Art Forms from the Ocean: The Radiolarian Prints of Ernst Haeckel

The publisher has two Haeckel art books available, the other being ART FORMS IN NATURE, which is the better of the two. It is better because it contains a lot more of Haeckel's wonderful drawings than the OCEAN book. Many of the images from the NATURE book are duplicated in the OCEAN book, although there are some that are not in the NATURE book and some that are different in part.I love the artwork and find it hard to believe Haeckel produced all this and so much more fantastic work during his lifetime. The disappointing thing about both of these books is that, after an intro discussing Haeckel's life and work, there is no info about the specimens in the artwork apart from their scientific names. Many pages appear to be views of the same organism, but do the various images represent it at various stages of development or movement shown from different angles? Are the species shown on the same page related? There's just nothing but a name in Latin.So I highly recommend this book for the artwork (90% of more of which is not in color). If you enjoy incredibly detailed, expertly drawn images of mostly microscopic life in its magnificent intricacy, you'll like this and/or the NATURE book a lot. If you are looking for more information on the images, forget it as it isn't here.

Radiolarians are a total blank to the majority of people, yet these remarkable builders of glass houses (microscopic to be sure) abound in the world's oceans. Ernst Haeckel, the Nineteenth Century German biologist and supporter of Darwin, wrote the most comprehensive monograph on the group in his Radiolarian Atlas of 1862, which is still in use today. The illustrations have never been surpassed and so it is certainly a boon for microscopists that the plates have now been republished in all their glory as "Art Forms from the Ocean: The Radiolarian Atlas of 1862". In many ways I wish that the text would have included descriptions of the radiolarians illustrated and their distributions, but that probably would have been of little interest to the general public. Instead there is a discussion of Haeckel's life and work, especially of his involvement with radiolarians and other microscopic marine life.Still, for the price this is a real bargain, and I thus recommend this book just for the plates to any amateur or professional biologist who is interested in the micro planktonic organisms of the ocean.

Gave this as a gift to my brother in law who is a marine biologist. Beautiful illustrations and he loved it.

This contains 35 full page hand coloured plates with a 23 page illustrated introduction. In the plates section, the right hand page contains the illustration, and the left hand page is mostly blank except for the short plate description. It differs from Prestel's "Art Forms in Nature" which has around 100 hand coloured plates, with plates on both sides of the page. Google for Kunstformen der Natur (1900) to see the images in Art Forms in nature, and search for Ernst Haeckel: Die Radiolarien to see the images from Art forms from the Ocean

Got it as a gift for a cute marine bio nerd girl. Naturally she loved it...she's putting together a new tattoo from some of the imagery. Really a perfect example of how science and art can merge. Should be treasured by anyone who has any interest in either.

Loved it, got ot for my grandaughter who studies this in college, she was so excited with it !

For a great price, that has helped inspire my art endeavors.

I continue to pinch myself while reading this book in order to remind myself that these extraordinary creatures actually exist and are from this planet! Look to nature for the most fantastic art and for inspiration of what real design should be.

This is a well-produced largish format book of Ernst Haekel’s astonishing nineteenth century drawings of his observations of hundreds of different radiolarians under a microscope. Tiny they may be, but they are quite haunting, especially those with spiky skeletons. I had seen them before, I can’t remember where, quite possibly in a nasty dream. The plates are preceded by an 18-page introduction. Worth having.

Very disappointing. After looking online at some truly stunning images by Breidbach, I thought to buy this to see more. In reality, the selection inside is most disappointing, the best one is on the cover page! What a shame.

The same as 'Art forms in nature', it is hard to believe such a man could capture so well the beauty and intricacies of our sea based companions so incredibly well. I recommend this work to anyone with an interest in art , biology or even people who like a good picture book to glance at every now and them. Truly inspiring.

Beautiful calm and gentle images of unseen nature.This is by an old master of nature and so beautifully compiled.The images are stunning, and it makes you wonder who designed such beautiful fully functioning creatures that we rarely are able to see......a STUNNING book.

Amazing images, perfect for coping from, expanding and getting great pattern ideas! As an art teacher books like this are invaluable, love them!