For Immediate Release: 07/02/04
CONTACT: JENNIFER KARSON (802) 656-0750

The Fleming Museum Presents

FUNGI, UNICORNS, AND BEACHED WHALES ON VIEW AT THE FLEMING

This Fall, the Fleming Museum presents a suite of four exhibitions on the theme An Eye Toward Nature. The exhibition described below, is one of the four.

Fungi, Unicorns, and Beached Whales: Artists as Naturalists

For millennia, flora and fauna have served as the principal inspiration for artistic creations, from the Lascaux cave paintings and the bestiaries that filled the margins of medieval devotionals to Dutch trompe l'oeil flower paintings. In the 18th century, however, an unprecedented fusion of art and science occurred when natural history matured from a fashionable pastime to a highly respected scientific field premised, in part, on the availability of high-quality illustrations. Blending observation with a finely tuned aesthetic sensibility, artists collaborated with scientists in an international effort to catalog native and exotic species alike. Originally founded as a natural history museum, the Fleming Museum houses a rich and eclectic collection of natural history illustrations, including important works by John James Audubon, Albrecht Dürer, and Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Fungi, Unicorns, and Beached Whales: Artists as Naturalists brings together such classics with works by more contemporary artists such as Charles Demuth and Arthur Dove, who approached nature with an eye toward individual expression rather than systematic classification. Featuring paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, and illustrated books, this exhibition offers a historical overview of the many ways that artists have chosen to represent the natural world around them.

Where: Fleming Museum,
61 Colchester Avenue, Burlington
When: August 31 - December 19, 2004
Hours:
May 1 - Labor Day
Tuesday - Friday, noon - 4 pm
Saturday & Sunday, 1 - 5 pm
Labor Day - April 30
Tuesday - Friday, 9 am - 4 pm
Saturday & Sunday, 1 - 5 pm.
Closed Mondays and major holiday weekends.
Admission: $5 adults, $10 family, $3 students and seniors. Free to Museum members; UVM, Burlington College, Champlain College, Community College of Vermont, and St. Michael's College faculty, staff, and students; and children 6 and under.
Contact: (802) 656-0750
Recorded: (802) 656-2090
Web: www.flemingmuseum.org

The University of Vermont's Robert Hull Fleming Museum houses Vermont's most comprehensive collection of art and anthropological artifacts. Metered parking is available in the Fleming Museum Visitor Lot between the Museum and Fletcher Allen Health Care. Free parking is available Saturday and Sunday in the University lot on the West side of the Museum. The Fleming Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums.