Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, And The Beauty That Causes Havoc

Einstein, Picasso: Space, Time, And The Beauty That Causes Havoc

The most important scientist of the twentieth century, and its most important artist, had their periods of greatest creativity almost simultaneously and in remarkably similar circumstances. This fascinating parallel biography of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso as young men examines their greatest works-Einstein's special theory of relativity and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, the painting that brought art into the twentieth century. Miller shows how these breakthroughs arose not only from within their respective fields but from larger currents in the intellectual culture of the times: specifically, the rise of photography for Picasso, various well-known practical problems in the design of electric dynamos and the regularization of railroad timetables for Einstein, and for both the increasingly sophisticated ideas of space, time, and invisible forces that made up the cutting-edge science of the day. Ultimately, Miller shows how Einstein and Picasso, in a deep and important sense, were both working on the same problem.From Publishers WeeklyIntellectual historians widely acknowledge that Einstein's theory of relativity and Picasso's cubist paintings launched modernity. Although the physicist and painter never met, their creative geniuses developed simultaneously under similar social circumstances and during an unrivaled period of cultural ferment. Moreover, Miller, professor of history and philosophy of science at University College London, contends, both Einstein and Picasso were deeply influenced by mathematician and philosopher Henri Poincar?'s treatise on non-Euclidean geometry, La Science et l'hypoth?se. Both Einstein and Picasso borrowed from Poincar? the idea of a temporal and spatial dimension beyond our own that could be captured in art and physics. Miller plunders previously unavailable sources as he narrates the parallel biographies of Einstein and Picasso. He traces in great detail the influences of photography, geometry and X-ray technology on Picasso's art as well as the influence of aesthetic theory on Einstein's science. Through close readings of the theory of relativity and Picasso's groundbreaking Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, Miller argues that these two men were working on the same problem: "how to represent space and time at just the moment in history when it became apparent that these entities are not what we intuitively perceive them to be." In the 21st century, it is old news that artists and scientists struggle with the best ways to represent space and time. But Miller's eloquent and wide-ranging interdisciplinary history of ideas returns us to the beginning of the 20th century when two brilliant minds challenged reigning understandings of space and time and fashioned revolutionary models that imbue contemporary culture's understandings of itself and the physical world. (Apr.)Forecast: There is probably not a huge readership for this title, but it will sell well to students of science, art and the history of ideas. The author will make appearances in Chicago and Cambridge, Mass., in late March, and such engagements should help him reach his audienceCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.From Library JournalDuring the span of a few years shortly after the start of the 20th century, roughly from 1904 to 1908, two quiet revolutions in how we perceive the world were underway. In Switzerland, Einstein was working on the nature of time and space. In Paris, Picasso tackled a similar problem in the creation of the seminal Cubist work "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" (for a detailed history of this painting, see William Rubin and others' Les Demoiselles d'Avignon, LJ 2/1/95). Miller (history and philosophy of science, University Coll., London) examines the two men and the revolutions they initiated. Pulling together the lives of the physicist and the painter, as well as the band of friends, colleagues, influences, and lovers that surrounded them at that time. Miller c