These powerful renditions of industrial might reflect the aspirations of the Soviet state. The ideals of a 15th-century future seen above are echoed here in the 20th-century Architectural Fantasies of Iakov Chernikhov, a teacher of architecture during the Stalinist period of Soviet Russia in the 1930s. These designs imply that the future can be perfected by technology.įactory Structure…within a Framework of Cranes and Gantries, Iakov G. Drawings like this one by the Sienese architect, sculptor, and painter Francesco di Giorgio Martini and his workshop assistants portray ingenious devices and machines designed for architectural, agricultural, and military purposes. The future is often imagined in ideal terms. The German romantic painter Runge was the first to devise a spherical coordination of primary and secondary hues with the value scale of light to dark.Ĭonstruction Machines, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 1475–1480 Here, the concept that primary colors form the basis for all other colors is demonstrated by Philipp Otto Runge in his Farben-Kugel (Color-Sphere). These scientific principles are usually expressed in the present tense. Human perception may be ephemeral, but scientific truths based on perception are assumed to be eternal. In Peacock Zoomorphosis, an optical device from the mid-18th century, a peacock appears and disappears in a semi-cylindrical mirror above the distorted etching, depending on the viewer's position. The present is ephemeral, momentary, and fleeting. It shows the collection of natural and man-made wonders belonging to a prominent family of apothecaries in Verona. This is the earliest known copperplate engraving of a curiosity cabinet. Early collectors often arranged objects for contemplation and study in personal cabinets of curiosity. Modern museum practice stems from earlier practices of imposing an order on collected objects. The Calzolari Museum, Girolamo Viscardi and Giovanni Battista Bertoni, 1622 The introduction to the catalog states that "every rational being should, nay, is obliged to bequeath something to posterity, that it may be known there was once such a person who intended to prevent the destruction of human knowledge, from the sithe of time." In their quest to document historical remains accurately, authors and artists Jan and Andreas van Rymsdyk illustrate this decomposing skull (with a rib attached) and corroded sword found in the Tiber River. In contrast to Piranesi's idealized presentation of the past (above), the buffeting effects of time-aging and decay-are evident in this stipple engraving from the first highlights catalog of the British Museum, which opened in 1753. Incrustated Scull and Sword, Jan and Andreas van Rymsdyk, 1778 In this etching, Piranesi's son Franceso conceptually restored the fragments from a ruined Roman trophy monument to their pristine state, imagining how they had looked when first presented to Emperor Augustus in the first century B.C. In the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Piranesi recorded the monumental works that the ancient Roman emperor Augustus Caesar erected to commemorate his conquest of Egypt. The special collections of the GRI include many works by artists looking to the past for physical evidence of the perfect and the imperfect. The imperfect is used for processes-for example, continual events, which were enduring as time was passing. The past perfect signifies completion-for example, goals that had been achieved in the past. The past tense can be expressed in the perfect and the imperfect. Trophies of Emperor Augustus, Francesco Piranesi, 1756–1810 The artist suggests that the arts can preserve remnants of the ancient past. Painting and Sculpture recover the fragments under the direction of the gods of transmission, labor, and intellect. In the engraving above, figures representing Time and Death hurl Antiquity-the art and culture of ancient Greece and Rome-to the ground. These objects cast light on how artists of the last four centuries have viewed the past, the present, and the future. In language, time is expressed through tense, and this is the exhibition's main organizing principle. The 2004–2005 theme, "Duration," is one of the inspirations for Past Presence. An annual research theme at the GRI guides activities, including a residential scholars program, conferences, and lectures. This exhibition showcases the wide variety of primary documents and historical objects in the special collections of the Research Library at the GRI. The Getty Research Institute (GRI) dedicates its resources and activities to advancing understanding of the visual arts and their history. The Recovery of Antiquity, Joachim and Johannes Jacob von Sandrart, 1680
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