Insects and Colors between Art and Natural History
Insects and Colors between Art and Natural History

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2024-10-31

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 9004684557

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This book explores how European naturalists and artists perceived, investigated, and presented the relationship between insects and colors from the late sixteenth to the late eighteenth century. The contributors to this volume examine the creative methods and strategies that were developed to record color-related information about insects through studies on Hoefnagel’s glazed metal and hand-coloring practices; the lepidochromy technique used in paintings by Marseus van Schriek and later naturalists; the representation of sexual dimorphism of color and variable color of caterpillars in the images of Goedaert, Merian, Albin, and Rösel von Rosenhof; the painting-by-numbers technique applied to Schäffer’s bookplates on Regensburg insects; Schiffermüller’s watercolor originals of caterpillars; and finally, the color fading of exotic cabinet specimens and how this issue was tackled by Abbot and Smith. The volume is lavishly illustrated with rare and unpublished images and offers new insights into the interrelation between natural history and visual practices concerning the color of insects, with a special focus on butterflies and moths. Contributors are Harald Bruckner, Kay Etheridge, Beth Fowkes Tobin, Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel, Karin Leonhard, V.E. Mandrij, Kimberly Schenck, Stacey Sell, Giulia Simonini, and Friedrich Steinle.

Microsculpture
Microsculpture

Author: Levon Biss

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 168335138X

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"You will never look at a beetle or a moth the same way again." --WIRED "Art meets science to dazzling effect." --The Guardian Microsculptureis a unique photographic study of insects in mind-blowing magnification that celebrates the wonders of nature and science. Levon Biss’s photographs capture in breathtaking detail the beauty of the insect world and are printed in large-scale format to provide an unforgettable viewing experience. Each picture in Microsculpture is created from approximately 8,000 individual photographs. Segments of the specimen are lit and photographed separately using microscope lenses, then “stacked” to maintain sharp focus throughout. These images are then combined to create a single high-resolution file. From start to finish, each portrait takes approximately 4 weeks to create. The project has captured the attention of the world with features in WIRED and New Scientist. Microsculpture has been exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Xposure 2016 International Photography Festival in Sharjah, U.A.E. It has been viewed by over half a mil­lion people so far and will be touring museums around the world from 2017 onward. The entomology collection has significant cultural and historical value, containing the world’s oldest pinned insect specimen and many thousands of insects collected by pioneering Victorian explorers and biologists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace.

Cochineal Red
Cochineal Red

Author: Elena Phipps

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1588393615

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From antiquity to the present day, color has been embedded with cultural meaning. Associated with blood, fire, fertility, and life force, the color red has always been extremely difficult to achieve and thus highly prized." "This book discusses the origin of the red colorant derived from the insect cochineal, its early use in Precolumbian ritual textiles from Mexico and Peru, and the spread of the American dyestuff through cultural interchange following the Spanish discovery and conquest of the New World in the 16th century. Drawing on examples from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, it documents the use of this red-colored treasure in several media and throughout the world.

Insect Artifice
Insect Artifice

Author: Marisa Bass

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2019-04-09

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 0691177155

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How the nature illustrations of a Renaissance polymath reflect his turbulent age This pathbreaking and stunningly illustrated book recovers the intersections between natural history, politics, art, and philosophy in the late sixteenth-century Low Countries. Insect Artifice explores the moment when the seismic forces of the Dutch Revolt wreaked havoc on the region’s creative and intellectual community, compelling its members to seek solace in intimate exchanges of art and knowledge. At its center is a neglected treasure of the late Renaissance: the Four Elements manuscripts of Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1600), a learned Netherlandish merchant, miniaturist, and itinerant draftsman who turned to the study of nature in this era of political and spiritual upheaval. Presented here for the first time are more than eighty pages in color facsimile of Hoefnagel’s encyclopedic masterwork, which showcase both the splendor and eccentricity of its meticulously painted animals, insects, and botanical specimens. Marisa Anne Bass unfolds the circumstances that drove the creation of the Four Elements by delving into Hoefnagel’s writings and larger oeuvre, the works of his friends, and the rich world of classical learning and empirical inquiry in which he participated. Bass reveals how Hoefnagel and his colleagues engaged with natural philosophy as a means to reflect on their experiences of war and exile, and found refuge from the threats of iconoclasm and inquisition in the manuscript medium itself. This is a book about how destruction and violence can lead to cultural renewal, and about the transformation of Netherlandish identity on the eve of the Dutch Golden Age.

The Materiality of Color
The Materiality of Color

Author: Andrea Feeser

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13: 1351542745

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Although much has been written on the aesthetic value of color, there are other values that adhere to it with economic and social values among them. Through case studies of particular colors and colored objects, this volume demonstrates just how complex the history of color is by focusing on the diverse social and cultural meanings of color; the trouble, pain, and suffering behind the production and application of these colors; the difficult technical processes for making and applying color; and the intricacy of commercial exchanges and knowledge transfers as commodities and techniques moved from one region to another. By emphasizing color's materiality, the way in which it was produced, exchanged, and used by artisans, artists, and craftspersons, contributors draw attention to the disjuncture between the beauty of color and the blood, sweat, and tears that went into its production, circulation, and application as well as to the complicated and varied social meanings attached to color within specific historical and social contexts. This book captures color's global history with chapters on indigo plantations in India and the American South, cochineal production in colonial Oaxaca, the taste for brightly colored Chinese objects in Europe, and the thriving trade in vermilion between Europeans and Native Americans. To underscore the complexity of the technical knowledge behind color production, there are chapters on the 'discovery' of Prussian blue, Brazilian feather techn?and wallpaper production. To sound the depths of color's capacity for social and cultural meaning-making, there are chapters that explore the significance of black ink in Shakespeare's sonnets, red threads in women's needlework samplers, blues in Mayan sacred statuary, and greens and yellows in colored glass bracelets that were traded across the Arabian desert in the late Middle Ages. The purpose of this book is to recover color's complex-and sometimes morally troubling-past, and in doing so,

Innumerable Insects
Innumerable Insects

Author: Michael S. Engel

Publisher: Sterling

Published: 2018-10

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9781454923237

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A fascinating look at the world's most numerous inhabitants, illustrated with stunning images from the American Museum of Natural History's Rare Book Collection. It is estimated that there are around five million insect species on Earth, and this magnificent volume tells their incredible story. It covers everything from insect evolution, metamorphosis, and camouflage to society, language, and pollination--plus tales of discovery by intrepid entomologists. More than 180 illustrations describe these fascinating animals down to their tiniest details, from butterflies' iridescent wings to beetles' vibrant colors.

Insects & Flowers
Insects & Flowers

Author: Maria Sibylla Merian

Publisher: Getty Publications

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9780892369294

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"Full-scale details reproduced from hand-colored transfer prints in the second edition of Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosis of the insects of Suriname"--P. [5].

Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink
Natural History Illustration in Pen and Ink

Author: Sarah Morrish

Publisher: The Crowood Press

Published: 2021-08-23

Total Pages: 554

ISBN-13: 1785009230

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This beautiful book combines the author's extensive ecological knowledge with art, and her passion for drawing with ink. It is packed with clear instruction and inspirational illustrations, and will be treasured by artists, illustrators, scientists and ecologists alike. Practical advice is given on using a range of materials and equipment for illustrating in pen and ink, as well as the collection and preservation of subject matter and reference material. Detailed instruction is given on how to create essential mark-making techniques that will enhance your illustrations through accurate depiction of shape, form, texture and pattern, and in the principles and elements of design. Subject-themed chapters include plants, strandline and marine specimens, fossils, invertebrates, and mammals. There are step-by-step exercises suitable for all skill levels, and case studies describing working practice as a professional illustrator.

Art, Science, and Diplomacy: A Study of the Visual Images of the Macartney Embassy to China, 1793
Art, Science, and Diplomacy: A Study of the Visual Images of the Macartney Embassy to China, 1793

Author: Shanshan Chen

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-30

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9819911605

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This book examines how the Embassy members approached, selected, and represented information, and how, in doing so, they helped to shape European perceptions of China. The Macartney Embassy of 1793 was the first British diplomatic mission to China, seeking to open ties between the two empires. As part of the mission, the British government commissioned writers and artists to chronicle the geography and culture of a civilization that had, until then, been shrouded in mystery. A central focus of the book is the artwork itself, which provides a window into the diplomatic, artistic and scientific viewpoints underlying the mission. Drawing on archival research, the study recreates the processes through which the Embassy’s draughtsmen, scientists, and diplomats collaborated to represent the visual images, and how the materials were reworked for publication in London. The finished product demonstrates that the artists offered a distinct viewpoint in the representation of China, sometimes differing from the textual accounts, by blending scientific elements and artistic aesthetics in order to demystify China and make it more knowable to a British audience. It was in the interposition of text and image that the British public formulated an ambivalent perception of China that embraced both admiration and disdain. In addition to the scholars, the book targets general readers who are interested in global art and history, and East–West interactions. It contains important images with detailed visual and historical analysis that enable readers to acquire knowledge on how the British represented China and how that image helped to shape the European perception of China during the British global expansion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and beyond.

Drawing and Painting Insects
Drawing and Painting Insects

Author: Andrew Tyzack

Publisher: Crowood

Published: 2013-06-30

Total Pages: 521

ISBN-13: 1847976255

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Drawing and Painting Insects is a beautiful and inspiring guide. Whatever your experience, whether new to the subject or a seasoned entomologist, this book will help you capture the beauty of insects by helping you understand their structure and appreciate their behaviour, movement, colour and habitat. Advice on finding insects to draw and paint, including how to raise your own insect models; Guide to the anatomy and life cycles of the insect for the artist; Step-by-step demonstrations of drawings, looking at perspective, tonal values and mark-making techniques; Examples of watercolour and oil paintings representing insects in precise, scientific renditions through to more creative interpretations; Introduction to other uses of insect illustration, including printmaking, sculpture, leather and glass; Illustrated with examples and insights from leading artists. A beautiful and inspiring guide to drawing and painting insects, of inspiration to botanical artists, natural historians, wildlife artists and biologists. Gives advice on finding insects to draw and paint, understanding their structure, appreciating their behaviour, movement, colour, habitat and much more. Superbly illustrated with examples and insights from leading artists - 541 colour illustrations in total. Andrew Tyzack is a graduate from the Royal College of Art and is well known for his painting of beekeepers and engravings of bees.