Microsculpture

Portraits of Insects

,

• Publisher: Abrams
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781419726958
• eBook ISBN:
  9781683351382
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Photography

microsculpture

portraits of insects

LEVON BISS

from the collections of the

OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

ABRAMS, NEW YORK

Insects are a vital part of our world. Most of their activities

are obvious: Everyone is familiar with the busy hum of

bees on a warm day or the tireless foraging of ants. Often,

though, they go about their lives overlooked by us. For

example, they help to recycle nutrients and, as part of food

chains, insects provide food for many other larger animals.

Without them, many ecosystems would be unable to

function and human society would struggle to exist.

Insects exist at a perspective much smaller than our

own. Beyond the resolution of our eyesight, the complex

structure of life in this miniature world is hidden from us.

We take this knowledge for granted, but before

the development of optical lenses and microscopes,

the complexity of life at these small scales was unknown.

When popularized for the first time in Robert Hooke’s

1665 book,

Micrographia

, it caused a sensation. It

presented a portfolio of everyday objects drawn at high

magnification in unprecedented detail. Significantly, some

of the most striking and iconic images from the book are

of insects and their incredibly intricate anatomy.

The art of drawing has since become an essential tool

in biology for describing and recording t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Back Cover