Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts

by Diana Donald (Editor), Jane Munro (Editor), Fitzwillian Museum Cambridge (Editor)

Charles Darwin’s revolutionary theories of evolution and natural selection have not only had a profound influence on the fields of biology and natural history, but also provided fertile territory for the creative imagination. This lavishly illustrated book accompanies an exhibition organized by the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, in association with the Yale Center for British Art, that will coincide with the global celebration of the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859).

 

The essays in this exceptionally wide-ranging book examine both the profound impact that Darwin’s ideas had on European and American artists and the ways in which his theories were influenced by the visual traditions he inherited. In works by artists as diverse as Church, Landseer, Liljefors, Heade, Redon, Cézanne, Lear, Tissot, Rossetti, and Monet, from imaginative projections of prehistory to troubled evocations of a life dominated by the struggle for existence, Darwin’s sense of the interplay of all living things and his response to the beauties of the natural world proved inspirational.

Genres: Art, Natural History, Science, Nonfiction

346 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2009

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This set of lavishly illustrated essays is the "exhibit catalog" from the Darwin show currently at the Yale University Center for British Art. As a biologist who has read a lot of interpretations of Darwin's work by scientists and science writers, I found much of interest in this take on Darwin by art historians. The essays were a bit uneven in quality, but all were fascinating. My favorites include "Darwin at home: observation and taste at Down House," "The history of the Earth: Darwin, geology and landscape art," "What is meant by this system? Charles Darwin and the visual re-ordering of nature," and "Monkeys, apes and evolutionary theory: from human descent to King Kong." The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book, but the essay's authors all have much to say about the way Darwin and evolutionary theory have affected modern worldviews.

[Science For The People]

Recommended on Skeptically Speaking show #90 on December 17, 2010. http://skepticallyspeaking.ca/episode...