List of mathematical artists

This is a list of artists who actively explored mathematics in their artworks.[3] Art forms practised by these artists include painting, sculpture, architecture, textiles and origami.

Broken lances lying along perspective lines[1] in Paolo Uccello's The Battle of San Romano, 1438
Small stellated dodecahedron, from De divina proportione by Luca Pacioli, woodcut by Leonardo da Vinci. Venice, 1509
Albrecht Dürer's 1514 engraving Melencolia, with a truncated triangular trapezohedron and a magic square
Rencontre dans la porte tournante by Man Ray, 1922, with helix
Four-dimensional geometry in Painting 2006-7 by Tony Robbin
Quintrino by Bathsheba Grossman, 2007, a sculpture with dodecahedral symmetry
Heart by Hamid Naderi Yeganeh, 2014, using a family of trigonometric equations[2]
"Angel V" of Mikołaj Jakub Kosmalski - A cubic curve formed on a finite set of points generated by a parametric formula using trigonometric functions and operations on complex numbers

Some artists such as Piero della Francesca and Luca Pacioli went so far as to write books on mathematics in art. Della Francesca wrote books on solid geometry and the emerging field of perspective, including De Prospectiva Pingendi (On Perspective for Painting), Trattato d’Abaco (Abacus Treatise), and De corporibus regularibus (Regular Solids),[4][5][6] while Pacioli wrote De divina proportione (On Divine Proportion), with illustrations by Leonardo da Vinci, at the end of the fifteenth century.[7]

Merely making accepted use of some aspect of mathematics such as perspective does not qualify an artist for admission to this list.

The term "fine art" is used conventionally to cover the output of artists who produce a combination of paintings, drawings and sculptures.

List

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Mathematical artists
Artist Dates Artform Contribution to mathematical art
Calatrava, Santiago 1951– Architecture Mathematically-based architecture[3][8]
Della Francesca, Piero 1420–1492 Fine art Mathematical principles of perspective in art;[9] his books include De prospectiva pingendi (On perspective for painting), Trattato d’Abaco (Abacus treatise), and De corporibus regularibus (Regular solids)
Demaine, Erik and Martin 1981– Origami "Computational origami": mathematical curved surfaces in self-folding paper sculptures[10][11][12]
Dietz, Ada 1882–1950 Textiles Weaving patterns based on the expansion of multivariate polynomials[13]
Draves, Scott 1968– Digital art Video art, VJing[14][15][16][17][18]
Dürer, Albrecht 1471–1528 Fine art Mathematical theory of proportion[19][20]
Ernest, John 1922–1994 Fine art Use of group theory, self-replicating shapes in art[21][22]
Escher, M. C. 1898–1972 Fine art Exploration of tessellations, hyperbolic geometry, assisted by the geometer H. S. M. Coxeter[19][23]
Farmanfarmaian, Monir 1922–2019 Fine art Geometric constructions exploring the infinite, especially mirror mosaics[24]
Ferguson, Helaman 1940– Digital art Algorist, Digital artist[3]
Forakis, Peter 1927–2009 Sculpture Pioneer of geometric forms in sculpture[25][26]
Grossman, Bathsheba 1966– Sculpture Sculpture based on mathematical structures[27][28]
Hart, George W. 1955– Sculpture Sculptures of 3-dimensional tessellations (lattices)[3][29][30]
Radoslav Rochallyi 1980– Fine art Equations-inspired mathematical visual art including mathematical structures.[31][32]
Hill, Anthony 1930– Fine art Geometric abstraction in Constructivist art[33][34]
Leonardo da Vinci 1452–1519 Fine art Mathematically-inspired proportion, including golden ratio (used as golden rectangles)[19][35]
Longhurst, Robert 1949– Sculpture Sculptures of minimal surfaces, saddle surfaces, and other mathematical concepts[36]
Man Ray 1890–1976 Fine art Photographs and paintings of mathematical models in Dada and Surrealist art[37]
Naderi Yeganeh, Hamid 1990– Fine art Exploration of tessellations (resembling rep-tiles)[38][39]
Pacioli, Luca 1447–1517 Fine art Polyhedra (e.g. rhombicuboctahedron) in Renaissance art;[19][40] proportion, in his book De divina proportione
Perry, Charles O. 1929–2011 Sculpture Mathematically-inspired sculpture[3][41][42]
Robbin, Tony 1943– Fine art Painting, sculpture and computer visualizations of four-dimensional geometry[43]
Ri Ekl 1984– Visual computer poetry Geometry-inspired poetry [44]
Saiers, Nelson 2014– Fine art Mathematical concepts (toposes, Brown representability, Euler's identity, etc) play a central role in his artwork.[45][46][47]
Séquin, Carlo 1941– Digital art computer graphics, geometric modelling, and sculpture[48][49][50]
Sugimoto, Hiroshi 1948– Photography,
sculpture
Photography and sculptures of mathematical models,[51] inspired by the work of Man Ray [52] and Marcel Duchamp[53][54]
Taimina, Daina 1954– Textiles Crochets of hyperbolic space[55]
Thorsteinn, Einar 1942–2015 Architecture Mathematically-inspired sculpture and architecture with polyhedral, spherical shapes and tensile structures [56][57]
Uccello, Paolo 1397–1475 Fine art Innovative use of perspective grid, objects as mathematical solids (e.g. lances as cones)[58][59]
Kosmalski, Mikołaj Jakub 1986 Digital art Exploration of spreadsheet software capabilities (OO Calc and MS Excel), generation of finite sets of points by parametric formulas, connecting these points by curved (usually cubic) and broken lines.[60]
Verhoeff, Jacobus 1927–2018 Sculpture Escher-inspired mathematical sculptures such as lattice configurations and fractal formations[3][61]
Widmark, Anduriel 1987– Sculpture Geometric glass sculpture using tetrastix, and knot theory[62][63]

References

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  1. ^ Benford, Susan. "Famous Paintings: The Battle of San Romano". Masterpiece Cards. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Mathematical Imagery: Mathematical Concepts Illustrated by Hamid Naderi Yeganeh". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Monthly essays on mathematical topics: Mathematics and Art". American Mathematical Society. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  4. ^ Piero della Francesca, De Prospectiva Pingendi, ed. G. Nicco Fasola, 2 vols., Florence (1942).
  5. ^ Piero della Francesca, Trattato d'Abaco, ed. G. Arrighi, Pisa (1970).
  6. ^ Piero della Francesca, L'opera "De corporibus regularibus" di Pietro Franceschi detto della Francesca usurpata da Fra Luca Pacioli, ed. G. Mancini, Rome, (1916).
  7. ^ Swetz, Frank J.; Katz, Victor J. "Mathematical Treasures - De Divina Proportione, by Luca Pacioli". Mathematical Association of America. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  8. ^ Greene, Robert (20 January 2013). "How Santiago Calatrava blurred the lines between architecture and engineering to make buildings move". Arch daily. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  9. ^ Field, J. V. (2005). Piero della Francesca. A Mathematician's Art (PDF). Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10342-5.
  10. ^ Yuan, Elizabeth (2 July 2014). "Video: Origami Artists Don't Fold Under Pressure". The Wall Street Journal.
  11. ^ Demaine, Erik; Demaine, Martin. "Curved-Crease Sculpture". Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  12. ^ "Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine". MoMA. Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  13. ^ Dietz, Ada K. (1949). Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles (PDF). Louisville, Kentucky: The Little Loomhouse. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-02-22. Retrieved 2015-06-07.
  14. ^ Birch, K. (20 August 2007). "Cogito Interview: Damien Jones, Fractal Artist". Archived from the original on 27 August 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
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  25. ^ Smith, Roberta (17 December 2009). "Peter Forakis, a Sculptor of Geometric Forms, Is Dead at 82". The New York Times. Often consisting of repeating, flattened volumes tilted on a corner, Mr. Forakis's work had a mathematical demeanor; sometimes it evoked the black, chunky forms of the Minimalist sculptor Tony Smith.
  26. ^ "Peter Forakis, Originator of Geometry-Based Sculpture, Dies at 82". Art Daily. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
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  32. ^ Lorenzo Bartolucci, Katherine G. T. Whatley, ed. (2021-05-08). "The World Pretends to Be Burning". Mantis, Stanford Journal of Poetry, Criticism, and Translations. (19). Stanford University: 128. ISSN 1540-4544. OCLC 49879239.
  33. ^ "Anthony Hill". Artimage. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  34. ^ "Anthony Hill: Relief Construction 1960-2". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 7 June 2015. The artist has suggested that his constructions can best be described in mathematical terminology, thus 'the theme involves a module, partition and a progression' which 'accounts for the disposition of the five white areas and permuted positioning of the groups of angle sections'. (Letter of 24 March 1963.)
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  36. ^ Friedman, Nathaniel (July 2007). "Robert Longhurst: Three Sculptures". Hyperseeing: 9–12. The surfaces [of Longhurst's sculptures] generally have appealing sections with negative curvature (saddle surfaces). This is a natural intuitive result of Longhurst's feeling for satisfying shape rather than a mathematically deduced result.
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  52. ^ "Hiroshi Sugimoto: Conceptual Forms and Mathematical Models". Phillips Collection. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  53. ^ "Hiroshi Sugimoto". Gagosian Gallery. Retrieved 9 June 2015. Conceptual Forms (Hypotrochoid), 2004 Gelatin silver print
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  55. ^ "A Cuddly, Crocheted Klein Quartic Curve". Scientific American. 17 November 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
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