| USA. Age of Darwin exhibition has large collection of Harvard University’s Blaschka models |
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| Thursday, 19 October 2006 | |
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Exhibition news: Today Underwater Adventures Aquarium(R) at the Mall of America unveils "The Glass Sea Treasures of Harvard: The Age of Darwin," the largest collection of Blaschka models Harvard University has ever allowed to travel. German artisans Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka hand-crafted these delicate life-like models in the mid-19th century, in response to worldwide interest in Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. The Blaschkas went on to create Harvard's world-famous collection of "Glass Flowers." Originally used as teaching tools in Museums around the world, these exquisite glass sculptures have been painstakingly restored to their original beauty. They have been described as "artistic marvels in the field of science and scientific marvels in the field of art," but they also played a surprising role in the development of modern scientific thought. "The world is reawakening to the Blaschkas as legendary artists and icons of the Darwinian revolution," notes Underwater Adventures Aquarium President Todd Peterson, who joined with scholars at the University of Dublin for the first "Blaschka Congress" in early October. "The irony is that although these models were available as early as 1860, Harvard's Museum championed Creationism for two decades before finally adding these exotic examples of the diversity of life that Darwin famously observed." The Glass Sea Treasures of Harvard exhibit is on loan from Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Museum was founded by renowned naturalist Louis Agassiz in 1859, the same year Darwin published his Origin of Species. Agassiz, the leading American scientist of his day, disagreed with Darwin's theories, though both studied marine life extensively. The story of the Glass Sea Treasures follows Harvard's -- and the world's -- reluctance to embrace the revolutionary ideas of Darwin. The Glass Sea Treasures Story Harvard's priceless collection of 433 Blaschka invertebrate models and over 4,000 glass flowers is by far the largest in the world. Underwater Adventures spent 5 years developing this traveling exhibit, with the help of Harvard University, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Minnesota Historical Society. Guests can view 29 prized specimens, along with an aquarium containing live animals featured in the collection. This special exhibit is offered free as part of the Aquarium's admission cost. The Blaschkas' glassmaking secrets were passed from generation to generation for nearly five centuries until the death of Rudolf in 1939. He had no children, and trained no apprentices to continue his family's unmatched tradition. Modern glassmakers have been unable to reproduce the Blaschkas' techniques, making their oeuvre a true "lost art." Beyond Harvard, the next largest collection had resided in the Blaschkas' hometown of Dresden, Germany. That collection was destroyed by bombing in World War II. |
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