American Hall of Wonders Looks Backward

"Scientists at Work" (1894/1895

Before there was author Pierre Boulle, before there was actor Charlton Heston, before there was Planet of the Apes (the 1968 original, not last year's remake), there was artist William Holbrook Beard. In 1894, Beard painted "Scientists at Work." But instead of scientists, Beard peopled his painting with well-dressed, pondering, persuing monkeys, which critics found one of the first satiric coments on the debate about evolution raging at the time.

Beard's painting is just 1 of more than 150 artworks and artifacts that make up The American Hall of Wonders exhibit, which is in its last week here at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The exhibit is designed to capture the imagination behind the art, science, and invention of Americans in the 19th Century. The introductory piece is a large painting of  artist Charles Wilson Peale welcoming guests into a museum he created in 19th Century Philadelphia to highlight the changing face and shape of a rapidly growing America. Visitors then stroll through a series of rooms, each echoing Peale's painting with a red velvet stage curtain pulled aside.

Some of the rooms highlight the vastness of nature that was America. There is a room devoted to bison, one to the magestic wonder of Niagra Falls, another to the giant redwoods of California where 19 lumberjacks could fit in the notch of a Sequoia.  There are sections devoted to newly developing sciences:  zoology, botany, geology.  And then there are a series of rooms devoted to the inventions that allowed America to expand from sea to shining sea and eventually assume world dominance: the clock (time is money), the steamship, the train and the gun.

The exhibit is closing Jan. 8, but you can view a slideshow, listen to podcasts, and read articles about the Hall of Wonder by clicking here.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
One of the best things about living in the city of the free museums you visit is that you can go back and check out exhibits whenever you want. After we viewed the Hall of Wonder, Judy returned for another look at the Seeing Gertrude Stein exhibit, which she had named the best curated exhibit we saw last year. You can see what we originally said about the Stein showing by checking out the Dec. 4th entry in the archives section of this blog which is located after the current  posts.