Saturday, December 22, 2007—Sunday, June 15, 2008Gallery 315Free Exhibition
The MIA possesses an impressive collection of more than two thousand botanical prints and drawings. This exhibition highlights a selection of floral illustrations including beautiful images by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Jean Louis Prévost, Priscilla Susan Bury, and Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer. It is part of a museum-wide tribute to the 25th anniversary of Art in Bloom, presented by the Friends of the Institute.
Saturday, December 22, 2007—Sunday, June 15, 2008Galleries 315 and 316Free Exhibition
In 1699, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) sailed to Suriname to draw and study the insects of the rain forest. She was particularly fascinated by the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies and moths, and her images reveal their successive stages of development from egg to caterpillar, pupa, and mature adult. The book that resulted from her two-year study, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Transformation of Suriname Insects), included ninety studies of insects, most drawn life-size. A pioneer in a long line of female botanical artists Merian was the first to depict insects in relation to their host plants. This exhibition features twenty of Merian’s images of Suriname, selected from the MIA's permanent collection.