This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but I am now reading Dr.
Leonard Shlain's book "Art and Physics:  Parallel Visions in Space, Time,
and Light."  Shlain is a neurosurgeon who about 15 years ago noticed that
innovations in the work of avant-garde artists often predated theoretical
discoveries in physics that would explain why the art looked the way it did.
For example, Cezanne's experiments in mixing different perspectives in a
single painting predated Einstein's special theory of relativity which
stated that if you were traveling at a certain (very fast) rate of speed you
could see several views of an object simultaneously.  Shlain's argument is
that there is a certain "zeitgeist" shared by artists and scientists that
led to roughly parallel discoveries in their own areas without specific
communications between them.

I have heard Dr. Shlain speak:  he is fascinating to listen to, but a
science teacher that heard him speak at the same time said that he at times
oversimplified the theoretical physics involved, and I know as an art
historian that he at times oversimplified the work of some of the artists he
discussed.  However, the basic premise is interesting enough to present to
students.

He also has some very interesting theories about the right vs. left brain
split (and how/when it happened anthropologically), and he is about to
publish another book that describes how the rise of literacy changed most
Western cultures from matriarchal to patriarchal systems--he discusses a lot
of Greek myth and archaeological evidence in ths one.

Anybody else have any opinions on this?

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center