Biomorphism

Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices.

The term was coined in 1935 by the British writer Geoffrey Grigson and subsequently used by Alfred H. Barr in the context of his 1936 exhibition Cubism and Abstract Art. Biomorphist art focuses on the power of natural life and uses organic shapes, with shapeless and vaguely spherical hints of the forms of biology. Biomorphism has connections with Surrealism and Art Nouveau. Henri Matisse's seminal painting Le bonheur de vivre (The joy of Life), from 1905 can be cited as an important precedent.

The Tate Gallery's online glossary article on biomorphic form specifies that while these forms are abstract, they "refer to, or evoke, living forms...". The article goes on to list Joan Miró, Jean Arp, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth as examples of artists whose work epitomizes the use of biomorphic form. In July 2015 a Facebook Group was set up by british artist andrew charles, the group morphed into a movement over the following year and was described through Manifesto by charles on July 16 2016, within the manifesto he continued to break down the Sculptural Genre into specific patterns of creation forming no less than 8 necessary protocols for a work to conform to the term biomorphism.

The paintings of Yves Tanguy and Roberto Matta are also often cited as exemplifying the use of biomorphic form. During and after World War II, Yves Tanguy's landscapes became emptier, which has been seen as a psychological portrait of wartime Europe.

The use of metamorphosis through Picasso influenced Surrealism in the 1920s, and it appeared both as subject matter and as procedure in the figurative paintings of Leonora Carrington and in the more abstract, automatic works of André Masson.

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