Dossier "Insects, Art and Science in the Modern Age"

Revista Figura
www.figura.art.br
Deadline: August 31, 2018
contatofigura.art.br

From its beginnings, humanity has lived intensely with the insects, which are prevailing forms of life in the terrestrial environment. Relations of good and evil, established over millennia with these small animals crossed through various civilizations, are duly enshrined in stereotyped symbols in the imaginary of the Christian West in the centuries preceding the Industrial Revolution. Representations of beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, bees and flies, although very frequent in artistic iconography of the time, have been sparingly recorded and considered in studies of the image. When properly evaluated, such included small details bring to the surface much of the knowledge and imagery of the humanity of yesterday and even today. The proposed interdisciplinary dossier “Insects, Art and Science in the Modern Age”, in which Zoology joins the History of Art, intends to highlight the importance of these small animals in the iconography of the Modern Age and demonstrate the potential of their proper consideration. The omnipresence of these “miraculous reductions of the mystery and magic of grand divine design” will be treated here conceptually in analogy with the notions of micro- and macrocosm, in which the detail holds a key to the comprehension of the whole.

Art historians interested in collaborating with the dossier should send proposals to contatofigura.art.br. Articles must have between 20,000 and 75,000 characters with spaces and they must present, after the title and the author’s name (with academic degree and affiliation), an abstract in English. We accept texts in English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. General rules can be found in http://www.figura.art.br/contact.html.