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Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havoc
Books: Travel: Bern: Item 3
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Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, and the Beauty That Causes Havocby Arthur I. Miller
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful: strains to equate two rather different lives, February 17, 2002 Reviewer:Omar N. Ali (LA) - The idea that there may be a connection between the appearance of relativity and cubism at the beginning of the twentieth century is not a new one. Though it has been shown quite convincingly that Picasso was not aware of Einstein's work when he and Braque invented cubism, it is still possible to say that BOTH Einstein and Picasso were influenced by some common elements that had appeared in western culture at that time. This, in itself, would be unremarkable; Both Einstein and Picasso lived in the same continent at the same time, it would be very surprising if they did NOT have some common influences. But professor Miller tries to stretch this comparison to the breaking point and well beyond. The result is a book in which excellent summaries of their early life and careers are marred by clichd and overblown psychobabble and cultural theorizing. The book is still interesting because it deals in detail with the lives of two such gifted and unique individuals. But the comparisons are frequently forced, and the author seems to have failed to take the advice of either of the masters. Picasso was dismissive of most attempts to retrospectively slot his art into some art historian's version of "influences and phases" and he would certainly have resisted any attempt to "explain" his genius in this manner. Einstein, too, was willing to leave the mystery of creativity unsolved. Mr. Miller would have done well to present us with two separate books about Einstein and Picasso, or one bigger book on the cultural ferment of the early nineteen hundreds. This attempt to find "the secret of creativity" fails to rise above the level of the self-help manuals that crowd our bookshops. Einstein loved music, so music is listed as one of the routes to creative "non-verbal" thought. But the fact that Picasso was never interested in music does not constitute a counter-example for Mr. Miller. Meanwhile, Picasso smoked hashish and took opium with great regularity through this period, but while the slightest hint that he might have heard of geometry is inflated beyond belief, this significant aspect of his life gets only two lines in the book. Last, but not the least, while science and art are both human products, their natures are very different. Much of Modern art has moved beyond mere representation and become more like music (an esthetic experience which may or may not represent a particular "story") but science is nothing if it's not a coherent story. Einstein rebuilt the foundations of modern science by systematically and LOGICALLY questioning the basic assumptions of Newtonian physics and the discoveries of electro-magnetism. This achievement may have involved intuition and unconscious influences, but it would be useless if scientists could not eventually understand and agree on its meaning. Modern art may well deal with matters even more important than the physical structure of the universe (love, sex, death, loss, meaning, values, rebellion, rage...) but it would not be art if all artists were to agree on its significance and meaning.
From Publishers Weekly
Intellectual historians widely acknowledge that Einstein's theory of relativity and Picasso's cubist paintings launched modernity. Although the physicist and painter never met, their creative geniuses developed simultaneously under similar social circumstances and during an unrivaled period of cultural ferment. Moreover, Miller, professor of history and philosophy of science at University College London, contends, both Einstein and Picasso were deeply influenced by mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincar‚'s treatise on non-Euclidean geometry, La Science et l'hypothŠse. Both Einstein and Picasso borrowed from Poincar‚ the idea of a temporal and spatial dimension beyond our own that could be captured in art and physics. Miller plunders previously unavailable sources as he narrates the parallel biographies of Einstein and Picasso. He traces in great detail the influences of photography, geometry and X-ray technology on Picasso's art as well as the influence of aesthetic theory on Einstein's science. Through close readings of the theory of relativity and Picasso's groundbreaking Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Miller argues that these two men were working on the same problem: "how to represent space and time at just the moment in history when it became apparent that these entities are not what we intuitively perceive them to be." In the 21st century, it is old news that artists and scientists struggle with the best ways to represent space and time. But Miller's eloquent and wide-ranging interdisciplinary history of ideas returns us to the beginning of the 20th century when two brilliant minds challenged reigning understandings of space and time and fashioned revolutionary models that imbue contemporary culture's understandings of itself and the physical world. (Apr.)Forecast: There is probably not a huge readership for this title, but it will sell well to students of science, art and the history of ideas. The author will make appearances in Chicago and Cambridge, Mass., in late March, and such engagements should help him reach his audience
Copyright 2001 Cahners business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Library Journal
During the span of a few years shortly after the start of the 20th century, roughly from 1904 to 1908, two quiet revolutions in how we perceive the world were underway. In Switzerland, Einstein was working on the nature of time and space. In Paris, Picasso tackled a similar problem in the creation of the seminal Cubist work "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (for a detailed history of this painting, see William Rubin and others' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, LJ 2/1/95). Miller (history and philosophy of science, University Coll., London) examines the two men and the revolutions they initiated. Pulling together the lives of the physicist and the painter, as well as the band of friends, colleagues, influences, and lovers that surrounded them at that time. Miller creates a compelling argument for the confluence of aesthetics and science. Illustrated with scientific diagrams as well as work by Picasso and others, this is recommended for larger collections on modern art in public libraries and for most general academic collections. Martin R. Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Reed business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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