 | Among the images that will be featured in "Ocean Flowers" is John Dillwyn Llewelyn's salted paper print "Thereza" (c. 1853). |
The ways in which 19th-century Victorian artists captured the wonders of nature in their work is explored in a new exhibit opening on Saturday, June 12, at the Yale Center for British Art.
The exhibition, titled "Ocean Flowers: Impressions from Nature in the Victorian Era," traces the development of early photography and artistic process in the 19th century in the context of natural history illustration. It focuses on a period of tremendous advances in natural sciences and graphic media.
"Ocean Flowers" features more than 300 illustrations showcasing the fertile exchange between different types of graphic media, including conventional drawings, "nature prints" (direct imprints from plants), hand-colored prints, mounted specimens and "photogenic drawings" (drawings made without a camera). Organized by The Drawing Center in association with the Yale Center for British Art, the exhibit is curated by Carol Armstrong and Catherine de Zegher.
The majority of works that will be on view were created during a time of heightened scientific inquiry and expanding knowledge. Seeking to discover different ways of understanding the natural world, scientists had an appetite for invention and innovation. Charles Darwin published his "Origin of Species" in 1859, and science -- particularly natural history -- demanded authenticity in depicting specimens. "Ocean Flowers" illustrates the diversity and fluidity of media that made these representations possible.
In Victorian England and Scotland, artists illustrating botanical specimens were at the forefront of graphic advances, creating complex drawings and experimenting with new print methods, as well as exploring the potential of photography. In 1839, William Henry Fox Talbot introduced the British public to his technique of making photographs without a camera, which he dubbed "photogenic drawing." These photographs were made by laying specimens directly onto paper coated in a silver nitrate solution and then exposing the paper to the sun. The new medium was considered to be a kind of "drawing with light." Rather than rendering conventional drawing obsolete, photogenic drawing encouraged experimentation with all kinds of media.
The centerpiece of "Ocean Flowers" is drawings and photograms by British artist Anna Atkins (1799-1871) and her contemporaries. Atkins was the first person to create a book of botanical illustrations printed exclusively with photographic techniques. From 1843 to 1853, she produced albums of cyanotypes (now used for blueprints) to illustrate ordered series of seaweed species. At that time, botany -- specifically the study of seaweed -- was one scientific field in which women were sometimes able to participate, creating illustrations for their own scientific and aesthetic purposes or for the treatises of their male relatives and colleagues.
Also on view are examples of work from the wider field of natural history, including illustrations of ferns, feathers, shells, stones, flowers, coconuts, batwings and snake skins made by amateur and professional artists, scientists and specialists. Among the works featured are drawings by Walter Fitch, William Harvey, William Jackson Hooker, Harriet Moseley, Mrs. Simpson, Mrs. Dawson Turner and Cather Willis; photograms by Atkins, Talbot and Sir John Herschel; nature prints by Alois Auer and Henry Bradbury; mounted specimens published by Mary Howard, Jane M. Patison and Mary Wyatt; and works in various media by anonymous artists, some of which were from former British colonies such as India. A large number of these works come from the collection of Francis Buchanon of the Bengal Medical Service and surveyor of the East India Company's territories.
"Ocean Flowers," on view through Aug. 8, is complemented by a number of contemporary artist books and works of art on paper from the center's collections, selected by Elisabeth Fairman, curator of rare books and manuscripts. These works also focus on natural history, particularly botany and entomology, and are executed in a range of graphic techniques used by contemporary artists, from traditional methods of representation such as plant etchings, to more complex techniques using digital photography and mixed media to assemblages and cut-out projects.
The exhibition will include a study area and a 26-minute video titled "The Pencil of Nature," on the history of photography.
The Yale Center for British Art is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. During the Arts & Ideas Festival, the center will be open on Monday, June 14 and 21, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call (203) 432-2800 or visit the center's website at www.yale.edu/ycba.
T H I S
Show recalls Victorians' attempts
to capture nature's wonders
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