To mark the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and the sesquicentennial of On the Origin of Species, an exhibit opening today at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum explores the effects of his work on art in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The exhibit, Endless Forms: Darwin, Natural Science & the Visual Arts, moves from landscapes and pastoral works to depictions of contemporary society and experiments with visual presentation, and includes images from Darwin’s notes such as the diagram at right.
The works depict an ongoing exchange between scientists, artists, and the public. The collection includes images that shaped and inspired Darwin’s interest in the natural world as well as pieces that explored the public debates over then new biological and geological theories. The blending of these two streams led to a finer appreciation of biological and geological morphology in art, as well as more subtle depictions of the similarities between humans and other animals. As the public began to appropriate (or misappropriate) themes from Darwin’s work, terms and images became fodder for contemporary debates. Grinning apes graced editorial cartoons; images of workers and the poor assumed atavistic undertones as Gilded Age leaders sought to rationalize social inequality.
Perhaps most interestingly, the exhibit explores the connection between Darwin’s research and the development of Impressionism. Examinations of structure and color in organisms gradually opened the door for artists to explore form and color as abstractions, providing an intellectual foundation for the new school of art.