Representing Evolution: Jens Ferdinand Willumsen's Fertility and the Natural Sciences

TY - JOUR

T1 - Representing Evolution

T2 - Jens Ferdinand Willumsen's Fertility and the Natural Sciences

AU - Hedin, Gry

PY - 2012/10/23

Y1 - 2012/10/23

N2 - A scandal shook Danish art when Jens Ferdinand Willumsen exhibited his etching Fertility in 1891. A heavily pregnant woman—Willumsen's wife, Juliette—and a short text about a new language of art flank a grain, which sprouts in a way that looks less like a plant than some sort of diagram. This article discusses Willumsen's etching in the context of evolutionary theory, arguing that Willumsen is a rare example of an artist who not only let the theory of evolution fuel his artistic imagination, but also concerned himself with a core issue of the theory, namely to what extent it could be applied to the language of art.

AB - A scandal shook Danish art when Jens Ferdinand Willumsen exhibited his etching Fertility in 1891. A heavily pregnant woman—Willumsen's wife, Juliette—and a short text about a new language of art flank a grain, which sprouts in a way that looks less like a plant than some sort of diagram. This article discusses Willumsen's etching in the context of evolutionary theory, arguing that Willumsen is a rare example of an artist who not only let the theory of evolution fuel his artistic imagination, but also concerned himself with a core issue of the theory, namely to what extent it could be applied to the language of art.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - Kunst

KW - Naturvidenskab

KW - Evolution

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1543-1002

VL - 11

JO - Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide

JF - Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide

IS - 3

ER -