fernbilder). Only the latter he considers properly ‘artistic’. Hildebrand finds the reason for this ontological distinction in the microgenesis of visual awareness. What to make of this? We analyze the various ‘modes of seeing’ in some detail. The conceptual issues involved are fundamental, and relevant to both vision science and the visual arts.