Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at the Americas Society Art Gallery, New York, April 29-July 26, 2014, guest curated by Georgia de Havenon and Alicia Lubowski-Jahn.
"Unity of Nature focuses on Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the Prussian scientist, explorer, diplomat, and author, who during his lifetime was renowned for his exploration of the Americas. The exhibition examines how Humboldt's scientific ideas about nature related to aesthetics and imagery, as well as how they were interpreted by landscape artists from the nineteenth-century. The show will include paintings and drawings by Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), Louis Remy Mignot (1831-70), Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1835), and Norton Bush (1834-94), as well as a selection of European artists, such as Ferdinand Bellerman (1814-89), Johann Moritz Rugendas (1802-58), Albert Berg (1820-73), Anton Goering (1836-1905), Eduard Ender (1822-83), and the Victorian woman traveler Adela Breton (1849-1923). Also included in the exhibition are two works by artist Mark Dion (b. 1961) who offers a contemporary response to Humboldt's classification of nature"--Americas Society Website, viewed May 23, 2014.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-161).
Translated from the German.
Foreword : Unity of nature at Americas Society / Susan L. Segal -- Preface : Humboldt as the second Columbus / Jay A. Levenson -- Connectivity : Humboldt and the torrid zone / Georgia de Havenon -- Americans in Alexander von Humboldt's personal address book / Ingo Schwarz -- Humboldt and the American pictorial imagination / Katherine E. Manthorne -- Artist-travelers and the sciences / Pablo Diener -- The picturesque atlas : the landscape illustrations in Alexander von Humboldt's Views of the Cordilleras and monuments of the indigenous peoples of the Americas / Alicia Lubowski-Jahn -- Alexander von Humboldt and his unity of nature. An interview with Mark Dion / Gabriela Rangel and Wenzel Bilger ; Field Station Honda : Mark Dion in Colombia / José Roca -- Map of Alexander von Humboldt's expeditions to the Americas -- Alexander von Humboldt's chronology, 1769-1859