How relevant is art to science? Few studies to date have succeeded in demonstrating the concrete impact of artworks on scientific theory and its formation. However, this book is a rare exception. K. Lee Chichester shows how biologists’ encounters with works of art have led to the development of new images in biology. She follows in the footsteps of the influential Scottish biologist D'Arcy W. Thompson, who devised a theory of organic form around 1900, based on the artisanal understanding of form and force. His approaches were taken up by younger biologists who, influenced by British Constructivist art and in collaboration with artists such as Barbara Hepworth and John Piper, developed new images for creative processes in organisms.

• Art and its influences on science in the late 19th and early 20th century
• New perspectives on the work of Barbara Hepworth and John Piper