Customer Reviews

Buckminster Fuller: Starting with the Universe (Whitney Museum of American Art Book)

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The book has 258 pages, 44 figures, and 175 plates. The parts are: foreword, acknowledgements, introduction, five essay/articles, plates, selected contextual chronology, selected bibliography, exhibition checklist, lenders, and index. The essays are: "Fuller's Geological Engagements with Architecture" (by K. Michael Hays, co-curator), "Thought Patterns: Buckminster Fuller the Scientist-Artist" (by Dana Miller, co-curator), "Fuller's Avatars: a view from the Present" (by Antoine Picon), and "The Comprehensivist: Buckminster Fuller and Contemporary Artists" (by Elizabeth A. T. Smith). A reprint of the 1966 New Yorker magazine article is: "In the Outlaw Area" (by Calvin Tomkins).

I learned many things about Fuller in this book. I also learned how he fits into our world, then and now. An essay covers artists that have been influenced by Fuller, showing how his work has a continuing impact. Like the exhibit, the catalogue focuses on his visual output: his designs for cars, structures, cities, books, and how they were built. His views on math and his starting point, the universe, aren't much in sight. It shows where he ended up as of now.

In an interview in Metropolis Magazine, Michael Hays said, "We thought about calling the exhibition "shapes of the universe" because Bucky thought that a geodesic dome was what the universe looked like in some diagrammatic way. And now we know that nanotechnology actually does use that kind of geometry." On the contrary, in his essay Antoine Picon says, "Of course, we no longer believe that the universe obeys at a fundamental level the laws of synergetic geometry." Presented with such widely divergent views I'm forced, as Bucky often recommended, to do my own thinking. And it is deepened reading this book, looking at its many figures and plates, and following its leads as a valuable addition to a library of other Fuller books (both by and about).

I paid $50 for the catalog at the museum. It costs considerably less online.

This book is the perfect companion to an inspirational exhibit. For those who saw it this is a perfect way to revisit the exhibit. For those who can't attend this is a great introduction to Bucky Fuller and his universal view.