Shining Art on Light tells the broad and fascinating story of light through the use of art. Artists have an innate understanding of light and are able to convey important concepts visually. This book begins by introducing the science of light with five important concepts, summarized in easily accessible language. The next part discusses many aspects of light that occur in nature, and the final part discusses human inventions involving light. The book concludes with a discussion of time, as relates to light. In total, 59 pieces of art from 8 museums are used to tell the story of light.
Aristotle wrote about bioluminescent phenomena in nature, which were well known 2,000 years ago. They are less well known today due to light pollution. Fireflies are a still familiar example of bioluminescence.
The 1894 woodblock print titled Chasing Fireflies, A Lady of the Tenmei Era (1781-1789), from the series Thirty-six Elegant Selections, by Mizuno Toshikata can be found at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Norman W. Zaworski Trust, Accession Number 2017.73. The cover image is in the public domain under the CMA's Open Access initiative.
