Ancient antecedent to pointillism
The attractive, arresting, pleasing, and also the cryptic and camouflaged patterns of butterflies and moths are the ancestral form of pointillism, a style of painting that reached its zenith around 1890. But butterflies and moths were perfecting this art form 300 million to 100 million years ago, using colored scales rather than dots of color.
See the antecedent to pointillism by zooming in on this lichen moth, Leuconycta diphteroides (I think), which uses black, white, grey and green scales to accumulate a convincing likeness of a lichen. Not a bad imitation of rough concrete, either.
Ancient antecedent to pointillism
The attractive, arresting, pleasing, and also the cryptic and camouflaged patterns of butterflies and moths are the ancestral form of pointillism, a style of painting that reached its zenith around 1890. But butterflies and moths were perfecting this art form 300 million to 100 million years ago, using colored scales rather than dots of color.
See the antecedent to pointillism by zooming in on this lichen moth, Leuconycta diphteroides (I think), which uses black, white, grey and green scales to accumulate a convincing likeness of a lichen. Not a bad imitation of rough concrete, either.