Illustration for the book Illustrationes algarum (Illustrations of Algae) by A. Postels and F. J. Ruprecht. St Petersburg, 1840
Exhibition
Art or Science
Location: 3rd floor, B-wing
This exhibition is the first to offer in-depth insight into the relationship between art and science in Estonia. In today’s world, where information is increasingly communicated in visual form and we need, more than ever, an ability to critically interpret images, historical scientific illustrations also deserve a fresh glance. The role of images is not just to communicate and illustrate science but to also play an active part in knowledge production.
The main focus of the display is on the visualisation of natural sciences and medicine in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This was an age when these disciplines were closely intertwined with racial theories and colonialism. Images, just like the history of knowledge in general, are inextricably connected with power.
The exhibition explores the controversial relations between the history of Estonian scientific illustrations and the efforts to control and map the territories of the Russian empire. We also look at the sourcing of materials for scientific collections and museum ethics: how to find new ways of exploring and highlighting the issues of inequality and marginalisation embedded in the history of scientific collections?
Estonian science and art both received strong impetus from the reopening of the University of Tartu in 1802. Along with items from the collections of the University of Tartu, the exhibition shows materials from other Estonian science and memory institutions and showcases scientific illustrators who have been overshadowed by “real” artists and scientists. The exhibition also highlights the – often forgotten – role of women artists in the history of art and science in Estonia.
Kristina Norman’s creative research project Comparative Anatomy offers a contemporary commentary on the historical collections.
The collaborative exhibition involves the University of Tartu Museum, the Art Museum of Estonia and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Geological Landscapes
Geological Landscapes, on display in the 3rd-floor A-wing exhibition hall is part of current exhibition: a visual culture study exploring scientific illustrations from the collections of Estonian memory and educational institutions and the interactions between art and science. This project space examines the mutual influences of geology and landscape painting.
Curators: Jaanika Anderson, Linda Kaljundi, Kadi Polli and Kristiina Tiideberg, Ken Ird Exhibition design and visual identity: Jaanus Samma Media graphics design: Külli Kaats Coordinator: Magdaleena Maasik
Unknown artist (after Minna Mädler). The 1860 Solar Eclipse at the Moment Before the Total Eclipse. Illustration for Johann Heinrich Mädler’s article “Über totale Sonnenfinsternisse“ (On total eclipses). Jena, 1861. Colour lithograph. University of Tartu Library
Erich Hanko (?). Horse, Cow and Sheep. Wallchart. Late 1930s (?). Pencil and charcoal. The anatomy collection of the Zoomedicum of the Estonian University of Life Sciences
August Matthias Hagen. Porphyry Wall at Hogland Lighthouse. 1835. Sepia, watercolour and gouache. University of Tartu Library
Unknown artist (after Alexander Postels). Franz Joseph Ruprecht and Alexander Postels Collecting Algae. For Illustrationes algarum (Illustrations of Algae) by Postels and Ruprecht. St. Petersburg, 1840. Coloured lithograph. Tallinn University Academic Library
Unknown artist (after Alexander Postels). Durvillea utilis. For Illustrationes algarum (Illustrations of Algae) by Alexander Postels and Franz Joseph Ruprecht. St. Petersburg, 1840. Coloured lithograph. Tallinn University Academic Library
Elsa Rosenstein. Various Brachiopods. 1920s–1930s. Pencil. University of Tartu Natural History Museum
Eduard Saksand. Passion Flower. 1896. Watercolour and Indian ink. University of Tartu
Museum
Georg Friedrich Schlater. Human Brachialis Muscle. 1830s (?). Drawing based on an anatomical specimen prepared by Nikolay Pirogov. University of Tartu Museum
Georg Friedrich Schlater. Skull of an Estonian. Illustration for De craniis Estonum (On Estonians’ Skulls) by Alexander Friedrich von Hueck. Tartu, 1838. Lithograph. Estonian History Museum
Johann Conrad Susemihl (after Ernst Wilhelm Drümpelmann). Bees, spiders and marine custacean Saduria entomon. Illustration for the book about the fauna of the Livonia, Estonia, and Courland by Drümpelmann and Friebe. Riga, 1807. Coloured copper engraving. Tallinn University Academic Library
Aleksandr Slavyanov. Common Starfish. Wallchart. 1904. Indian ink, watercolour and pencil. University of Tartu Museum
Georg Wilhelm Pape (after Georg Friedrich Parrot). Examples of Imatra Stones. Illustration for Parrot’s Recherches physiques sur les pierres d’Imatra (Studies of the Physical Properties of Imatra Stones). St. Petersburg, 1840. Coloured lithograph. University of Tartu Library
