Lecture 16: Irene Manton's Slides

Leeds based botanist and microbiologist Irene Manton was fascinated by art and collected a huge variety of both originals and prints, including works by Picasso, Matisse, Miro, Hokusai and Braque, and was especially interested in the cross-cultural influences between Western art, and Japanese and Chinese art. She stated the collection of her works, once displayed in Botany House, “should not be thought of primarily as fine art, but as working tools with which a scientist endeavours to comprehend certain aspects of the world which are not science”. But in what way can art cultivate insight? And, given the differences between artistic and scientific representations of the world, can it truly be said that art teaches us in a similar way to science? Furthermore both artists and scientists observe the world. Irene Manton was particularly well known for her acute observations of botanical specimens, using the electron microscope. But what is the nature of observation in this case? How does it differ from observation with the naked eye? These are some of the questions Nicola Williams, Alice Murphy and Steven French be looking at in this talk using examples from Manton’s life, work, botany and art.