Seen | Unseen: Art, science, and intuition from Leonardo to the Hubble telescope - Hardcover

Kemp, Martin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199295727 ISBN 13: 9780199295722

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2006

Synopsis

Seen | Unseen is a deep, richly illustrated, and erudite analysis of the interconnections between science and the visual arts. Martin Kemp explores the responses of artists, scientists, and their instruments, to the world - ranging from early representations of perspective, to pinhole cameras, particle accelerators and the Hubble telescope.

From Leonardo, Durer, and the inventors of photography to contemporary sculptors, and from Galileo and Darwin to Stephen J. Gould, Kemp considers the way in which scientists and artists have perceived the world and responded to its patterns, and sees common 'structural intuitions' reflected in their work.

About this title

Review:

There is much to treasure here. Those...looking for a handsome and beguiling study of different ways, scientific or artistic, in which we can mirror nature, will find much to enjoy. (Charlie Gere, TLS)

This is a major book on an important theme...Seen/Unseen is massively well-informed. (Piers Bizony, BBC Focus)

Dive in: the swim is bound to be rewarding... This is a mature book written by a scholar who has meditated for decades on the false dichotomy between scientific and artistic representations of nature. (Bart Kahr, Nature)

What emerges from this multi-faceted closely argued tour de force is a conviction that the real excitement begins where the knowledge breaks down: in the visual institutions that give us the freedom and insight to "feel our way into the unknown". It is a tantalising conclusion to an exhilarating ride. (Ariane Bankes, Financial Times)

About the Author:

Martin Kemp is Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford. He is perhaps best known as an expert in Renaissance art, and especially the work of Leonardo. Kemp himself studied both history of art and the natural sciences at Cambridge, and is as sure-footed in his treatment of the scientific context of imagery as he is in scholarly history of art. Among his books is the recent and highly successful Leonardo published by OUP.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0199295727
• ISBN 13: 9780199295722
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368