Biomorphism

Biomorphic branching columns in Gaudí's monumental but still incomplete Sagrada Família church are modelled on trees

Biomorphism is an art movement that began in the 20th century. It 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.

History

The term was coined in 1935 by the British writer Geoffrey Grigson^[1] and subsequently used by Alfred H. Barr in the context of his 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art.^[2] Biomorphist art focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology. Biomorphism has connections with Surrealism and Art Nouveau. Matisse's seminal painting Le bonheur de vivre (The joy of Life), from 1905 can be cited as an important precedent.

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 epitomizes the use of biomorphic form.^[3]

In painting

The paintings of Yves Tanguy and Roberto Matta are also often cited as exemplifying the use of biomorphic form.^[4] During and after World War II, Yves Tanguy's landscapes became emptier, which has been seen as a psychological portrait of wartime Europe. ^[5]

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. ^[6]

Desmond Morris is a biomorphic painter of note and Marc Newson a designer of note.

In architecture

The Sagrada Família church by Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona contains many features inspired by nature, such as branching columns intended to reflect trees.^[7]

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,^[8] and the TWA Flight Center building in New York, by Eero Saarinen, inspired by the form of a bird’s wing.^[9]

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,^[10] or the Oriental Village by the Sea, in the Dominican Republic that is based upon the segmented body of a dragonfly.

In industrial design

Biomorphism is also seen in modern industrial design, such as the work of Alvar Aalto,^[11] and Isamu Noguchi, whose Noguchi table is considered an icon of industrial design.^[12] Presently, the effect of the influence of nature is less obvious: instead of designed objects looking exactly like the natural form, they use only slight characteristics to remind us of nature.

Victor J. Papanek, 1923-1999 was one of the first American industrial designers to use biomorphic analysis is his design assignments. He reached international prominence while at Purdue University 1964-1970. Student work and his own 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.

See Also

• Metaphoric architecture
• Zoomorphic architecture
• Zoomorphism
• Organic architecture

References

1. Grigson, Geoffrey (1935). The Arts Today. London: Bodley Head. pp. 71–109.
2. Barr, Alfred H. (1936). Cubism and Abstract Art. New York: MoMA.
3. Tate Collection, Glossary: Biomorphic www.tate.org.uk, accessed 25 July 2008.
4. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/66152/biomorphic-art
5. Surrealism and Beyond in the Israel Museum search subject "Biomorphism"
6. Surrealism and Beyond in the Israel Museum "Biomorphism and Metamorphosis"
7. Zerbst, Rainer (1988). Antoni Gaudi - A Life Devoted to Architecture. Trans. from German by Doris Jones and Jeremy Gaines. Hamburg, Germany: Taschen. p. 30. ISBN 3-8228-0074-0.
8. Rafati, V.; Sahba, F. (1989). "Bahai temples". Encyclopædia Iranica.
9. David W. Dunlap (July 1994). "T.W.A’s Hub is Declared a Landmark". New York Times.
10. Fehervari, Geza (September 1983). "Revival in Islamic Architecture" (Vol. 7, no 6 ed.). Ahlan Wasahlan magazine. pp. 15–17.
11. Martin Eidelberg, et al. Design 1935-1965: what modern was: selections from the Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection, Montreal: Musée des arts décoratifs de Montréal, New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991, Page 90.
12. • Pina, Leslie (1998). Classic Herman Miller. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-0471-2.