Art Forms in Nature: Prints of Ernst Haeckel

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In 1861, at the instance of Carl Gegenbaur, he became Privatdozent at Jena; in the succeeding year he was chosen extraordinary professor of comparative anatomy and director of the Zoological Institute in the same university; in 1865 he was appointed to a chair of zoology which was specially established for his benefit.

I had just bought this 'on spec', it is a real find and a very reasonable cost given the quality of the paper and printing! Kunstformen der Natur was influential in early 20th-century art, architecture, and design, bridging the gap between science and art.I like the discipline in that long-forgotten way you feel when you're a hardcore fangirl screaming internally upon seeing something you like. Haeckel recognized beauty in every aspect of nature, even the ones who could be perceived as scary or insignificant. So many pages sent me off to the web for videos, images, and articles about the bizarre natural beauties.

He was a biologist who discover many different species, some relatively minuscule species - generally varieties of flora and fauna. This output of systematic and descriptive work would alone have constituted a good life’s work, but Haeckel in addition wrote copiously on biological theory. His work was credited with having caused the acceptance of Darwinism in Europe, and his popular studies ― preaching the continuity of all life, organic and inorganic, from prehistoric time to the present ― converted tens of thousands of readers all over the world. University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth - An Ernst Haeckel exhibition from 2005 pairing prints from Kunstformen der Natur with modern sculptures. One prominent example is the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange designed by Hendrik Petrus Berlage: it was in part inspired by Kunstformen illustrations.In addition to being marvelous renderings, these plates have long been noted for the peculiar emotional appeal that they have for most viewers, a premonition of surrealism with exotic organic life forms stretching back to their roots in the inorganic, and individual details drawn with awareness of subtle evolutionary changes and millennia-long developments. The center and bottom-center images are Desmonema annasethe; the tentacles reminded Haeckel of his late wife's long flowing hair. Artists, illustrators, and others will find them still powerful as one of the landmarks of applied art. Inspiration for the nature-lover, artist, or those like me who like to simply gaze in wonder at the infinite diversity and beauty, of lifeforms. Expect to see pages devoted to seaweeds, seaslugs, jellyfish, crustaceans, bats, fish and reptiles for example.

Darwin himself has placed on record the conviction that Haeckel’s enthusiastic propagandism of the doctrine was the chief factor of its success in Germany. Originally published in sets of ten between 1899 and 1904 and collectively in two volumes in 1904, [2] it consists of 100 prints of various organisms, many of which were first described by Haeckel himself. The introductory essays provided good background material as well, although it would have been nice to hear more of Haeckel's own voice. From Here to Eternity: Ernst Haeckel and Scientific Faith, Religion, Theology, and Natural Science, Vol.

The line drawing illustrations are really beautiful and a great source of inspiration for Lino printing. Escher inscribed them in Nature, giving birth to what he saw in his mind; Haeckel engraved what he saw in Nature.

P/S: Probably not as important, but I would have liked individual lithographs to have been labelled. There is a long queue of people who have this on reserve at the library, and the copy I have is almost due, so I can’t keep perusing it. Indeed, until I was forced to sell it (a good offer was made and, after all I am a bookseller, I can't hang on to my favourite items forever and I managed a year with this one) it was hidden on my private shelf where I could look at it almost every day.Illustrations: Full page, full colour, all 100 original plates reproduced to an exceptional standard. Every living cell has psychic properties, and the psychic life of multicellular organisms is the sum-total of the psychic functions of the cells of which they are composed. The first set included Desmonema annasethe (now Cyanea annasethe), a particularly striking jellyfish that Haeckel observed and described shortly after the death of his wife Anna Sethe.