10 / AMAM.OBERLIN.EDU ON VIEW / SOUTHWEST AMBULATORY / JAN 17–JUL 20 SCIENCE ON DISPLAY: CULTURAL EXPERIMENTS IN EARLY MODERN SCIENCE The early modern period (1500– 1800) was marked by a newfound interest in the study of the natural world. European scholars encountered, examined, and circulated familiar and novel plants alike, documenting their origins and characteristics and displaying them in print and in the first museums created from their collections. This hands-on approach was mirrored by surgeons and doctors who studied the human body in anatomy theaters and sought to lay bare its secrets. Inherited systems of classification from ancient thinkers like Aristotle, Galen, Pliny, and Dioscorides gave way to a new emphasis on empirical learning and fresh debates on the natural order of things. These developments made people reconsider not only the relationship between humans and plants but also the social hierarchies within European society. Empirical but lower-status practitioners like apothecaries, barber-surgeons, anatomists, and gardeners challenged the way that knowledge was produced and called into question previous academic authorities. In doing so, they gave themselves a place in the Scientific Revolution. This exhibition, drawn from the Allen’s collection, showcases the innovation that characterized scientific andmedical thought during the early modern period, both within the academy and the spaces of practitioners. Comparing these works offers opportunities to consider the myriad ways new knowledge was produced and displayed in this moment of change. It also makes one ask: whose contributions are seen as valid, and why? Organized by EllenWurtzel, Associate Professor of History; HannahWirta Kinney, former Curator of Academic Programs; Marlise Brown, Associate Curator of European and American Art; with assistance fromElsa Friedmann (OC 2024), and students in Of Miracles and Microscopes: A History of Science from 1200–1800 (History 208). Top: WilliamHogarth (English, 1697–1764), The Reward of Cruelty, plate 4 from the series The Four Stages of Cruelty, 1751. Etching and engraving. Annie A. Wager Bequest, 1975.232. Bottom: Italian , Faenza, Maiolica Apothecary Jars with Floral Decoration and Medallion of a Cherub and Trophies, 1569. Pottery with cream yellow glaze. Gift of Robert Lehman, 1944.39, 1944.40.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTczNTM=