Past Time: Geology in European and American Art

About the publication

Past Time: Geology in European and American Art looks at sketches and studies made by European and American artists from the 1770s to the 1890s who were engaged with a new, scientific emphasis on the Earth. In this arguably golden age of art and science, artists traveled and investigated the land internationally, noting Earth’s craggy features keenly in their watercolors, drawings, and oil sketches made on the spot or back in the studio. From a topographical, often strata-focused means to a later mode that evoked nature’s great transformational powers over time, this major loan exhibition explores European and American artists pursuing geological wonders.

This 144-page accompanying catalogue is by Curator Patricia Phagan with an essay by Jill A. Schneiderman. It includes an index and color images of every object featured in the exhibition Past Time: Geology in European and American Art, on display at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, from September 21 to December 9, 2018.