“Drawn from structures living and dead”: Art Collections and Connections, Growing and Forming

In 1900 D'Arcy Thompson commissioned the Dundee symbolist artist George Dutch Davidson to create a series of murals for his study. This was evidence of his lifelong interest in art and the first example of an artist drawing directly on his work for inspiration, 17 years before the publication of his celebrated book On Growth and Form. Since then countless artists have read the book (or at least looked at the pictures!) and been inspired by D'Arcy's ordering of nature through mathematical rules, his idea of organisms being shaped by the physical forces surrounding them and his linking of organic and inorganic forms. This essay will explore D'Arcy's own artistic interests and connections (particularly through his Dundee colleague Patrick Geddes) and how these fed into his work and the creation of On Growth and Form.