| Description |
255 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 250-251) and index. |
| Summary |
In 'The Cosmic Dance', renowned image alchemist Stephen Ellcock presents a pan-global collection of remarkable, arresting and surprising images drawn from the entire history of art to explore the ancient belief that the cosmos is reflected in all living things. Organized thematically, the visual journey begins with the microscopic, the particulate and the elemental; then explores the human body as a cosmos in miniature, the beauty of divine proportions and our search for spiritual enlightenment; before finally revelling in the colossal, the celestial and the infinite. An eloquent introduction provides an overview of the central themes and expert commentaries introduce each section. Detailed panels provide bitesize information on key concepts and key thinkers - from the four elements to Cosmic Man and from the moebius strip to the Mandelbrot set - while thought-provoking quotations from philosophers, writers, artists and scientists interspersed throughout the artworks prompt a closer, more personal engagement with the images. This stunning treasury of artworks provides the perfect guide to a deeper contemplation of the world around us, allowing readers, in the words of William Blake, to 'see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand, and eternity in an hour'. |
| Contents |
Preface: Regaining perspective -- Introduction: As above, so below. Primordial chaos ; Creation ; Gaia ; Harmony and order ; The elements ; Anima mundi ; The universe as a hierarchically organized organism ; Light ; The origins of life ; The tree of life ; Hermeticism ; Neoplatonism ; Alchemy and the great work ; Rosicrucianism ; Ouroboros ; Daoism ; Zoroastrian cosmogony ; Japanese Ensó Mandalas -- The infinitesimal universe. the subatomic world ; Diatoms ; Ernst Haeckel crystallography ; Microscopic particles ; Micrographia ; Particle physics ; Radiation ; Photomicrography ; Lichtenberg figures ; The mineral world: geology, rocks and minerals ; The vegetable kingdom: botany ; The insect world -- God in miniature. Man as microcosm ; Man as a mirror of being ; The four humours ; Anatomy and physiology ; Zodiac man ; Man as a microcosm of spirituality and materiality ; The unity of mankind and the natural order ; The body politic ; Leviathan ; The human body as a miniature universe animated by its soul -- Divine proportions. Harmony ; Sacred geometry ; The music of the spheres ; The Fibonacci sequence ; Palaeontology ; The golden ratio ; Platonic forms ; Pattern ; Universal symmetry ; Geometry ; Perspective ; Proportion ; Architecture ; Mandelbrot sets ; Art and science ; The Quincunx pattern ; Tesserae ; Mobius strips ; Impossible objects and architecture - Escher, Boullée, Buckminster Fuller -- In search of nirvana. The living earth ; Forces of creation and destruction ; Alchemy ; The properties of beasts, bestiaries, the hierarchy of beasts ; Visions of Eden, earthly paradise, the diorama of life ; Heaven, hell and the afterlife ; Angels and demons, gods and goddesses, immortals, divine beings ; Heavenly messengers ; Supernatural beings ; Enlightened souls ; Fallen angels ; Powers of darkness ; Spiritual void -- And so to infinity. The macrocosmos ; Metaphysics ; Signs and wonders ; Mapping the universe ; Exploring the cosmos ; The runaway universe ; The celestial wheel ; The zodiac ; Terrestrial and sidereal calendars ; Measuring time ; Models of infinity ; Visions of eternity ; Cosmology ; Celestial mapping ; Perpetual motion. |
| Subject |
Cosmology in art.
|
|
Cosmology -- Philosophy.
|
|
Cosmology in art. (OCoLC)fst00880615
|
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Cosmology -- Philosophy.
(OCoLC)fst00880610
|
| ISBN |
050025253X hardcover |
|
9780500252536 hardcover |
|
