Pictures of science

Abstract

The apparently minor art of scientific illustration raises questions that bear directly on the ‘two cultures’ confrontation of art and science. A marked shift in approach is discerned at the beginning of the twentieth century, from the incorporation of illustrations within the text to the use of ‘enframed’ figures, often with captions, as a separate entity. It is proposed that this change, which appears to have coincided with the introduction of bivariate plots in scientific journals, represents the transition from the essentially narrative structure of natural philosophy to the more adversarial mode of modern science. The link between the restraint required of the graphic artist and minimalist and functionalist aesthetics such as those of the Bauhaus is examined, together with the possibility that such a persimonious method of presentation can carry an implicit message. The different roles of abstraction in science and art are discussed with particular reference to the work of Paul Klee.