Aspects of Form. A Symposium on Form in Nature and Art ed. by Lancelot Law Whyte (review)

Books 85 conceptsof recognitionand of ‘good’figures. Other theories of aesthetic perception are discussed in the book, including the ideas of Freud and Jung. She, however, dismisses the psychoanalytical approach of interpreting children’s drawings and. instead, tends to support theories of aesthetics based on biologicalprinciples. Children begin drawing with scribbles (bottom row) and progress to mandaloid designs (third row from bdtom) that are later modified to create the human figure. (Part of figure shown on page 109of the book is reproduced above.) Aspects of Form. A Symposium on Form in Nature and Art. Ed. Lancelot Law Whyte. Lund Humphries , London, 1968. 254 p ~ . , illus., 42s. (cloth), 27s. 6d. (paper). Reviewedby :JohnH. Holloway* Scientists will never achieve finality in their attempts to expresstheir understandingof the world and artists will never cease to try to stimulate and satisfy human emotionsor widen man’scomprehension and deepen his perception of the world. But at the present time we are in an exciting phase in the progressionof humanendeavour. We are beginning to accept that there will be no single basis for a modern society, no single absolute science and no singledominantmovementinanyofthearts spheres. It seemsthat, as C. H. Waddington has pointed out, we should no longer seek a single unifying culture but accept a multitude of sub-culturesand seek to facilitateand encourageinteractionat all levels. It is against this background that this second edition of Aspectso f Form must be considered. The original volume, published in 1951,was conceived as a catalogue to the Exhibition on ‘Growth and Form’ at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. However, the response from the very distinguished contributors was so enthusiastic that the book grew as a separate symposium, discussing form from a variety of specialist viewpoints . The 1968 edition is unchanged, except that an * Chemistry Department, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen AB9 2UE. Scotland. additional Editorial Preface on the scientific advancesmade since 1951 and a Supplement to the Bibliography have been added. The book serves as an excellent foundation for those interested in form. The eleven contributors provide fascinating accounts of their own areas of study, from the shapes of inorganic and biological forms (from the gross shape down to the shapes of their molecular constituents)to the activity patterns of the human brain and Gestalt psychology. Some articlesassumemoreknowledgethan othersbut none is so specializedas to be unintelligible and each can be read by itself. The contributions in the second edition are rightly published without revision because together they constitute an authoritative, still unparalleled book; an undoubted classic. LancelotWhyte’snew preface is enthusiasticand infectious. It adds a new life and excitement to the book because it not only eloquentlysummarizesthe scientificadvancesof the previous seventeen years but succeeds in showing that the preoccupation of science has been with increasing precision of analysis into smaller and smallerparts and that this approach now needsto be supplementedby a method capable of representing the processes of complex systems composed of many parts. He points out that this method will almostcertainlybe concerned with the identification of natural forms rather than the discovery of abstract laws. Thus the role of abstract theory, which has until now had the primary emphasis in modern science (but has been incomprehensible to non-specialists), is growing less but that of natural forms (immediateto the visual sense and thus easily intelligible)is increasing. Suchdevelopmentswould clearly be of the utmost importance since this immediacy of natural forms may permit a new general level of understanding of science. This is an excellent book, worthy of the attention of any scientist, and of all but the purely mystical artist. Idea: A Concept in Art Theory. Erwin Panofsky. Translated by J. J. S. Peake. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, So. Carolina, 1968. ...