Professor North Dakota State University Fargo, North Dakota
In the Western world, the Age of Industry (1820‒1920) was a time of artistic expansion. The prevalence of Baroque and Rococo art in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave way to Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and by the twentieth century there were multiple artistic movements, including realism, impressionism, neo-impressionism, and art nouveau, among others. In the Age of Industry, people were fascinated with living creatures and the natural world. Subject material within the visual arts proliferated from the previously dominant themes of mythology, religion, and use of insects as symbols to represent human concepts and emotions. There was a transition in the use of insect imagery from metaphorical to fanciful and realistic and representations of insects and the role they played in society diversified, although a dichotomy remained between positively and negatively perceived arthropods. Artists captured the complex interplay between humans and insects, as well as interactions between insects and other species. There was a growing appreciation of insects, from celebrating their remarkable appearance, to documenting their diversity, to advancing scientific knowledge. Entomology blossomed in the Age of Industry, or perhaps what could arguably be called, the Age of Insects. This talk will highlight how insects were represented in art during this time period.
