"That's a wonderful approach"

September 14, 2024 12:14 PM

Senay Boztas (The Art Newspaper, 09/03/2024), "Rijksmuseum acquires controversial early botanic book on Suriname" (ungated): "Maria Sibylla Merian's 1705 Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium [Latin, Dutch, Dutch counterproof] is considered a 'high point' of early printing ... More recently, the contemporary artist Patricia Kaersenhout superimposed images of prominent Carribbean-born people onto images from the book, and made a series responding to the 'erasure' of local people's names from the botanist's work." Intros to Merian: The British Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Royal Society, and the NYT (ungated). Overview of her books. Other works online. Intros to Kaersenhout: Kunstverein Braunschweig, AWARE, The Bonnefanten, and metropolis m. Other works and video online.
posted by Wobbuffet (6 comments total)

Oh I love just how BIG those tapestries of Patricia Kaersenhout's are! They must be amazing to see in person. Thank you for the introduction to both of these neat artists.
posted by Art_Pot at 12:31 PM on September 14 [2 favorites]

Thank you for this, it's always interesting to see how GLAM institutions handle historical stuff that is noteworthy but nonetheless generally seen as problematic/racist/exploitative. For people looking for an English version of the "superimposed" link, there is one here.

And it's a very interesting contrast to the Art Newspaper article which notes "The main criticism has been that Maria Sibylla Merian didn't mention the names of the people that she took information from" when it's clear from the Central Museum's article that she didn't just use the work of unnamed enslaved people but was likely a slave-owner herself (a thing the NY Times article takes pains to tell us "she was not a slave-owner"). While that may have been much more common, it's also certainly a thing that people in modern times should feel okay mentioning.

And also, certainly, at the same time, her work did not receive the audience it would have had she been a man doing similar work. This is all very interesting, thank you Wobbuffet.
posted by jessamyn at 12:41 PM on September 14 [4 favorites]

Yes, thanks so much; this is fascinating stuff, and Kaersenhout's work is beautiful and provocative.

I have an English-language copy of the Insectorum packed away; I'll have to check the introductory material to remind myself whether it handled the exploitation issue thoughtfully. This link notes Merian discussed the horrible conditions the slaves had to endure at the time, for what that's worth:

In the text accompanying this illustration of a peacock flower, Merian wrote of the suffering of Suriname's enslaved peoples [warning: readers may find the following excerpt distressing]:

'The Indians, who are not treated well by their Dutch masters, use the seeds to abort their children, so that they will not become slaves like themselves… In fact, they sometimes take their own lives because they are treated so badly, and because they believe they will be born again, free and living in their own land. They told me this themselves.'

I can certainly believe she didn't properly acknowledge how much she relied on native people's knowledge and insights. A 52-year-old divorced woman and her daughter embarking on this kind of scientific trip in 1599 is still quite a uniquely feminist bit of European history, even as it remained embedded in the colonial project. From the first link:

“I don't know of other examples where a female naturalist made a trip like this and produced such a beautiful book in the late 17th or early 18th century...In the 18th century, most of the criticism was directed towards her scientific approach... To be fair, it’s probably not so much her scientific approach as the fact that she was a woman.”
posted by mediareport at 5:06 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

Jessamyn, your link just goes to the Dutch text for me. I would be interested to know more about this because I bring our Merian books out in the library for classes frequently and I’m confused by the artist’s assertion that she was herself a slave owner—whatever else it is, I don’t think that’s the same thing as drawing on the knowledge of enslaved people about local plants. But I don’t disagree that we have latched on to Merian somewhat uncritically in the service of breaking up the maleness of early modern science.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:32 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

The ‘superimposed’ article calls Merian a slave-holder only for the fact that she took a native woman back with her to the Netherlands. That woman would have been free upon reaching the Netherlands, at least in principle, but nothing of her later life is known. So the statement seems misleading, though the fact remains that Merian made use of enslaved people in Suriname itself. I do not know how much it matters whether those people were considered her own property or someone else’s.

Merian does not hide her dependence on her native and black informers and guides, but only describes interacting with them at three places, which I have tried to translate:

Plate 27: The worm on the stalk has an orange colour, and was brought to me by a black slave woman, who told me that these turn into beautiful grasshoppers. This one turned into a brown balloon, out of which (according to unanimous testimony of the inhabitants) such a green creature should emerge and gain the wings of a grasshopper. I was not able to observe this result, for the round nymph has died. But since others have ensured me of their own experience of the fact, I did not want to silently omit this case, in order to give other enthousiasts the occasion to confirm it.

Plate 36: This plant I found in the forest. Since the heat makes any plant you cut wither away quickly, I let my indian dig it out with its roots, carry it home, and plant it in my garden. Her root is very white but otherwise like the tobacco. Her flower is white like the tuberose; after it falls off, she blossoms again in six months. Her name and properties are unknown in Suriname, and the people there have no desire to investigate such things. They even mocked me, that I would look for anything in this land but sugar. But in my opinion, many more things could be found in the forest if it only were passable: for the forest is so thickly overgrown with thistles and thorns, that I had to send my slaves before me with axes in hand, cutting an opening before me that I could get through, and that with great difficulty.

Plate 49: The indians have ensured me that this fly brings forth the so-called lantern-carriers, of which the male and female are depicted here, flying and sitting. Their head or bonnet lights up like a lantern at night and is completely transparent by day, mixed with red stripes and green. At night, this bladder shines brightly as a candle, so that you would be able to read the newspaper by it. [...] One time, the indians brought me many lantern-carriers (before I knew they would shine like that at night), and I put them in a large wooden box. That night, they made such a noise that we woke up with a start, and lighted a candle, not knowing what sound was in the house. We quickly noted the box was the source. Astonished, we opened it, then threw it to the ground with even greater astonishment, for something like a flame erupted from the open box, as many flames as there were creatures. But we calmed down, gathered them together, and were amazed from the shine of these little creatures.

posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 8:27 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]

Another nameless (though paid) labour is the colouring of the images. All were painted in by hand, typically by people working from their own homes. I could not find much information about the industry, but from the nature of the work it seems likely that many of the painters would have been women.

And though Merian does not mention any names of people, she seems genuinely sad when a plant remains nameless. Of one plant she only notes: „This one grew in my garden and no-one could tell me her name, or anything about it. Grows up to one ell, carries little yellow flowers.” Merian must have felt moved in some way, for it is an unremarkable plant, yet she included it in her book.
posted by trotz dem alten drachen at 8:54 AM on September 15 [3 favorites]