Cosmos
The Art and Science of the Universe
Distributed for Reaktion Books
320 pages
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260 color plates, 20 halftones
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8 3/4 x 11
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© 2019
Review Quotes
Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal
“The night sky is the grandest feature of our environment. It has been shared by all humanity, throughout history, stimulating a sense of wonder and mystery. In this eloquent and beautifully illustrated book, Olson and Pasachoff recount how the cosmos has inspired artists through the ages to create images that have become embedded in our culture.”
Dava Sobel, author of “Longitude,” “Galileo's Daughter,” and “The Glass Universe”
“‘What could be more beautiful than the heavens,’ Copernicus asked, ‘which contain all beautiful things?’ Olson and Pasachoff offer their exuberant, elaborate endorsement of Copernicus’s sentiment in this resplendently illustrated celebration of artworks inspired by starry nights, solar eclipses, and other celestial wonders.”
Dorothea Rockburne, artist
“Filled with awe upon completing Cosmos, I was amazed at the depth of documentation paired with pioneering content. What a remarkable feat of scholarship Olson and Pasachoff have achieved. Whether religiously motivated, scientifically oriented, or just curious, artists from all times have embraced and explored the origins of our universe. Creative higher mathematics is often geometric and therefore visual. This historic study investigates how artists have shaped their cosmic discoveries into provocative images, while it traces the complex search to understand the universe.”
Tom Baione, Harold Boeschenstein Library Director, American Museum of Natural History
“It should not be surprising that astronomical subjects pervade all manner of art through the ages, yet Cosmos amazes. Olson and Pasachoff’s well-researched and lavishly illustrated tome delightfully demonstrates that this iconography is beautifully represented in the arts throughout history.”
E.C. Krupp, Director, Griffith Observatory
“Olson and Pasachoff scour the cosmos of the arts for images of the heavens and show not only what the universe is, but what it means in this marvel of a book. With one surprising variation on a theme after another, every page is a revelation of the visual impact of the sky.”
Harvard Magazine
"Olson and Pasachoff join strengths felicitously in a large-format tour and celebration of images of the cosmos, from ancient and fine art through scientific illustrations to the (literally) out-of-this-world observations made by the Hubble Space Telescope and other modern instruments."
For more information, or to order this book, please visit https://www.press.uchicago.edu
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Art: Art--General Studies
Physical Sciences: Astronomy and Astrophysics
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