Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme, it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices. In his search for architectural reform the French architecte Viollet le Duc is the first to express this idea clearly : Like a botanist, Viollet le Duc analyzes details of nature in his books, subsequently making them undergo metamorphoses.
History
The Tate Gallery's online glossary article on biomorphic form specifies that while these forms are abstract, they "refer to, or evoke, living forms...". The article goes on to list Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth as examples of artists whose work epitomises the use of biomorphic form.Tate Collection, Glossary: Biomorphic www.tate.org.uk, accessed in the 25 July 2008.
In painting
The use of metamorphosis through Picasso influenced Surrealism in the 1920s, and it appeared both as subject matter and as procedure in the figurative paintings of Leonora Carrington and in the more abstract, automatic works of André Masson. Surrealism and Beyond in the Israel Museum "Biomorphism and Metamorphosis"
American artist Phoebe Adams is known for her biomorphic paintings and sculptures, which are in many museum collections. Desmond Morris, author of "The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal", is a biomorphic painter whose works are in museum collections, including the National Portrait Gallery in London.
American artists Andrew Topolski, Michael Zansky, Suzanne Anker, Frank Gillette, Michael Rees, and Bradley Rubenstein participated in exhibitions featuring biomorphic and biospheric paintings and digital art at Universal Concepts Unlimited (2000–2006). Michael Zansky's series, "Giants and Dwarves," spanned 5,000 square feet of carved, burned, and painted wooden panels with biomorphic forms.
In architecture
Other well known examples of biomorphism in architecture can be found in the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, by Fariborz Sahba, based on a lotus flower, and the TWA Flight Center building in New York City, by Eero Saarinen, inspired by the form of a bird’s wing.
One of the leading contemporary architects that uses biomorphism in his work is Basil Al Bayati, a leading proponent of the school of Metaphoric architecture whose designs have been inspired by trees and plants, snails, whales and insects such as the Palm Mosque at the King Saud University in Riyadh, or the Al-Nakhlah Palm Telecommunications Tower, which are based upon the form of a palm tree, or the Oriental Village by the Sea, in the Dominican Republic that is based upon the segmented body of a dragonfly.
In industrial design
Victor Papanek (1923–1999) was one of the first American industrial designers to use biomorphic analysis in his design assignments. He reached international prominence while at Purdue University 1964–1970. Student work and his work is illustrated in his book Design for the Real World, published in 1970, which challenges the industrial design establishment to design for the handicapped and disadvantaged throughout the world. First published in 1970 by Bonnier in Swedish, it was published in English in 1971 by Pantheon and eventually translated and published in 23 languages. It is perhaps the most widely read book on design.
Gaetano Pesce is an Italian designer who creates brightly colored acrylic furniture in biomorphic and human shapes.
Marc Newson is an Australian biomorphic designer who created a Charlotte chair (1987) and three-legged carbon-fibre Black Hole table (1988).
See also
- Biomimetic architecture
- Metaphoric architecture
- Organic architecture
- Zoomorphic architecture
- Zoomorphism
Further reading
-
(2025). 9783822840788, Taschen. ISBN 9783822840788
External links
- "Biomorphic Abstraction" works at the University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Biomorphic art at the Tate Gallery
- Biomorphic art at the Museum of Modern Art
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