Artistic Ape

Desmond Morris is a behavioral scientist, zoologist , ethologist, surrealist painter and artist who has exhibited his work for more than 60 years.He has visited over a hundred countries to quench his thirst of first hand knowledge of human art forms. He has written many books including Biology of Art, The Naked ape,The Human Zoo and many other books.
In the artistic ape, Desmond Morris claims that we are naturally inclined towards art. It is almost impossible for us to stay away from art.This book is the story of evolution of art spanning over three million years. Morris explains the beginning of human art in prehistoric times and uncovers the advancements during the course of human evolution. This book is crux of his experiences of 60 years.
The artistic ape is so beautifully written that even someone who has never read art literature will find himself fully immersed in the words of Morris. This is a beautiful book even if you only look at pictures.
You will be discovering yourself as you read the book. Morris starts with defining art and roots of art. In his words, art is-the making of ordinary into extra ordinary. He then moves on to non human art and includes artistic work of a chimpanzee named Congo and some other animals.  He relates an experiment to show evidence that non human animals, with encouragement, might be capable of creating visual patterns.
Morris then explains how a human 2 year old child enjoys random scribbles and as time passes, they start to become organised. He then goes on to prehistoric traces of art and examines the art through 3 million years. The book contains astonishing pictures and clearly written beautiful words. This book is no less than a diamond. Everyone should read it and keep it.