[DNA - IRVING GEIS]

MIT Museum label on verso and label stating this was part of the MIT exhibit: “Irving Geis: Molecular Art” and that it was part of section II, “DNA, The Master Plan” No. 12; also served as Figure 23.3.1.1, p. 589 in: R. E. Dickerson. International Tables for Crystallography (2006). Vol. F, ch. 23.3, p. 588-622; Presented by Irving Geis to American Biochemist Richard E. Dickerson; Directly from the Estate of Richard E. Dickerson (1931-2025).

AN ORIGINAL WORK BY THE MOLECULAR VESALIUS.

Irving Geis’s career as a scientific illustratator had begun in the 1930s and he became a regular contributor to Scientific American in 1948. His myoglobin painting for John Kendrew’s landmark 1961 article “The Three Dimensional Structure of a Protein Molecule” was reproduced countless times and established his great insight into illustrating molecular structures. Geis compared himself to Renaissance anatomist Andreas Vesalius whose woodcut illustrations in his 1543 work De humani corporis fabrica libri septem revolutionized the new field of human anatomy. “Irv thought of his own role as that of a molecular Vesalius, using art to teach the modern public about the equally new field of molecular anatomy” (Dickerson, “Irving Geis, Molecular artist” p 2484).

American Biochemist Richard Dickerson in his obituary for Geis recounted an explanation that the latter had made, that “his job was not to draw a protein exactly as it was, but to show how it worked. A computer could draw a protein, given the right set of coordinates. But who would tell it exactly what to show? If some key aspect of protein structure was eclipsed and out of sight, the computer would be stuck. But Irv, the artist could just tweak it a bit, and move it out in the open where it could be seen and the molecular mechanism thereby understood. He called the process ‘selective lying,” and claimed that this was one of the special talents of a knowledgeable artist” (Dickerson p.2484).

Richard Dickerson first met scientific illustrator Irving Geis in 1964 and the two began a decades-long collaboration until the latter’s passing in 1997. Dickerson and Geis would proceed to co-author three books: The Structure and Action of Proteins (1969); Chemistry, Matter and the Universe (1976); and Hemoglobin: Structure, Function, Evolution & Pathology (1983).

Dickerson described the present work in his 2006 contribution to International Tables for Crystallography: “Geis chose the imaginary central axis of the helix as a monofilament light source, thereby reversing the conventional illumination: atoms lining the deep major groove glow brightly, whereas the outer surface of the helix is in dark silhouette. Geis struggled with the B helix as an artistic subject, but was never satisfied with the results. Hence, this glowing A-DNA helix represents his nucleic acid artistic legacy” (Dickerson p. 589).

Dickerson, R.E. “Irving Geis, Molecular artist, 1908-1997,” in: Protein Science, 6:2483-2484., 1997; ___. “Obituary: Irving Geis, 1908-1997,” in: Structure, Vol. 5, no 9, September 1997 (which includes the present painting as an illustration); ___. International Tables for Crystallography (2006). Vol. F, ch. 23.3, p. 588-622.