Painting - <I>Fluxions (Newton)</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1966
name: label: referenced
content: Newton, Isaac
label: painter
content: Johnson, Crockett
notes: label: Description
content: In the 17th century, the natural philosophers Isaac Newton and Gottfried Liebniz developed much of the general theory of the relationship between variable mathematical quantities and their rates of change (differential calculus), as well as the connection between rates of change and variable quantities (integral calculus).
label: Description
content: Newton called these rates of change "fluxions." This painting is based on a diagram from an article by H. W. Turnbull in Newman's <I>The World of Mathematics</I>. Here Turnbull described the change in the variable quantity y (OM) in terms of another variable quantity, x (ON). The resulting curve is represented by APT.
label: Description
content: Crockett Johnson's painting is based loosely on these mathematical ideas. He inverted the figure from Turnbull. In his words: "The painting is an inversion of the usual textbook depiction of the method, which is one of bringing together a fixed part and a ‘moving’ part of a problem on a cartesian chart, upon which a curve then can be plotted toward ultimate solution."
label: Description
content: The arc at the center of this painting is a circular, with a tangent line below it. The region between the arc and the tangent is painted white. Part of the tangent line is the hypotenuse of a right triangle which lies below it and is painted black. The rest of the lower part of the painting is dark purple. Above the arc is a dark purple area, above this a gray region. The painting has a wood and metal frame.
label: Description
content: This oil painting on pressed wood is #20 in the series. It is unsigned, but inscribed on the back: Crockett Johnson 1966 (/) FLUXIONS (NEWTON).
label: Description
content: References: James R. Newman, <I>The World of Mathematics</I> (1956), p. 143. This volume was in the library of Crockett Johnson. The figure on this page is annotated.
label: Description
content: Crockett Johnson, "On the Mathematics of Geometry in My Abstract Paintings," <I>Leonardo</I>, 5 (1972): pp. 97–8.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Crockett Johnson
label: See more items in
content: Art
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Ruth Krauss in memory of Crockett Johnson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1979.1093.14
label: catalog number
content: 1979.1093.14
label: accession number
content: 1979.1093
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: masonite (substrate material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (frame material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 121.5 cm x 120 cm x 3.8 cm; 47 13/16 in x 47 1/4 in x 1 1/2 in