ARTH4316 · Fine Arts

History of Scientific Illustration

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

What role do images play in the production of scientific knowledge? This course explores the different ways artists, scientists, and philosophers have answered this question from the Scientific Revolution to the present. We will adopt a broad definition of scientific illustration, looking at examples that range from seventeenth-century paintings of monstrous oddities to twenty-first-century brain scans. Major topics will include the relationship between art and science, the aesthetics of the diagram, the concept of visual objectivity, and the history of data visualization. We will examine the use and abuse of images in scientific rhetoric, from the visual foundations of scientific racism to contemporary depictions of climate change. Through historical case studies, students will learn how aesthetic conventions and design innovations have been used tomanipulate information. By the end of the semester, students will have the ability to interpret images with a more discerning eye, critically analyzing how knowledge is constructed through representation.