Etching, drypoint, engraving and aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-hamilton-1244" aria-label="More by Richard Hamilton" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Hamilton</a>
Microcosmos plant cycle
Purchased 1982
abstraction
animals: insects & lower animals
biology
education, science and learning
from recognisable sources
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
micro-organism
organic
plant
plants and flowers
society
Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, ‘On Growth and Form’
<p>These prints, with their tentative shapes resembling amoebae, anemones and other forms of microscopic life, were made in response to D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book on morphology On Growth and Form (1917). The book was a scientific study of the forms in nature, which argued that recognisable mathematical structures can be found in all organisms. The print titled Heteromorphism was used as the cover of a catalogue for Growth and Form, an exhibition inspired by Thompson's theories, which Hamilton and Nigel Henderson organised in 1951, when they were both studying at the Slade School of Art. (See display cases).</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print etching drypoint engraving aquatint
8 October 2001 – 1 December 2002
2002-12-01
8 October 2001 – 1 December 2002
2002-12-01
2001-10-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-08
Independent Group
Collection based display
28 March 2012 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
28 March 2012 – 14 October 2012
2012-10-14
2012-03-28
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-03-28
Patrick Keiller
Collection based display
20 September 2014 – 13 December 2014
2014-12-13
20 September 2014 – 13 December 2014
2014-12-13
2014-09-20
Hatton Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
2014-09-20
Basic Design display
Loan-out
Microcosmos: plant cycle
image: 177 × 225 mm
Purchased 1982
<p>These <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a>, with their tentative shapes resembling amoebae, anemones and other  forms of microscopic life, were made in response  to D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson's book on morphology On Growth and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>Form</span></a> (1917). The  book was a scientific study of the forms in nature, which argued that recognisable mathematical structures can be found in all organisms. The  print titled Heteromorphism was used as the cover of a catalogue for Growth and Form, an exhibition inspired by Thompson's theories, which Hamilton and Nigel Henderson organised in 1951, when they were both studying at the Slade School of Art. (See display cases).</p>
Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-microcosmos-plant-cycle-p07654" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07654</span></a> <b>Microcosmos (plant cycle)</b> 1950
<br/>
<br/>Etching, drypoint, engraving and aquatint with punch impressions 7 × 8 3/4 (177 × 225) on unbleached Arnold paper 9 3/4 × 11 1/4 (250 × 287), printed by the artist at the Slade School of Art, not editioned
<br/>Inscribed ‘R Hamilton’ b.r. and ‘5/20’ and on the back ‘MICROCOSMOS (PLANT CYCLE) 3 gns’
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1982
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Hamilton no.39, repr. p.33; Richard Morphet, Richard Hamilton, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, March–April 1970, p.18
<br/>
<br/>This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a>, together with ‘Structure’, ‘Heteromorphism’ and ‘Self-<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a>’ were made while Hamilton was working on the Institute of Contemporary Art's contribution to the Festival of Britain in 1951, an exhibition entitled ‘Growth &amp; <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>Form</span></a>’. Hamilton's display and the imagery he used were the central exposition of the new interest in biological-natural forms which expanded, in a style generally known as ‘crystal structures’, through fashionable textiles, ceramics and the new man-made materials. In terms of Hamilton's work, however, the significance of his work on ‘Growth &amp; Form’ lay in his adoption of natural imagery from photographic sources and technical diagrams, and the way he used this now visual language to examine the problems of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> itself. Hamilton was interested in the principles of growth expressed in d'Arcy Thompson's book of the same title. By using images from microscopy and X-rays, as well as botanical or biological subjects, Hamilton created a new currency of forms recognisably natural yet distanced from traditional <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/naturalism" title="Glossary definition for 'Naturalism'"><span>naturalism</span></a> in painting. ‘Microcosmos’ is related to paintings of the same title;
<br/>
<br/>‘Hamilton first titled all [these works] ‘Microcosmos’, to affirm the analogy between the visual quality of works of this type and certain music of Bartok. Bartok's ‘Mikrocosmos’ are instructional pieces for the piano some of which are intended to be so simple as to be played by anyone; these works of Hamilton equally follow an open, step-by-step development... In these <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstract</span></a> works, as at all periods since, Hamilton is already consciously employing banal elements as the means to sophisticated ends’ (Morphet, p.18).
<br/>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction animals: insects & lower animals biology education, science and learning from recognisable sources literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) micro-organism organic plant plants and flowers society Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, ‘On Growth and Form’