The Art of Innovation

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The Art of Innovation: Forms of Knowledge

Forms of Knowledge

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Ian Blatchford and Tilly Blyth on encounters between sculptors and stringed maths models

Ian Blatchford and Tilly Blyth on a conversation between art and maths, and the inspiration Barbara Hepworth gained from mysterious properties of geometric stringed maths models

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth continue their series exploring how art and science have inspired each other. They focus on a unique encounter between 20th century artists and their discovery of a collection of 19th century mathematical models, once used to illustrate a new world of complex spherical geometry. 

As Tilly reveals these “ruled surface” stringed models, now held in the Science Museum Group collection, as well as being educational tools had their own aesthetic appeal. For the Constructivist artists, such as Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, they were inspiration for new imaginative and abstract sculptural creativity. 

As Ian illustrates, with a visit to Hepworth’s 20 ft Winged Figure in central London, this abstract art that embraced new forms, materials and ways of constructing, became highly symbolic of the functional value for art in society. There was a strong desire for a new sense of certainty and common currency in both science and art, during the turmoil of the interwar period.

Producer  Adrian Washbourne

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group


Photograph by Oli Scarff/Getty Images

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Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

How art and science have inspired each other.

Sir Ian Blatchford and Dr Tilly Blyth explore how art and science have inspired each other.

In this landmark series, art historian and Director of the Science Museum Ian Blatchford and technology historian and Head of Collections of the Science Museum Tilly Blyth explore the art of invention and the invention of art and reveal the symbiotic relationship between the two. Many feel science takes the magic out of creativity. These programmes show how scientific advance facilitates creativity. And further, how artistic and scientific endeavour are inspired by the same desires and, often, are the result of intimate conversations between good friends. Galileo's painter friend Ludovicio Cigoli paints a maculate moon on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel and what does Galileo see when he looks through his telescope? A maculate moon. The poet Samuel Coleridge and the chemist Humphrey Davy were very close friends. Scientific innovators are creative thinkers. And the creation of art is dependent on technological development, as well as an aesthetic sense. Throughout history, artists and scientists have both desired to make sense of the world around them and change it, 

Produced in partnership with The Science Museum Group. 

Image credit: Science Museum Group Collection © The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

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