Marie Neurath: Picturing Science


Interesting exhibition at the House of Illustration looking at the work of Maria Neurath who designed science books for children.

Neurath devised a way of analysing complex information and distilling it into concise explanations using words and pictures in a technique called Isotype. The style was devised in Vienna in the 1920s with her husband Otto before she fled to England in 1942. Otto died in 1945 but she carried on her work.

A lot of the books and illustrations on show did look familiar. The books were a little early for me but I think I was recognising a style which is now fairly common place. She used repetition of an image with slight changes to explain a concept or use large double page pictures to show complex structures such as an underground station.

I loved the way her “The Wonder World of Nature” series were shown as open books, two to a frame, showing them off like art. I also liked displays which showed a work from initial idea to published books.

Closes 3 November 2019

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