Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 2: Modern Era (1850–1949)

1917

On Growth and Form Published by D’Arcy Thompson

Publication

An original book page compares two fish outlines drawn over rectangular and curved coordinate grids.
D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form (1917), p. 751: Figures 381–382 compare Diodon and Orthagoriscus using transformed coordinate grids. D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson, On Growth and Form (Cambridge University Press, 1917), p. 751. MBLWHOI Library / Biodiversity Heritage Library; digitized by Internet Archive. Image source.

The book by Scottish mathematical biologist D’Arcy Thompson showed how mathematical transformations could describe a variety of organic forms. Thompson thus pioneered the use of mathematics in biology which helped move forward mathematics in art. D’Arcy’s work greatly impacted computer art’s aesthetic in the second half of the century, particularly the artificial life movement.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.

Sources

People

D'Arcy Thompson

Movements

artificial life, Math Art, Post-Impressionism

Filed under

Ideas
artificial life, biology, form, mathematics, morphogenesis, nature, Post-Impressionism
Technologies
computer art, Math Art
People
D'Arcy Thompson
Works
On Growth and Form
Places
Scotland

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