Microsculpture

Portraits of Insects

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

"e;You will never look at a beetle or a moth the same way again."e; --WIRED"e;Art meets science to dazzling effect."e; --The GuardianMicrosculptureis a unique photographic study of insects in mind-blowing magnification that celebrates the wonders of nature and science. Levon Biss's photographs capture in breathtaking detail the beauty of the insect world and are printed in large-scale format to provide an unforgettable viewing experience. Each picture in Microsculpture is created from approximately 8, 000 individual photographs. Segments of the specimen are lit and photographed separately using microscope lenses, then "e;stacked"e; to maintain sharp focus throughout. These images are then combined to create a single high-resolution file. From start to finish, each portrait takes approximately 4 weeks to create. The project has captured the attention of the world with features in WIRED and New Scientist. Microsculpture has been exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Xposure 2016 International Photography Festival in Sharjah, U.A.E. It has been viewed by over half a mil-lion people so far and will be touring museums around the world from 2017 onward. The entomology collection has significant cultural and historical value, containing the world's oldest pinned insect specimen and many thousands of insects collected by pioneering Victorian explorers and biologists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace.

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