Book ID: CBB001210287

Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840 (2011)

unapi

Meyers, Amy R. W. (Editor)
Ford, Lisa L. (Editor)


Yale University Press


Publication Date: 2011
Physical Details: xiv + 417 pp.; ill.; maps
Language: English

Philadelphia developed the most active scientific community in early America, fostering an influential group of naturalist-artists, including William Bartram, Charles Willson Peale, Alexander Wilson, and John James Audubon, whose work has been addressed by many monographic studies. However, as the groundbreaking essays in Knowing Nature demonstrate, the examination of nature stimulated not only forms of artistic production traditionally associated with scientific practice of the day, but processes of making not ordinarily linked to science. The often surprisingly intimate connections between and among these creative act`ivities and the objects they engendered are explored through the essays in this book, chall`enging the hierarchy that is generally assumed to have been at play in the study of nature, from the natural sciences through the fine and decorative arts, and, ultimately, popular and material culture. Indeed, the many ways in which the means of knowing nature were reversed---in which artistic and artisanal culture informed scientific interpretations of the natural world---forms a central theme of this pioneering publication. Contents: A protracted view : the relationship between mapmakers and naturalists in recording the land / Margaret Pritchard -- Cultivated lives, cultivated spaces : the scientific garden in Philadelphia, 1740-1840 / Therese O'Malley -- America's "ancient garden": the Bartram Botanic Garden, 1728-1850 / Joel T. Fry -- This other Eden : the American connection in Georgian pleasure grounds, from shrubbery and menagerie to aviary and flower garden / Mark Laird -- From nature and memory : William Bartram's drawings of North American flora and fauna / Amy Meyers -- Surprising oddness and beauty : textile design and natural history between London and Philadelphia in the eighteenth century / Alicia Weisberg-Roberts -- Cultivating interiors : Philadelphia, China, and the natural world / Janice L. Neri -- Illustrating nature : institutional support for art and science in Philadelphia, 1770-1830 / Robert McCracken Peck -- The rattlesnake : Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the place of art in America / Alexander Nemerov -- Hand-coloring vs. color printing : early-nineteenth-century natural history color-plate books / James N. Green -- A world of uses : Philadelphia's contributions to useful knowledge in François-André Michaux's North American Sylva / Lisa L. Ford -- The pious pursuit of agriculture : nature, culture, and exchange in Quaker-Seneca missions / Robert S. Cox -- The pictorial legacy of Lewis and Clark / Kenneth Haltman -- A world too much : democracy and natural history in Godman and Audubon / Alexander Nemerov.

...More
Reviewed By

Review Gronim, Sara Stidstone (2013) Review of "Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 164-165). unapi

Includes Chapters

Chapter Pritchard, Margaret (2011) A Protracted View: The Relationship between Mapmakers and Naturalists in Recording the Land. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter O'Malley, Therese (2011) Cultivated Lives, Cultivated Spaces: The Scientific Garden in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Fry, Joel T. (2011) America's “Ancient Garden”: The Bartram Botanic Garden, 1728--1850. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Laird, Mark (2011) This Other Eden: The American Connection in Georgian Pleasure Grounds, from Shrubbery and Menagerie to Aviary and Flower Garden. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Meyers, Amy (2011) From Nature and Memory: William Bartram's Drawings of North American Flora and Fauna. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Weisberg-Roberts, Alicia (2011) Surprising Oddness and Beauty: Textile Design and Natural History between London and Philadelphia in the Eighteenth Century. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Neri, Janice L. (2011) Cultivating Interiors: Philadelphia, China, and the Natural World. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Peck, Robert McCracken (2011) Illustrating Nature: Institutional Support for Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1770--1830. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Nemerov, Alexander (2011) The Rattlesnake: Benjamin Henry Latrobe and the Place of Art in America. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Green, James N. (2011) Hand-Coloring vs. Color Printing: Early-Nineteenth-Century Natural History Color-Plate Books. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Ford, Lisa L. (2011) A World of Uses: Philadelphia's Contributions to Useful Knowledge in François-André Michaux's North American Sylva. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Cox, Robert S. (2011) The Pious Pursuit of Agriculture: Nature, Culture, and Exchange in Quaker-Seneca Missions. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Haltman, Kenneth (2011) The Pictorial Legacy of Lewis and Clark. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Chapter Nemerov, Alexander (2011) A World Too Much: Democracy and Natural History in Godman and Audubon. In: Knowing Nature: Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1740--1840. unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001210287/

Similar Citations

Book Fishman, Gail; (2001)
Journeys through Paradise: Pioneering Naturalists in the Southeast (/isis/citation/CBB000650731/)

Book Burtt, Edward H., Jr.; Davis, William E., Jr.; (2013)
Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology (/isis/citation/CBB001252217/)

Book Fishman, Gail; (2000)
Journeys through Paradise: Pioneering Naturalists in the Southeast (/isis/citation/CBB000100210/)

Thesis Iannini, Christopher Paul; (2004)
Fatal Revolutions: United States Natural Histories of the Greater Caribbean, 1707--1856 (/isis/citation/CBB001562072/)

Book Irmscher, Christoph; (1999)
The poetics of natural history: From John Bartram to William James (/isis/citation/CBB000082529/)

Chapter Fry, Joel T.; (2011)
America's “Ancient Garden”: The Bartram Botanic Garden, 1728--1850 (/isis/citation/CBB001210291/)

Book Bartram, William; Hallock, Thomas; Hoffmann, Nancy E.; Fry, Joel T.; (2010)
William Bartram, the Search for Nature's Design: Selected Art, Letters, and Unpublished Writings (/isis/citation/CBB001200540/)

Article Low, Morris; Chung, Hyung-Min; (2011)
Introduction (/isis/citation/CBB001210415/)

Book Magee, Judith; (2007)
The Art and Science of William Bartram (/isis/citation/CBB000950653/)

Chapter Peck, Robert McCracken; (2011)
Illustrating Nature: Institutional Support for Art and Science in Philadelphia, 1770--1830 (/isis/citation/CBB001210296/)

Thesis Fairhead, Elizabeth S. C.; (2005)
Essential Nature: Bartram's Garden and Natural History in Philadelphia, 1790--1825 (/isis/citation/CBB001561675/)

Chapter Meyers, Amy; (2011)
From Nature and Memory: William Bartram's Drawings of North American Flora and Fauna (/isis/citation/CBB001210293/)

Book Rhodes, Richard; (2004)
John James Audubon: The Making of an American (/isis/citation/CBB000650396/)

Essay Review Baker, Jennifer J.; (2006)
The Making of John James Audubon (/isis/citation/CBB001566400/)

Essay Review Faherty, Duncan; (2005)
“Half Artist, Half Man of Action”: John James Audubon and The Birds of America (/isis/citation/CBB001566465/)

Thesis Webster, Elizabeth E.; (cited 2011)
American Science and the Pursuit of "Useful Knowledge" in the Polite Eighteenth Century, 1750--1806 (/isis/citation/CBB001561055/)

Authors & Contributors
Fry, Joel T.
Fishman, Gail
Céline M. Stantina
Webster, Elizabeth E.
Weisberg-Roberts, Alicia
Rhodes, Richard
Concepts
Science and art
Naturalists
Natural history
Ornithology
Scientific illustration
Biographies
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
Places
United States
Philadelphia, PA
New England (U.S.)
London (England)
North America
Caribbean
Institutions
Smithsonian Institution
American Philosophical Society
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment