The Art of Richard P. Feynman: Images by a Curious Character [Hardcover]

Michelle Feynman (Compiler), Albert Hibbs (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1995

A collection of the artwork of Richard P. Feynman, scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965. Beginning with his earliest drawings of the human figure in 1962, the book displays Feynman's development of a personal artistic sensitivity to line, form and the moods of his subject; as well as his experimentation with various styles and media. The selected artwork was produced over a 25 year period until 1987, the year before his death.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; First Edition edition (July 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 2884490477
• ISBN-13: 978-2884490474
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,383,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard P. Feynman was born in 1918 and grew up in Far Rockaway, New York. At the age of seventeen he entered MIT and in 1939 went to Princeton, then to Los Alamos, where he joined in the effort to build the atomic bomb. Following World War II he joined the physics faculty at Cornell, then went on to Caltech in 1951, where he taught until his death in 1988. He shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965, and served with distinction on the Shuttle Commission in 1986. A commemorative stamp in his name was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a find!, August 1, 2002

By 

absent_minded_prof (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Richard P. Feynman: Images by a Curious Character (Hardcover)

This is a really terrific collection. In this book are many of the little-known sketches and paintings of the late, great physicist/folk hero Richard P. Feynman. I sought this book out after reading Ralph Leighton's Feynman biography "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" I'm glad I went to the trouble to do so.

The book commences with a foreword by Albert Hibbs, whom many Feynman fans will recognize as Feynman's friend and co-author of "Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals." Don't skip over this foreword. Hibbs has a lot of interesting things to say about how visual Feynman was in all his projects, including his style of doing physics.

After the foreword is a helpful preface by Feynman's daughter Michelle. (Michelle works as a photographer, and was the primary person in charge of selecting these artworks). She describes some interesting features of Feynman family life, such as the fact that many of the models for these paintings became lifelong Feynman family friends. She gives us a fun little window into the experience of "growing up Feynman."

This book also contains Feyman's wry, interesting essay "But is it Art?" from "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!," as well as a selection of biographical sketches from four of Fenman's friends, including three artists and his biographer.

The actual sketches are really pretty good, in my humble opinion. There are about a hundred pages of black and white sketches, including charcoal, pencil, and ink wash drawings. Many are quite simple and direct. Others clearly took quite a bit of time.

Let me give you a friendly warning here, incidentally. Leafing through this section, you will go through page after page of sketches of young, beautiful women, in a variety of attractive poses. This will lead you to a pleasant, happy, blissed out frame of mind. Suddenly, with absolutely no warning whatsoever, you will turn the page and be confronted by the dilapidated, craggy, wrinkled face of an anonymous, elderly male physics professor, frowning under a ponderously furrowed unibrow, glaring out of the book at you. Be warned, O reader, and try not to have a seizure. Also included among these sketches are occasional other topics, such as Feyman's dog Rufus, and a few "one minute line drawings" (a common exercise in art classes)... Personally, I think Figure 87 is pretty neat. It includes small sketches of various subjects -- a woman, faces, a plant, a sleeping dog, and more. But there's more -- the background is full of Feynman's equations! They wind all over the place, throughout the drawing. It makes for kind of a neat juxtaposition. I could definitely see that sketch making a great poster.

After the black and white sketches are a small collection of color paintings, including a sketch of a little town, and Feynman's trusty dog Rufus.

Basically, if you are a Feynman fan, this book will go a long way toward rounding out your appreciation of him. Besides, there are some really terrific pictures in here. Two thumbs up!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another side of Feynman, December 12, 2004

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Art of Richard P. Feynman: Images by a Curious Character (Hardcover)

The amazing thing about great minds is just how many subjects they encompass. Feynman is known as a physicist and occasional drummer, but he was a fair amateur artist, too.

These drawings and paintings show how quickly he progressed, once he decided to learn drawing. I suppose it gave him yet another way to enjoy the female form, and yet another reason to habituate "gentlemen's clubs." He had other motivations, too, as shown by some very sensitive drawings of his friends and children.

This isn't great art. It is, however, very competent amateur work. Most of all, it's another view, from an unexpected angle, of one of the great minds of our time.

//wiredweird