Mid-term reflection and project progress report

When I first began this project, I was really unsure about what I would be able to do. The subject Alexander von Humboldt is a fairly complicated person and scientist. As a person who comes from an art background, I was interested in him due to his skills in drawing

Alexander von Humboldt, Self Portrait in Paris 1814 at age 45

and his influence in the areas of archaeology as well as his influence on painters like Frederic Church. The fact that he was able to travel and create an enormous number of drawings like the sketches that this etching was made from: He writes: "In the month of September, 1801, we passed these natural bridges of Icononzo, on our journey from Santa Fé de Bogota to Popayan and Quito." (Humboldt, 1814)

Ponts natural d'Icononzo, (Humboldt, 1814)

His other skills included taking scientific measurements and collect samples of plants before there were cameras, air travel, the automobile or any other modern conveniences elevates his achievements even higher. The lush landscapes created by landscape artists in the 19th century have a jungle atmosphere and I was never able to understand where that influence actually came from until now.

In a blog for the Schiller Institute describing the birth of the Hudson River School of Painting,
http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/eiw_this_week/2014/oct26_1825-hudson_river_school.html

Stephen Carr describes the influence that Humboldt had on Frederic Church. Frederic Church traced many of the routes Humboldt took. This excerpt of Humboldt's excursion from his 1814 book on his researches must have inspired Church:

"In scaling the volcano of Cotopaxi, it is extremely difficult to attain the inferior houndary        of the perpetual snows, as we experienced in an excursion we made in the month May, in the year 1802. The cone is surrounded by deep crevices, which at the moment of the eruptions bear down scorae, pumice stone, water, and blocks of ice, to Rio Napo, and Rio de los Alaques. After a nearer examination of the summit of Cotopaxi, we may venture to assert, that it would be impossible to reach the brink of the crater." (Humboldt,1814)

This painting of the volcano Cotopaxi by Church which Carr describes as depicting the climate of the United States during the Civil War which is referred to in the preceding passage and was drawn by Humboldt.(Carr, 2014)

Frederic Edwin Church, Cotopaxi, oil on canvas, 1862 

However the scientific work that he did in his travels is rather complicated and the scientific influence that his work had is fairly complex and hard to depict in a limited time period. I am not really sure I understand some of the things he did and his discoveries. One runs the risk of not covering the work that he did sufficiently and representing his achievements in a diminutive fashion. 

I have been fairly frustrated that I do not have the time or budget to represent this subject in a way that I feel he should be represented. I find modern culture/entertainment extremely shallow and a film that accurately depicted his achievements could actually be very engaging.  

At this point, I am thinking that the film will be similar to the films created by Ken Burns. I intend to have drawings, etchings and other illustrations created or collected by Humboldt which were published in his books with a voice over. This was a drawing of an art work in the collection of an M. Dupe who was a captain in the "service of the catholic majesty." (Humboldt, 1814)

Aztec Priestess Buste d'une Priestesse Azteque, (Humboldt,1814)

This was created by a student of the Academy of Painting at Mexico and is in the book,  Researches concerning Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America, Vol. l (Humboldt, 1814) I can totally identify with drawing individual art works as a part of creating an archaeological encyclopedia having spent quite a bit of time at the Field Museum in Chicago sketching masks and American Indian art work in the process of creating a sketchbook of inspirations for my art work. In his descriptions, he compares this sculpture to depictions of Isis:"Perhaps the fluted pads, which in the Mexican statue extend towards the shoulders, are masses of hair, like the tresses in a statue of Isis, of Greek workmanship, placed in the library of the Villa Ludovisi at Rome."(Humboldt, 1814) It is interesting to read his thoughts because Humboldt was originally going to go to Egypt and join Napoleon before he decided to go to South America. Humboldt drew many drawings as well such as this depiction of the Aztec calendar:

Aztec Calendar, Humboldt, 1814

However trying to describe his influence on scientific thought is more complicated and I am not sure that I can adequately cover this subject. It would be interesting to interview Aaron Sachs, the author of The Humboldt Current in this film. He is a professor of history at Cornell University but I really do not think I will have time to do that. (Sachs, 2006)

I think in the final analysis, this video will be a study. I have used Animoto to make a demo of images so that I can get an idea of the length of time the images take and how they progress. This has helped me to get an idea of what the resulting video will be like. I am planning on using some of these images in my film as well as when I create the story board which will be created by modifying the script and adding the appropriate image with the script.

   

My resulting video will be somewhat impaired by the fact that the laptop I had just bought to use in creating this video was stolen so I hope that I will be able to put together a video using the equipment I have right now.  The end result will be a product of the research that I am able to do and compile together. I do not think it will be a definitive study of Alexander von Humboldt. At this point I am enjoying reading his works and hope that the resulting video will describe some of his accomplishments adequately. I really hope that I will be able to add an audio which works with the visual images and that it will make sense.

References

Carr, S.  2014, "This Week in History October 26-November 1, 2014, The Hudson River School of Painting, Established in 1825" Blog Post, The Schiller Institute webpage, October 26, 2014.

retrieved from http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/eiw_this_week/2014/oct26_1825-hudson_river_school.html

Alexander von Humboldt self portrait retrieved from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt

Humboldt, A, 1814, Researches concerning Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America, Vol. l Translated into English by Helen Maria Williams  Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, J. Murray & H. Coburn, London 1814, Oliver's Bookshelf webpage, Oliver Cowdery.com

retrieved from http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1814Humb.htm

Sachs, A., 2006, The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism, Viking Adult, New York.