September 8, 2021
Picturing at the Limit, or the Art and Science of Impossible Images
Rachael DeLue
Christopher Binyon Sarofin ’86 Professor in American Art;
Professor of Art and Archaeology and American Studies;
Chair, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
Marge D'Amico, Introducer, and Rachael DeLue
Minutes of the First Meeting of the 80th Year
President Stephen Schreiber called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM. Robert Fraser read the minutes from the May 19, 2021, meeting, prepared by David Vilkomerson. Guests of the following members were welcomed: Michael Curtis-Judith Brodsky; Christine Danser-Ricardo Fernandez; Al Kaemmerlen-Scott Magargee; John Cotton-Edward Martinsen; Marge D’Amico, PUAM guests-Allegra D’Adamo; Dee Gozonsky; Marita Engshuber; Harriet Teweles; Nancee Goldstein; Joan Levitt; Grace Mele; Marianne Grey; Irene Amarel. There were a total of 137 attendees.
President Schreiber reminded the members of the 80th Hospitality Get-Together on 9/9/2021, the call for 2022 dues, new member application policies and next week's speaker. A moment of silence was observed in memory of Old Guard member Dick Katen.
Marge D’Amico introduced the speaker, Rachael DeLue, Princeton University Professor and Chair, Art and Archaeology Department, and author. Her talk draws from her research on her book in progress and the “Impossible Images” project, which explores the intersection of the history of art making and science with the history, theory, and production of knowledge through American and European art limited to the 18th-20th centuries. She asks: Why art? Her research focuses on the role of art/visual images and how they communicate meaning/knowledge differently from sound, language, music, and literature. That humans seek and make meaning to produce knowledge is inherent in how ideas are expressed via the visual medium of art. The chapters of her book address topics of visual artforms attempting to communicate that which was then “impossible” to express.
Beginning with landscapes, Prof. DeLue displayed artworks by landscape artists George Inness and Arthur Dove, both influenced in philosophy, perception, and sensorium by interest in humanism and the scientific discoveries of the late 1800s. With Impressionistic influences, both artists painted “strange” images of nature, reorganizing and disfiguring the world by pushing the limits of our perception. Using unnatural colors, blurred lines, and almost unrecognizable shapes, with Dove’s paintings being more abstract/modernist in style, the medium of their thought process was to present an alternate to human visual capabilities.
Stating that she was compelled by Alexander von Humbolt and Charles Darwin, rather than found them during her research, Prof. DeLue next discussed images with text and numbers which comprise her book’s second chapter. Humbolt’s “Essay on the Geography of Plants” in Physical Tableau of the Andes and Neighboring Countries (1807), was to demonstrate his belief of the interrelatedness of all things in the Universe, however, it fails to show interrelatedness despite its extensively detailed data lists and drawings. Similarly, the only illustration, a minimalist diagram by William West in Darwin’s Origin of the Species (1859), is a representation of an idea, the divergence of character happening over time, or evolution happening over 14,000 generations of divergent species and their locations. This is a vast duration of deep time and is unfathomable by humans. Thus, how evolution happens failed to be visually demonstrated with the lines, dots, and arrows of the image, since time is “impossible” to be shown.
In the painting The Concert Singer (1890-1892), Thomas Eakins tries to express sound from a richly attired opera star, Veda Cook, shown open mouthed, standing before a maestro. Eakins wants us to know she’s singing but, we hear no singing, thus, this is another “impossible” visual image. Eakins further attempts to communicate her singing by having musical notes of the aria she sings while being painted carved into the painting’s frame.
Can motion/movement be shown? Prof. DeLue showed John James Audubon’s painting of the Columbian Hummingbird and Martin Johnson Heade’s Hooded Visorbearer. Both paintings are beautifully and realistically rendered with drawings of colorful, suspended birds with wings spread, yet, while very animated, there is no motion, as motion is “impossible” to render via a visual image. As art is not a living entity, the birds used for the paintings were likewise not alive. Not until high tech photography of the 20th century were the hummingbird’s rapidly beating wings captured in a visual image as a blur.
The last chapter in Prof. DeLue’s book is titled “Terra Incognito,” or inaccessible, unexplored places. Viewing the 19th century somber painting by William Trust Richard’s Old Ocean’s Gray and Melancholic Waste (1885), a vast, steel-grey ocean with a wavy surface suggests its mystery and unseen depth. Howard Russell Butler was hired by the U.S. Naval Observatory to paint a series of the astronomical phenomena of total solar eclipses before photography could capture them. Using a uniquely specialized system, his solar eclipse series (1918) offers a visual image of the “impossible,” that which occurs in two minutes or less and cannot be seen by human eyes. His series of eclipses are owned by the Princeton University Art Museum. Lastly, the subterranean and prehistoric unseeable past is explored with Homer Dodge Martin’s Iron Mine, New York (1870-1873) and the 1835 William Clift illustration of one of the very first dinosaur skeletons, excavated by Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, England in 1828 and described by William Buckland in 1829.
In closing, Prof. DeLue answered a few questions and thanked the Old Guard for their invitation and interest in her work. Will we view visual art/images differently after hearing Dr. DeLue’s compelling research?
Respectfully submitted,
Christine T. Danser
Artworks from Professor DeLue’s Presentation:
George Inness, The Home of the Heron, 1893 oil on Canvas: Princeton University Art Museum
Arthur Dove, Moon, 1935, oil on canvas: National Gallery of Art, Washington
George Inness, Spring Blossom, Montclair, 1891, oil on canvas: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
George Inness, Niagara, 1889, oil on canvas: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Arthur Dove, Moon and Sea No. II, 1923, oil on canvas: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK
Arthur Dove, Golden Sun, 1937, oil on canvas: Private Collection
Alexander von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland, “Physical Tableau of the Andes and Neighboring Countries,” Essay on the Geography of Plants (Paris: Fr. Schoell/Tubingen; J.G. Cotta, 1807)
William West, Lithographer, in Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (London.: John Murray, 1859)
Thomas Eakins, The Concert Singer, 1890-1892, oil on canvas: Philadelphia Museum of Art
John James Audubon, Columbian Humming Bird, (London, 1827-1838), volume 4 plate 425
Martin Johnson Heade, Hooded Visorbearer, ca. 1863-1864, oil on canvas: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
William Trost Richards, Old Ocean’s Gray and Melancholy Waste, 1885, oil on canvas: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Howard Russell Butler (American), Solar Eclipse, 1918, oil on canvas: Campus Art Collection, Princeton University
Homer Dodge Martin, Iron Mine, New York, ca. 1870-1873, oil on canvas: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Pterosaur (Dimorphodon macronyx), discovered by Mary Anning, Lyme Regis, England, 1828, described by William Buckland, 1829, illustrated by William Clift, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 1835
President Schreiber reminded the members of the 80th Hospitality Get-Together on 9/9/2021, the call for 2022 dues, new member application policies and next week's speaker. A moment of silence was observed in memory of Old Guard member Dick Katen.
Marge D’Amico introduced the speaker, Rachael DeLue, Princeton University Professor and Chair, Art and Archaeology Department, and author. Her talk draws from her research on her book in progress and the “Impossible Images” project, which explores the intersection of the history of art making and science with the history, theory, and production of knowledge through American and European art limited to the 18th-20th centuries. She asks: Why art? Her research focuses on the role of art/visual images and how they communicate meaning/knowledge differently from sound, language, music, and literature. That humans seek and make meaning to produce knowledge is inherent in how ideas are expressed via the visual medium of art. The chapters of her book address topics of visual artforms attempting to communicate that which was then “impossible” to express.
Beginning with landscapes, Prof. DeLue displayed artworks by landscape artists George Inness and Arthur Dove, both influenced in philosophy, perception, and sensorium by interest in humanism and the scientific discoveries of the late 1800s. With Impressionistic influences, both artists painted “strange” images of nature, reorganizing and disfiguring the world by pushing the limits of our perception. Using unnatural colors, blurred lines, and almost unrecognizable shapes, with Dove’s paintings being more abstract/modernist in style, the medium of their thought process was to present an alternate to human visual capabilities.
Stating that she was compelled by Alexander von Humbolt and Charles Darwin, rather than found them during her research, Prof. DeLue next discussed images with text and numbers which comprise her book’s second chapter. Humbolt’s “Essay on the Geography of Plants” in Physical Tableau of the Andes and Neighboring Countries (1807), was to demonstrate his belief of the interrelatedness of all things in the Universe, however, it fails to show interrelatedness despite its extensively detailed data lists and drawings. Similarly, the only illustration, a minimalist diagram by William West in Darwin’s Origin of the Species (1859), is a representation of an idea, the divergence of character happening over time, or evolution happening over 14,000 generations of divergent species and their locations. This is a vast duration of deep time and is unfathomable by humans. Thus, how evolution happens failed to be visually demonstrated with the lines, dots, and arrows of the image, since time is “impossible” to be shown.
In the painting The Concert Singer (1890-1892), Thomas Eakins tries to express sound from a richly attired opera star, Veda Cook, shown open mouthed, standing before a maestro. Eakins wants us to know she’s singing but, we hear no singing, thus, this is another “impossible” visual image. Eakins further attempts to communicate her singing by having musical notes of the aria she sings while being painted carved into the painting’s frame.
Can motion/movement be shown? Prof. DeLue showed John James Audubon’s painting of the Columbian Hummingbird and Martin Johnson Heade’s Hooded Visorbearer. Both paintings are beautifully and realistically rendered with drawings of colorful, suspended birds with wings spread, yet, while very animated, there is no motion, as motion is “impossible” to render via a visual image. As art is not a living entity, the birds used for the paintings were likewise not alive. Not until high tech photography of the 20th century were the hummingbird’s rapidly beating wings captured in a visual image as a blur.
The last chapter in Prof. DeLue’s book is titled “Terra Incognito,” or inaccessible, unexplored places. Viewing the 19th century somber painting by William Trust Richard’s Old Ocean’s Gray and Melancholic Waste (1885), a vast, steel-grey ocean with a wavy surface suggests its mystery and unseen depth. Howard Russell Butler was hired by the U.S. Naval Observatory to paint a series of the astronomical phenomena of total solar eclipses before photography could capture them. Using a uniquely specialized system, his solar eclipse series (1918) offers a visual image of the “impossible,” that which occurs in two minutes or less and cannot be seen by human eyes. His series of eclipses are owned by the Princeton University Art Museum. Lastly, the subterranean and prehistoric unseeable past is explored with Homer Dodge Martin’s Iron Mine, New York (1870-1873) and the 1835 William Clift illustration of one of the very first dinosaur skeletons, excavated by Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, England in 1828 and described by William Buckland in 1829.
In closing, Prof. DeLue answered a few questions and thanked the Old Guard for their invitation and interest in her work. Will we view visual art/images differently after hearing Dr. DeLue’s compelling research?
Respectfully submitted,
Christine T. Danser
Artworks from Professor DeLue’s Presentation:
George Inness, The Home of the Heron, 1893 oil on Canvas: Princeton University Art Museum
Arthur Dove, Moon, 1935, oil on canvas: National Gallery of Art, Washington
George Inness, Spring Blossom, Montclair, 1891, oil on canvas: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
George Inness, Niagara, 1889, oil on canvas: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Arthur Dove, Moon and Sea No. II, 1923, oil on canvas: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AK
Arthur Dove, Golden Sun, 1937, oil on canvas: Private Collection
Alexander von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland, “Physical Tableau of the Andes and Neighboring Countries,” Essay on the Geography of Plants (Paris: Fr. Schoell/Tubingen; J.G. Cotta, 1807)
William West, Lithographer, in Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (London.: John Murray, 1859)
Thomas Eakins, The Concert Singer, 1890-1892, oil on canvas: Philadelphia Museum of Art
John James Audubon, Columbian Humming Bird, (London, 1827-1838), volume 4 plate 425
Martin Johnson Heade, Hooded Visorbearer, ca. 1863-1864, oil on canvas: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
William Trost Richards, Old Ocean’s Gray and Melancholy Waste, 1885, oil on canvas: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
Howard Russell Butler (American), Solar Eclipse, 1918, oil on canvas: Campus Art Collection, Princeton University
Homer Dodge Martin, Iron Mine, New York, ca. 1870-1873, oil on canvas: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
Pterosaur (Dimorphodon macronyx), discovered by Mary Anning, Lyme Regis, England, 1828, described by William Buckland, 1829, illustrated by William Clift, Transactions of the Geological Society of London, 1835