In art, the technique of creating images that appear distorted but resolve into recognizable form when viewed from a specific angle or reflection; in biology, the process of gradual change or transformation in form.
From 'anamorphic' + '-ism' (system, practice, or condition). The art technique term emerged in Renaissance art history; the biological term developed in evolutionary biology.
Hans Holbein the Younger painted a famous anamorphic skull into 'The Ambassadors' that viewers missed for centuries—it's only visible if you look at the painting from a steep angle. It's basically the Renaissance version of those Magic Eye 3D pictures that were popular in the 1990s.
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