Kunstformen der Natur [SEP] illustrator
Kunstformen der Natur
Kunstformen der Natur (known in English as Art Forms in Nature) is a book of lithographic and halftone prints by German biologist Ernst Haeckel.
Publication.
Originally published in sets of ten between 1899 and 1904 and collectively in two volumes in 1904, it consists of 100 prints of various organisms, many of which were first described by Haeckel himself. Over the course of his career, over 1000 engravings were produced based on Haeckel's sketches and watercolors; many of the best of these were chosen
for "Kunstformen der Natur", translated from sketch to print by lithographer Adolf Giltsch.
A second edition of "Kunstformen", containing only 30 prints, was produced in 1924.
Themes.
According to Haeckel scholar Olaf Breidbach, the work was "not just a book of illustrations but also the summation of his view of the world." The over-riding themes of the "Kunstformen" plates are symmetry and level of organization. The subjects were selected to embody these to the full, from the