At 35,000 feet the earth belongs to Picasso, and abstract making. At 12,000 feet, it is still in the hands of representational art, or the modes of matching. At night the urban landscape belongs to Seurat and Rouault. It is a world of light through rather than light on. It is the world of TV and reverse perspective in which the viewer is the vanishing point.
“The Emperor’s Old Clothes”, (1966) p 91, reprinted in McLuhan Unbound #20 (2017), p 4
Year: 1966
Chapters:
Light On, Light Through | Matching and Making
↪ Also at #3774
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan