Structure of art and science

The turn of the 20th century brought an increased scientific interest in components and structure, which combine to form a whole.

An understanding of a form requires an understanding of its structure; of the separate parts joining to be comprehended as something entirely different. A whole.

As time progressed, the search for understanding delved deeper within the structure. At each stage of discovery, the building component was able to be broken down into smaller parts. Exemplifying this process was the search for the constituents of the human form, bones. Further advances in technology then allowed for the study of what, in turn, comprised those bones.

That search for knowledge greatly influenced not only the world of science, but that of art, as well. Artists began to approach artwork differently than the previous Impressionists. Art was an innovative exploration, a scientific study into how a viewer perceived a piece of work. If a piece of work was broken down into elementary components, was the viewer still able to perceive the image as the artist intended? The works of both Seurat and Mondrian address this perception of art.

- Emily Atwood '99.

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Return to the Architectonic

May 25, 1996.