- All there is to know about alchemy, in beautiful pictures and fascinating stories - Easy to read, richly illustrated with unique imAges and prints - By David Brafman, Curator of Rare Books at the Getty Research Institute - New book in the successful Wunderkammer series Among all the arts, it is the art of alchemy which most closely imitates nature.
This book is the first to explore how the art of alchemy globally transformed human creative culture From antiquity to the industrial age, and displays the ways its legacy still permeates the world we make today..
Ancient Chinese alchemists also unleashed the black magic of gunpowder onto the world of warfare.
The field spurred on advancements in the visual arts and aids to human health.
It was certainly a direct result, with consequences both inspired and dire.
Alchemy may well be the most important human invention after the harnessing of fire.
Concoctions produced in the world\'s alchemy labs include inks, dyes, and oil paints; cements and ceramic glazing; dazzling effects in metalwork and glass - and the Modern media which now claim boasting rights as the ultimate chemical mirrors of nature: photography and the liquid crystal displays of the digital world.
Alchemists\' efforts to discover the way the world is made have had an enduring impact on global artistic practice and expression.
For scientists, philosophers, and artists alike, alchemy seemed to hold the key to unlocking the secrets of creation.
Their goals, however, were far more ambitious: to transform and bend nature to the will of an industrious human imagination.
Thomas Aquinas), ca.1250 Alchemists are notorious for attempting to synthesize gold. - Albertus Magnus (teacher of St. - All there is to know about alchemy, in beautiful pictures and fascinating stories - Easy to read, richly illustrated with unique imAges and prints - By David Brafman, Curator of Rare Books at the Getty Research Institute - New book in the successful Wunderkammer series Among all the arts, it is the art of alchemy which most closely imitates nature
