| Description |
For most human beings their own body represents both the most familiar and most unknown of worlds. From ancient times humans have sought to unravel the secret mechanisms of the body, developing in the process a wealth of medical expertise. At the same time we have seen our own bodies as vessels for the representation of ideals of beauty, and long sought to depict our bodies in paintings and drawings. Leonardo da Vinci, who went so far as to dissect human bodies in order to make more accurate depictions of them, is perhaps the single creator whose output best embodies the integration of the scientific and artistic aspects of the body.
Essay Contributors: Ken Arnold (Head of Public Programmes, Wellcome Trust), Fukuoka Shinichi (Molecular biologist, Professor, Dept. of Chemistry and Biological Science, Aoyama Gakuin University), Martin Kemp (art historian, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford), Nanjo Fumio (Director, Mori Art Museum), John Sulston (biolosit, Chair of the Institute of Science Ethics and Innovation, the University of Manchester), Takayama Hiroshi (Professor, School of Global Japanese Studies, Meiji University. Authority on English literature, critic and translator) |