About Ernst Haeckel
Today, on the class, we met the artists, Genetic Moo. I was impressed by their interactive artwork, such as the Starfish, Animacules, and Mother. However, What most interesed me is in the first part of the presentation, a short introduction of their inspiration was come from the artork of an illustrator lived in the Victorian period, called Ernst Haeckel.
When I searched the information about him, I recognized that he was not only an artist but also a biologist, naturalist, philosopher, and physician. These multiple identities aroused me more curiosity about him and his artwork.
Stephen Worth, the director of ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, had some comment about Ernst Haeckel in his blog.
“Biologists in Haeckel’s time thought of man’s place in nature much differently than we do today. Haeckel was a staunch Darwinist. He saw mankind as a part of evolution, and a vital part of nature. Today, when we turn on the TV to watch a nature show, we see jungles and tigers, or underwater coral reefs full of fish. There isn’t a human being in sight. Many people today look upon humans as “contaminants” to the natural world. But in Haeckel’s day, nature was seen in everything- Darwin’s Theory applied to the evolution of fish or birds just as much as it applied to the evolution of people. social organizations, business practices or creative processes.”
Link here: http://www.animationarchive.org/?p=1848
Here is some beautiful illustrations from the book “Art Forms of Nature”.
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1. Phaeodaria
2. Thalamphora
3. Ciliata
4. Diatomea
5. Calcispongiae
6. Tubulariae
7. Siphonophorae
8. Discomedusae
9. Hexacoralla
10. Ophiodea
Emily Mengchunhui 