Visual Voyages at The Huntington Library

Feathered cape, Tupinambá people, Brazil, 17th century | All Photos Courtesy of The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens | © RMAH

Hit play below to listen to our Arts Alive feature with The Huntington Library’s Dr. Daniela Bleichmar.

The Huntington Library spent the last four years preparing their contribution, “Visual Voyages: Images of Latin American Nature from Columbus to Darwin,” which is on display until January 2018.

The exhibition examines the connection between art and science through paintings, rare books, illustrated manuscripts, plants, and even taxidermy from around the world. Many objects on display from the Huntington archives and from collections across Europe and Latin America are open to the public for the first time—and possibly the last time.

Dr. Daniela Bleichmar, who curated “Visual Voyages” with the Huntington’s Catherine Hess, gave KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal a look at the diverse offerings in the exhibition. Dr. Bleichmar explains that juxtaposing works from European and Latin American artists reveal how the study of nature was central to understanding art and the natural world:

“If you see a wonderful book or manuscript from the Huntington you get one story, but if you see it in conversation with these objects that we were able to bring to LA from other places, all of a sudden the story changes. What we’re doing here is rewriting that history.”

From sixteenth-century atlases to botanical illustrations to sublime landscape paintings, “Visual Voices” leaves no leaf unturned in their presentation of Latin American nature.
 

“Le vrais Bresil es province du Quito” in Vallard Atlas | © The Huntington
 
 

“De Insulis nuper in mari Indico repertis”: A woodcut depicting the first encounter between American Indians and Europeans © The Huntington
 
Upcoming events in conjunction with “Visual Voyages” include cooking classes, book signings, curated tours, lectures, and musical performances. Find out more here.