Biomorphism models artistic design elements onnaturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices.[1] 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.[2]
Within the context of modern art, the term was coined by the British writerGeoffrey Grigson in 1935[3] and subsequently used byAlfred H. Barr in the context of his 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art.[4] 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 withSurrealism andArt Nouveau.
TheTate 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 listJoan Miró,Jean Arp,Henry Moore, andBarbara Hepworth as examples of artists whose work epitomises the use of biomorphic form.[5]
In July 2015 a Facebook Group was set up by British artist Andrew Charles. The group morphed into a movement over the following year and was described in a Manifesto by Charles on 16 July 2016, breaking down the Sculptural Genrea into specific patterns of creation forming no less than 8 necessary protocols for a work to conform to the term biomorphism.
The paintings ofYves Tanguy andRoberto Matta are also often cited as exemplifying the use of biomorphic form.[6] During and after World War II,Yves Tanguy's landscapes became emptier, which has been seen as a psychological portrait of wartime Europe.[7]
The use of metamorphosis through Picasso influencedSurrealism in the 1920s, and it appeared both as subject matter and as procedure in the figurative paintings ofLeonora Carrington and in the more abstract, automatic works ofAndré Masson.[8]
American artistPhoebe Adams is known for her biomorphic paintings and sculptures,[9][10] 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 theNational Portrait Gallery in London.[11]
American artistsAndrew Topolski,Michael Zansky,Suzanne Anker,Frank Gillette,Michael Rees, andBradley Rubenstein participated in exhibitions featuring biomorphic and biospheric paintings and digital art atUniversal 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.[12][13]
TheSagrada Família church byAntoni Gaudí in Barcelona contains many features inspired by nature, such as branching columns intended to reflect trees.[14]
Other well known examples of biomorphism in architecture can be found in theLotus Temple inNew Delhi, by Fariborz Sahba, based on a lotus flower,[15] and theTWA Flight Center building inNew York City, byEero Saarinen, inspired by the form of a bird’s wing.[16]
One of the leading contemporary architects that uses biomorphism in his work isBasil Al Bayati, a leading proponent of the school ofMetaphoric architecture whose designs have been inspired by trees and plants, snails, whales and insects such as the Palm Mosque at theKing Saud University inRiyadh, or the Al-Nakhlah Palm Telecommunications Tower, which are based upon the form of a palm tree,[17] or the Oriental Village by the Sea, in theDominican Republic that is based upon the segmented body of a dragonfly.
Biomorphism is also seen in modernindustrial design, such as the work ofAlvar Aalto,[18] andIsamu Noguchi, whoseNoguchi table is considered an icon of industrial design.[19] 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 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.[20][21][22]
Marc Newson is an Australian biomorphic designer who created a Charlotte chair (1987) and three-legged carbon-fibre Black Hole table (1988).[23][24]
