Decoding Humboldt's Frontispiece

• In Event: Cooptations: History’s Lesson in Sampling Visual Narratives

Abstract

Embracing the scientific shift of the eighteenth century, German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt set off to explore the Americas equipped with a new lens of observation. His writings of over thirty volumes inspired Spanish Americans to applaud their natural riches as they embarked on their quest for independence. At the same time he incited Europeans to expand and reassess their explorations and travels to the "New Continent"––as he preferred to call it––with renewed interest. Despite repositioning the Americas within the global landscape, in recent years Humboldt has been strongly criticized for his imperial gaze, particularly for relegating the indigenous populations to a secondary position (Pratt, Pérez Mejía, Leask). In particular, critics have focused on the frontispiece of his Atlas Géographique (1814) to highlight the disjuncture between his acclaimed ethnographic interest and his visual illustrations. Based on a drawing by the well-known French painter François Gérard, the frontispiece brings together discrete images of the Old and New Worlds. Focusing on the heterogeneous images and their relationship to other illustrations in Humboldt's work, this paper offers new readings of the multiple ways in which the cultural exchange might be conceived in Humboldt's illustration.

Author

• Nina Gerassi-Navarro, Tufts University