Art Forms in Nature

The magnificent prints of Ernst Haeckel, who captured the amazing forms of the natural world, spring to life in this exciting pop-up book that reveals the vibrant intricacy of his work. The book "Art Forms in Nature" is a collection of prints, made by the scientist Ernst Haeckel, of an enormous variety of flora and fauna from the sea?including microscopic Radiolaria, starfish, and jelly fish. Since Prestel published it in 1998, the book has been a favorite with artists, designers, illustrators, and anyone who enjoys the wondrous forms of the natural world. Now paper engineer Maike Biederstaedt has transformed Haeckel's transcendent work into a threedimensional book that allows readers to appreciate Haeckel's vivid colors, exceptional precision, and fascination with patterns and geometry. T...

The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel's prints, still influence artists and designers to this day. This volume highlights the research and findings of this natural scientist. Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel's prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel's portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments, is described in the opening essays. The plates illustrate Haeckel's fundamental monistic notion of the „unity of all living things” and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and „constructive” aspect...