Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

An unprecedented visual exploration of the intertwined histories of art and science, of the old world and the new



From the voyages of Christopher Columbus to those of Alexander von Humboldt and Charles Darwin, the depiction of the natural world played a central role in shaping how people on both sides of the Atlantic understood and imaged the region we now know as Latin America. Nature provided incentives for exploration, commodities for trade, specimens for scientific investigation, and manifestations of divine forces. It also yielded a rich trove of representations, created both by natives to the region and visitors, which are the subject of this lushly illustrated book. Author Daniela Bleichmar shows that these images were not only works of art but also instruments for the production of knowledge, with scientific, social, and political repercussions. Early depictions of Latin American nature introduced European audiences to native medicines and religious practices. By the 17th century, revelatory accounts of tobacco, chocolate, and cochineal reshaped science, trade, and empire around the globe. In the 18th and 19th centuries, collections and scientific expeditions produced both patriotic and imperial visions of Latin America.



Through an interdisciplinary examination of more than 150 maps, illustrated manuscripts, still lifes, and landscape paintings spanning four hundred years, Visual Voyages establishes Latin America as a critical site for scientific and artistic exploration, affirming that region's transformation and the transformation of Europe as vitally connected histories.



Published in association with the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

Exhibition Schedule:

Accompanies the exhibition Visual Voyages: Images of Latin American Nature from Columbus to Darwin at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 16 September 2017--8 January 2018.

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Visual Voyages is the book companion to an exhibit of the same name at the Huntington Library. Bleichmar (art history and history, USC) co-curated the exhibit. The book is a compendium of images from the age of exploration and the scientific revolution, showing how the area now known as Latin America was depicted to a mostly European audience. The text that accompanies the more than 150 illustrations describes the impact and importance these works had in terms of exploration, economics, science, and culture. Though the catalogue includes images of work produced by local and Indigenous artists, the focus is on works produced for the audience "back home"--first the home countries of European explorers and later, and to a lesser extent, the emerging nations themselves. This is not a book about the science or Indigenous perspective of nature, but rather a book about the influence of these images on European-centered culture. Well made and full of high-quality, richly colored illustrations, this volume will be useful to those interested in the history of science, Latin America, scientific illustration, or the art of nature. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. --Rebecca C. Hedreen, Southern Connecticut State University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Daniela Bleichmar is associate professor of art history and history at the University of Southern California.