The Anatomy of Nature: Geology and American Landscape Painting, 1825–1875. by Rebecca Bedell (review)

JEMCS2.2 (Fall/Winter 2002) Book Reviews Rebecca Bedell, TheAnatomy ofNature:Geology and American LandscapePainting, 1825-1875.Princeton: Princeton University Press,2001. 192pp. $45.00. Reviewed byThomasM. Allen Whiletheinfluence ofthescienceofgeology uponAmerican landscapepainting in thenineteenth century has beennotedby manyscholars, RebeccaBedell'sTheAnatomy ofNature is thefirst monograph tofocusexclusively onthistopic. Thesustained attentionis overdue andwelcome.AsBedellnotes, thenineteenth centurysaw the publication of severallandmarkbooks,such as CharlesLyelTs Principles ofGeology (1830-33)andLouisAgassiz's Etudesurles Glaciers (1840),thatreshapedtheunderstanding of theearth'shistory notonlyfor working scientists butfor educated laypeopleas well. Geology becamea "fashionable science,* a necessary area ofknowledge foranyman ofletters orwell-read woman anda stapleofthelecture circuit.Forlandscapepainters, ofcourse,theimpactwas especially immediate.Bedell'stitleis meanttoindicate howknowledge ofminerals androckformations becameas essential a foundation ofpainterly craft as expertise in human anatomy. Geologylegitimized landscape,makingthe earthintoan objectofintellectual interest, andallowed landscape artists toarguefor thestatusoftheir work intheacademichierarchyofpainting and inthebroader cultural and intellectual life ofthenineteenth century. In heranalysisoftheseissues, Bedelldrawsout whatshe callsthe"socialutility" ofknowledge - whatartists didwithgeologytoshapetheir owncareersand intervene inthecultural discoursesaroundthem . American landscapepaintersemployed their knowledge ofthesciencetofoster a senseofnationalpride and establishtheimportance oftheAmerican land,and nation, in a globalcontext.In addition, geologically informed painting 122 TheJournal for Earty Modern Cultural Studies becamean important marker ofclass identity, a wayforeducated artists and artbuyerstodisplaya privileged area ofexpertise and also, as thecentury woreon,to layclaimto thelandscape features oftourist destinations familiar totheirset. Thesixfiguresconsidered indetail-ThomasCole,AsherDurand,Frederic Church,JohnKensett, WilliamStanleyHazeltine, and Thomas Moran-range temporally across the centuryand artistically across diversemovements, allowing Bedellto explorethecompeting valuesinvested inthelinkbetween scienceand artand to attendtohowideas changedovertime. Hence,whileitis organized aroundthe careersofindividualartists,TheAnatomy of Nature is fundamentally a studyofculture - howhumanbeings in particular historical circumstances conceptualized and representedtheir world. Cole, Durand,and Churchall belongedto the well-known "Hudson RiverSchool,"whose romantic, sometimesfantastic landscapesmight at first seemat oddswithscientific representation . Yeteach ofthesemenundertook meticulous field observations ,collected mineral samples,and readassiduously ingeologicalliterature . Coletookliberties with geological factinhispaintings ,butalso employed hisknowledge ofgeology towinfavor with patrons and topropup hisanxiousclaimtothestatusofgentleman . Asthefirst subjectofthestudy, then,Coleprovides Bedell withan excellent entreeintotherelationships between art,science and ideology.The heartofthischapterfocuseson Cole's famousseriesTheCourseofEmpire (1833-1836),whichdepicts the ascension and declineof a fantastic civilization in terms inspired byeighteenth-century philosophies ofhistory (think of Gibbon's Decline andFalloftheRoman Empire). Bedellnotesthat theseriesis unified byan erratic boulder perched ona cliff above theimagined imperial capital. Before theadventofAgassiz'sglacialtheory , geologists hypothesized thatsuch boulders had been deposited byancientcatastrophes, and forthegeneralpublicit was onlya shortleap from sucha catastrophist theory toa specific catastrophe, theBiblicalDeluge. Hence,thegeological symbolismofthe seriesnot onlynaturalizesthe cyclesofhuman empire within thecyclesofgeological change,italso contextualizes thosecycleswithin a Christian narrative ofatheadvantages and thedangersofpersonaland nationalprosperity" - a pointed messageintheJacksonian eraofaggressive nationalexpansionismand individual enrichment (40). Whileachieving moretechnicallyaccurategeological representations, Durandand Church shared with Cole a commitment to social commentary and improvement thatlinkedthem, in spirit, tothemanyevangelical Reviews 123 Christian reform movements thatshapedAmerican publicculture inmidcentury.Forthisgeneration, education and moralreform wenthandinhand. TheHudsonRiver artists employed science intandem withreligion inan effort toelevatetheAmerican public and shape the futurecourse of Americancivilization. WhileBedellnotesthatall ofher subjectsshareda Christian world-view, the primary concernsof Kensett,Hazeltine,and Moranwereclearly moresecular. Kensett's fondness for"good company,softbeds, and finecigars"contrastswithChurch's experience "swatting flesh-eating insectsin theAndeanjungles," and hispaintings ofpopularresorts served thebourgeoning commercial tourism industry (85).Nevertheless, theseworks also displayan "intense particularity" thatmerges touristic and scientific ways of seeingthrough "precisedescriptions of topographical forms" (101). Popularguidebooks oftheperiodemphasized the geological particularities ofplace,andgeological works displayed a complementary attention tothetouristic potential ofregions such as NewHampshire's White Mountains. Kensett provided illustrationstosuchguidebooks andsoldhispaintings toan affluent publiceagertocollect mementos oftheir vacations.Hazeltine's many paintings oftherocksat Nahantprovided a similar collectible for theNewEnglandBrahmins whosummered there. Moran 's paintings also functioned as records ofplace,butin thiscase serving theinterests oftheUnitedStatesgovernment. Morantraveled westfour timesinthe1870sundertheauspices oftheFederal"GreatSurveys," inwhichgeologists likeClarence Kingand JohnWesleyPowellwereaccompaniedby photographers ,sketchartists,and painters. Moran'spaintings of the Yellowstone and Coloradoriversand locationsin the Rocky Mountains seemto allude,in manyrespects, to thewilderness landscapesofChurch, butthespiritual, evenmillennial, quality found inmostoftheworks oftheHudsonRiver artists has largelydisappeared , tobe replacedbya morepurely scientific version ofthe sublime. Still,thesepaintings, likethoseofthe earlier painters, displaya profound awarenessoftheimmensity ofgeologicaltimeand theastonishing power ofgeological forces. Bedell'sdiscussionoftheseworksis impeccably erudite but sometimes leaves the readerwantinga moretrenchant argument .To someextent, she seemsunsurewhatsortofbookshe wantsTheAnatomy ofNature tobe. WhileBedellis clearly influenced by a generation ofAmericanist art historians, such as BarbaraNovakand AngelaMiller, whosaw worksofartas artifactsofculturalhistory , she also often embracesa moretraditionalmodelofscholarship inwhichtheroleofthearthistorian 124 TheJcamud for EartyAkydemCuttim^l Studies is to reconstruct thecontext ofa painting's production without theorizing thatcontext in any verysubstantialway. Bedellis interested in questionsofpatronage, in thestatusoflandscape tourism, andintheplaceofscienceandreligion inAmerican culturein...