June 24-30, 2004

art

Popular Science

William Bartram, American Lotus or Water Chinquapin (Nelumbo lutea) (1800), 9 7/8 by 15 1/4 inches, pen and brown ink.

APS examines America's appetite for natural history, wildlife and the great outdoors.

by Susan Hagen

The American Philosophical Society, located adjacent to Independence Hall, was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 for "promoting useful knowledge among the British Plantations in America," and served at first as a national academy of science, patent office and national library and museum. The collection of Charles Willson Peale was located there from 1794 until the early 19th century. "Stuffing Birds, Pressing Plants, Shaping Knowledge" is the second exhibition to be presented since the galleries were reopened to the public in 2001. The show, produced with an excellent accompanying catalog, is made up of rare and historical objects from the collection of the American Philosophical Society supplemented by additional loaned materials. It's bound to appeal to a wide audience with interests in art, culture, history and science.

Together the 235 historical objects on display, including plant and animal specimens, drawings, manuscripts and books, tell the story of a national struggle for knowledge in the years 1730-1860, as our nation began to forge an identity for itself. There was ongoing competition with European institutions for scientific and intellectual breakthroughs, as well as an absurd argument over which continent had larger and healthier species of plants and animals. Thomas Jefferson's Megalonyx bones, included in the show, were used to prove the size and vigor of American wildlife. Arguments raged over evolutionary theories throughout this period and as the notion of extinction had not yet been fully accepted, Jefferson argued that the prehistoric creatures still roamed the continent further west. Original manuscript pages from Darwin's book, On the Origin of the Species, illustrate dramatic ideological changes in the sciences toward the end of this period.

Other displays illuminate the transition from a freeform, poetic approach to natural history, as exemplified by Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities, to a more systematic approach to classifying nature devised by Linneaus. Several displays explore the process of naming of newly discovered species of plants and animals. By contrast, a few books, including Kirby's Wonderful and Eccentric Museum, Vol. 5, are displayed open to engravings of imaginary hybrid creatures, such as a turnip with a human body, and a radish shaped like a human hand. Visitors also have the rare opportunity to compare two well-preserved taxidermy specimens from Peale's collection, an eagle and a turkey, that reinforce Benjamin Franklin's argument for turkey as our national bird. Nearby, there's a display of cool taxidermy supplies, including multicolored glass eyes, ceramic teeth and how-to-do-it books.

The show also contains a large number of exquisite natural history illustrations by some of the great artist-scientists of that period that explore the balance between seeing and knowing — mostly privileging the visual — and the miracle of the natural world. Benjamin Smith Barton's drawings Greater Siren, a steely gray amphibian, and Fungi, a watercolor of six little gem-like mushrooms, seem to be emerging like nature itself from the flat tabula rasa of white paper. Benjamin Henry Latrobe's crisp watercolor and ink drawings of dissected rattlesnakes are intriguing, as is his marvelous Rattlesnake Skeleton, made of hundreds of unique and specific bones winding in a graceful, lifelike pose across the paper. A drawing of an American bison juxtaposed with a rose acacia by Mark Catesby could be an early predecessor to both environmental studies and surrealism. In a scrupulously detailed ink drawing of a group of unfamiliar plants, William Bartram highlights their unique personalities like a group portrait — and features the city of Philadelphia in the background.

Meanwhile "The Urban Field Station" is a related exhibition located across the street from the APS, created by the society's artist-in-residence Mark Dion, a Pennsylvania artist known for his interactive, theoretical works dealing with culture and nature. Dion based this project on the historical model of an expedition base camp or field station. A large canvas tent is set up on the lawn of the Jefferson Garden containing seven or eight stations for the study of the ecology of the city and different types of plants and animals that thrive in an urban environment. Participating children and adults can count the rings in a tree trunk, make rubbings of different types of leaves, draw botanical illustrations, observe local fauna with binoculars and add them to a list, draw a stuffed raccoon, and study insect parts through a microscope. Posted around the site, brightly painted banners rave about local fauna such as the cockroach and the pigeon. According to the artist, the project was "inspired by America's founding fathers of the museum, Charles Willson Peale and P. T. Barnum," and "flirts with the vernacular of showmanship."

Two hundred years ago the pursuit of knowledge was a national passion. Now, by visiting both of these out-of-the-ordinary shows at the American Philosophical Society, you can carry on this heritage and acquire knowledge about the history of science and art, American history, taxidermy and the world around you. "Stuffing Birds, Pressing Plants, Shaping Knowledge: Natural History in America, 1730-1860" Through Dec. 31 "The Urban Field Station" by Mark Dion Through July 30, American Philosophical Society, 104 S. Fifth St., 215-440-3427