Cathy's Art Diary

Complex online lecture from the National Gallery speculating on the influence of Darwin’s ideas on the artist Georges Seurat. Emmelyn Buttterfield, Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, talked us through this complex argument focusing on Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of the Grand Jette” of 1886. Noting that the ideas of Darwin were being widely discussed and that the anatomist at the Ecole de Beaux Artes was an advocate of them she outlined visual links in the picture. This argument mainly revolved around the figure of the monkey as Darwin was often depicted as a monkey in cartoons and in some examples had a similar serpentine tail to the one in the painting. She also discussed how the woman holding the monkey’s lead can be seen as a sexualised figure mirroring ideas of reproduction in Darwin. As you may have guessed from my tone I didn’t fully understand the argument and felt it may have been conflation of ideas around at the time which may not have been c...

Excellent exhibition at the Natural History Museum to mark the bi-centennial of Darwin’s birth. This exhibition took you through the process of how Darwin’s theory developed starting with his observations on board the Beagle, though the development of ideas once he was home, publication and the effects of that publication. Finally it took you through what the theory was and how modern scientific discoveries such as DNA have supported it. I found it magical to see the original of Darwin’s tree of life drawn in his own notebook. I also liked the way the start of the exhibition captured his youthful enthusiasm and showed you his observations rather than the conclusions. It blended his professional and personal life well and I liked the recreation of his study at Down House. However probably stars of are the live exhibits Charlie the iguana and the ornate horned frog. I wonder if either of them realise they are in an exhibition! Reviews Times