Artistic forms occurring in nature. Colour lithographs by A. Giltsch after E. Haeckel, 1899-1904.

  • Haeckel, Ernst, 1834-1919.
Date:
1899-1904
Reference:
674505i
  • Pictures

About this work

Description

The content is the visual evidence for Haeckel's adaptation of Goethe's "typological" biology, which demonstrates the existence of analogous forms in different domains, such as the antlers of the African antelope, the scales of fish and the sense-organs of bats. These analogous forms are demonstrated graphically in an overwhelmingly generous supply of colour plates. They purport to show how the simplicity and uniformity of nature is expressed in invertebrates and some vertebrates in an almost unbelievable profusion and multiplicity of repeating and varying patterns. Most are from Haeckel's favourite research areas (jelly-fish, protozoa, infusoria, corals) but higher animals such as insects, frogs, snakes and birds are also included

Publication/Creation

Leipzig ; Wien [Vienna] : Bibliographisches Institut, 1899-1904.

Physical description

11 fascicules (100 prints) : lithographs, printed in colours ; sheets 37 x 28 cm? + original paper covers to each fascicule, the whole in two boxes as issued

Lettering

Kunstformen der Natur. Von Prof. Dr. Ernst Haeckel. Hundert Illustrationstafeln mit beschreibendem Text, allgemeine Erläuterung und systematische Übersicht

Creator/production credits

Haeckel was the champion of evolutionary theory in the German empire. This is the last of his major graphic works, the most ambitious, and (according to Breidbach quoting Hoppe Sailer) the Summa of his world view. The spectacular colour lithographs were sketched by Haeckel from his research notes of many years, then drawn professionally by his lithographer Adolf Giltsch (1852-1911) of Jena, emended by Haeckel, and finally redrawn on the stone in colours by Giltsch for printing. Most of the plates are in a single delicate colour (one in a variety of hues), but some are in three or four colours, such as the print of birds (plate 99)

References note

Richard Hoppe Sailer, 'Der Biolog als Ästhet: Ernst Heinrich Haeckel', in W. Loth (ed.), Wissenschaftszentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut, Jahrbuch 1994, Essen, pp. 162-179
Carmen Wetzel,. 'Kunstformen der Natur'. Kosmos, vol. 11 (1998), p.86-95
Christoph Kockerbeck, Ernst Haeckels "Kunstformen der Natur" und ihr Einfluss auf die deutsche bildende Kunst der Jahrhundertwende : Studie zum Verhalẗnis von Kunst und Naturwissenschaften im Wilhelminischen Zeitalter. (Europaïsche Hochschulschriften. Reihe XX, Philosophie, Bd. 194), Frankfurt am Main & New York: P. Lang, 1986
Olaf Breidbach, Visions of nature: the art and science of Ernst Haeckel, Munich ; London: Prestel, 2006
William Schupbach, '"Nature's art forms"', Wellcome Library blog, 7 April 2009, archived at : https://wayback.archive-it.org/16107/20210314080128/http://blog.wellcomelibrary.org/2009/04/natures-art-forms/

Reference

Wellcome Collection 674505i

Exhibitions note

Exhibited in “In the Air”, Wellcome Collection, 19 May – 16 October 2022
Exhibited in “Hilma af Klint & Piet Mondrian: Forms of Life” at Tate Modern, London, 20 April - 3 September 2023 and Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, 7 October 2023 – 25 February 2024

Type/Technique

Languages

Holdings

  • Box containing Hefte 6-11
  • Box containing Hefte 1-5

Where to find it

  • Heft 1

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
  • Heft 2

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
  • Heft 3

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
  • Heft 4

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

    Note

  • Heft 5

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

    Note

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