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The New Design Element:

Technological

Patents, blueprints, scientific diagrams, and curious drawings reveal inventions and discoveries Art
coming into its own art form in offices, businesses, and homes. Collectors are growing like a
bar chart in a bull market. By Judy Weaver Gonyeau, managing editor

ndustrial Chic. Two words that at one time would nature and in human emotion and devotion to God.
have been considered an oxymoron by trendy Scientific illustration was mostly ignored through to the
Idesigners are now considered one of the trendiest 1400s when observations of life were brought to the
forefront through theology or pervasive philosophy.
“types” of decor. Another term could be Technical Art.
Patent illustration for This style of art is coming out of the filing cabinets, the Perhaps one of the most influential and famous
the invention of the artists to bring this to light was Leonardo Da Vinci.
cash register by H. A. archives of industry, and scientific tomes into a frame Many knew him as either an artist or a scientist. He was
Herr in the 1890s. then placed on a wall where everyone can see it. truly devoted to sharing the beauty and study of the
human body while surrounding himself with logic and
Stone Age Curiosity forward-thinking technology at the same time. This is
For what seems like forever, human curiosity has the man who painted the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper
spawned scientific curiosity. Early humans looked to while conceiving things like a triple barrel canon and the
communicate ideas and information and used art to precursor to the helicopter.
present it. Da Vinci would also take his observations from
The earliest paintings or drawings of Lascaux Horse cave working in fine art and
man’s surroundings depicted animals, painting on a bring them into his scientific
early tools, war and warriors, death, hanging stone illustrations and vice versa.
and life. They are surprisingly for sale on Perhaps the most popular of
sophisticated and naturally Etsy for this combining of art and
fragile. The Lascaux Stone $70 science is the drawing he
Age cave paintings in south- made called Vitruvian Man
west France have been (below) done in c. 1490. This
replicated twice to protect the work is a unique synthesis of
originals from deteriorating. artistic and scientific ideals and
According to DW Global Media was often considered an arche-
Forum, “Many generations of typal representation of the
artists were at work in the cave, and High Renaissance.
paintings and engravings were created This drawing represents
on top of older ones, which is difficult Leonardo’s conception of ideal body
for non-experts to make out. In the Lascaux workshop, proportions. You can
individual artworks are projected onto a screen in multiply the size of the
chronological order. In the pedagogical portion of the head seven times to reach
Lascaus 4 center, the various layers of paintings are the size of the body’s
separated and the details are made visible thanks to overall height. The meas-
modern technology.” urement from the tip of
This link between the discovery of the use of minerals the middle finger on one
to create cave paintings and the ability to break apart hand outstretched to the
layers of illustrations from thousands of years ago all matching finger on the
come from curiosity – to document and draw depictions other side will also give
of nature, and to have the technology to see within you the height of the body.
them. While obtaining an original cave drawing may not You can see the proportion
be a possibility, a print from a photograph or from the of height divided into four
recreated artwork can be brought home to satisfy your sections – to the knee, the
curiosity regarding cave art, printing, or both. hip, the chest, and then Vitruvian Man is a world-
the top of the head. The renowned drawing created by
Bringing Wonders to the Page length from shoulder to Leonardo da Vinci circa 1487.
shoulder equals the meas-
Throughout human history, sharing information has urement from the shoulder
always been accompanied by images. The evolution of to the wrist. This propor-
scientific illustration as a teaching tool became much tionate figure is used by
more intricate as man turned to him/herself in body, artists to this day when
mind, and spirit. The human experience was turning to working on a figure draw-
science to make sense of all three. Prior to this focus, sci- ing or portrait painting.
entific illustration was considered to have little under- The size of the hand equals
standing when it came to its use, rendering much of it the size of the chin to the
unnecessary. Beauty was defined as what was found in top of the hairline.

18 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles