psychologist guy t. buswell, in his 1935 study, how people look at pictures, noted that although the initial fixation tends to be roughly in the center of a painting, the eye generally moves first to the left, and then to the right. dr. buswell speculated that his is a carry-over from reading.
russian artist wassily kandinsky agreed with buswell about center-to-left-to-right scanning, but disagreed about the reason. kandinsky's explanation:
"the picture is facing us, therefore its sides are reversed. just as when we meet someone, we shake their right hand - which is on the left as we face each other."
kandinsky continued: "the left side of an image is dominant, therefore, just as our right hand is (usually) the leading or strongest hand." - from kandinsky's point and line to plane.
two more book excerpts for your enjoyment: drawing on the right side of the brain and the one minute manager.
these photos really are amazing.
