Thompson founded a vast museum of natural history in the 1880s, which he used as a research base while writing his internationally significant book On Growth and Form, 1917. This pioneered the science of mathematical biology and helped build a bridge between the sciences and the arts, becoming influencial on Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi and William Turnbull. The museum was demolished in the 1950s, but the remaining collection continues to be housed in the University of DundeeÂ’s Zoology Museum, which opened to the public in 2008. The £100,000 given to the museum through the Art FundÂ’s Renew project will go towards developing a ‘capsule collectionÂ’ of significant contemporary works inspired by the work and collections of DÂ’Arcy Thompson

Provenance

Acquired from the artist 1950s; Robert Devereux collection; James Hyman Gallery; Osborne Samuel.