Art Forms in Nature: The Prints of Ernst Haeckel

Ernst Haeckel's illustrations are the epitome of 19th century scientific drawing. The drawings are meticulously detailed and show of the symmetry and geometry of natural forms. The plates of large organisms such as reptiles have a quaint, old-fashioned look, often bordering on ugly - yet interesting! The bulk of my affections goes to the plates of radiolarians and other symmetrical microorganisms: here Haeckel is in his element, revealing the geometric beauty of organisms that we rarely see in life as they are too small or live underwater. They are inspiring for designing patterns and scuptural forms: get this book if you are interested in biology, art history or design! The plates are well printed, reproducing colour and detail well, while the size is big enough to see the details clearly, while small enough to have a book that can be handled and browsed comfortably.

What can I say. The illustrations are amazing, the subject matter is gorgeous, and the illustrator is from a generation of gentlemen (and occasionally, back then, gentlewomen) that made wonderfully detailed artworks as scientists, or as they used to call them, natural philosophers. If you are curious, and tend toward the psychedelic, the complex, the ramified, and the 'Tiffany-twisted', you will be very happy looking at the pages of this text. If you are an artist of any kind, this book may inspire you. Breathe, nay, suck it in. You won't be disappointed. However, if you think that 'art' is just a decorative discipline, or that art is something that should always be narrowly 'pretty', you may wish to look elsewhere. There's plenty of pretty here, but some of it is downright biologically-ugly, and by that, I mean gorgeous to me. Sometimes ugly is pretty. Biology is refined, and crude. Sophisticated, and blunt. Space-age, and extinct. And so on... We will be searching, as natural philosophers, through all that biology has to tell us, long after any of us are dead, to find beauty and ugliness. Waste, rot, carnage. Sustainability, health, wealth, welfare, agreement. And enjoyment. 'nuff said.

This is such a lovely book, I just HAD to let all you readers know. I didn't know anything about Haeckel (never even heard of the man.....), when I ordered this book. I just loved his drawing of the Medusa on the cover, and couldn't resist buying it, and boy, am I glad that I did..... There is such a quiet beauty in these plates. The book is also published by Dover (see my review there), without any accompanying text (apart from a short publishers's note), and with all the plates printed in black and white. In this book, many of the plates are printed 'in color' (either different hues of one color, or a color scheme based on two colors). The book also has a highly informative article on Haeckel and his times, and on those that were influenced by him. I find it very hard to explain what exactly makes these plates so wonderfully beautiful. It is partly the symmetry of their composition, and the way in which they render the beauty of nature. The article in the book itself describes it very well: "What is it that Haeckel depicts here that is so beautiful? It is the beauty of ornament. The forms illustrated in these pages seem to fit seamlessly into the repertoire of Art Nouveau forms. [........] Haeckel's approach did not determine Art Nouveau, instead Art Nouveau's approach determined Haeckel's. What ensued was a symbiosis between decorative sketches and descriptive observations of nature [...]." If you are looking for a book on Haeckel and his plates, get this one!

I'm very much interested in geometric patterns, nature (mostly flowers and sea-life), and intricate design, so I thought I would pick this book up for my reference library in my art studio. Normally when I receive new books I kind of shelve them and look through them when I have a chance, but as soon as I took this out of the box I wound up looking through it for hours. I couldn't help myself. It's just so weird and cool and amazing. The drawings are absolutely scientific, and when you glance at a page you know you are looking at a scientific drawing (this is not a traditional art book!) but the details are *AMAZING*. Mind-blowing. I could look at this book for hours. And come away totally inspired. It just made me want to grab my technical pens and sketchbook and draw for hours. This is such a cool book. I can't recommend it enough.

Muy interesante

The otherworldly art of Haeckel is absolutely mesmerizing in its intricate detail and beauty. This book did not disappoint. The colors are vivid and true, the print quality is precise. Recommended for all persons interested in botanical-type bookplates, science, sea life, historical art, and the unusual. Also a great value and it arrived so quickly I couldn't believe it.

I am a fan of Haeckel's artwork because 1) I am a paleontologist and I like his drawings of fossils, and 2) I like drawing and his art is great for references and inspiration. This book is by no means a complete compilation of Haeckel's work, but it does contain a pretty good range of his art. Most plates are of various invertebrates or plants, with only a few plates of vertebrates so what the book contains is roughly proportional to what he drew the most of. This made me happy because I like invertebrates better than vertebrates (yeah, weird, I know) but it would still be nice if the book came closer to being a complete compilation of his artwork. The book is biggish, so the plates are large and make it suitable as a coffee table book. And if you actually want to read and not just look at pictures there's an intro section with some history on Haeckel as well as a (somewhat inordinately long) section on symmetry in art, biology, history, and human perception. The only problem: A few of the plates were slightly offset in the printing process so that all the colors/lines don't line up properly. This makes some of them images look blurry, which is quite annoying. For this reason, I give the book 4 stars. I don't know if I got a book from a messed-up printing batch or if they're all this way, but be aware that the alignment may be off on some of the plates.

The book contains over 100 plates of stunning, crisp artwork by Ernst Häckel. He is amazing. The foreword is informative of his process and the purpose of the book, and gives some insight on how this book helped Darwin in his theories. It's awesome to know that these two greats knew each other. The book contains images of mostly plants and sea life that demonstrate the geometric patterns in nature. The color is flawless, the pages are thick and sturdy, and each image is amazing. There are no pixelated, poorly blown-up images in this book. If you're an art lover like me, or seek drawing inspiration, this is a book for you! It's a perfect coffee table book. I wish there were more explanations of the creatures in this book, but even with almost no text, the book stands out!

Les dessins sont très détaillés, C est un livre à feuilleter, très agréable à regarder si on aime l infiniment petit

Prima di tutto questo libro è una festa per gli occhi; anche un profano dall'animo annoiato e intorpidito può sfogliare le sue 200 tavole di grande formato (24x30cm) ed esser poi colpito da una miriade di forme e di particolari che lo trascineranno come un mantra attraverso l'infinita bellezza del mondo naturale. In secondo luogo, le tavole e i disegni nascono da un progetto preciso, quasi ingegneristico, di collocare il mondo naturale (soprattutto il microcosmo) in un ordine simmetrico; e tale era l'idea ispiratrice di Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), biologo e zoologo tedesco, uno dei primi divulgatori dell'evoluzionismo darwiniano in Germania. Ma al di là di tutto, e proprio per la qualità fantastica del disegno, questi protozoi, queste meduse, crostacei, funghi, pollini, spugne e minuscoli coralli dotati di ciglia, di punte, di creste, di foglie o di peli, in un indistinto che non si sa più se vegetale, minerale o animale, sono gigantesche fonti di ispirazione per il disegnatore, per l'osservatore, per il curioso in cerca di paesaggi fantastici, allo stesso tempo vivi e reali. Una nota di merito va data alla casa editrice Prestel sia per la qualità eccelsa delle riproduzioni che per il formato e il prezzo ridotto; copertina comunque flessibile, ma di buon spessore. Ottimo da regalare.

Un libro con unas imagenes preciosas! cAlidad de impresion y de presentación.

es gab keinerlei Mängel. ein wahrhaftig tolles Buch, dass man nur weiterempfehlen kann. muss man einfach haben. M f G

ファッション雑誌サイズで表紙はコーティング紙、カバーはありませんが耐久性はあります。製本の紙はカレンダーによくあるような、ツルッとした上質なものでした。私の元に来た本は特に製本が甘いということもなく、きちんとしていました。(洋書なので個体差があるのかも？) 前書きが30p程あり、余白を除くとA4位のサイズで図版は100枚(各ページに1枚ずつカラーで)と後書きがあります。 そのまま飾っても素敵だし眺めるだけでも美しい本です。