Reviews
Gillian Armitage on ELEMENTS OF GRACE and COPERNICAN NOTES, Chop Newsletter, Malaspina Printmakers, Nov. 2002
Catherine Stewart outside the Isaac Newton Institute, University of Cambridge, UK
For two months this fall, the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge, England, hosted an exhibition of prints by Malaspina printmaker, Catherine Stewart. Founded in 1992, the Newton Institute attracts leading scientists from around the world to participate in mathematical research programs. This somewhat unusual venue underscores a basic tenet of this exhibit, that of ‘connections’. Stewart holds an undergraduate degree in physics and mathematics and a masters in fine art. This exhibit of two suites of photo etchings unites both disciplines.
Elements of Grace, which was exhibited in the Malaspina Gallery, March 27 – April 21, 2001, juxtaposes exquisitely elegant diagrams from Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica (1729) with photo details of Stewart’s teenaged daughter (ears, eyes, hands, nose, etc.) Each combination is carefully chosen to connect on conceptual, symbolic and visual levels. ‘The eternal (Platonic) forms of the human body can be seen to be visually linked to the eternal forces of nature. A dialectic of sorts occurs with each combination’. C. M. Stewart.
In the Copernican Notes suite, pages from the manuscript Opus Revolutionibus Caelestibus (1543) by Nicholaus Copernicus are combined with blurred, shadowy images of Stewart?s daughter moving, sometimes violently, other times barely perceptibly. This second suite is more complex than the first both in its presentation and execution. Each print comprises five or six plates. Pages of the handwritten Latin text with diagrams, and large, simply etched arcs overlay the photographic images. The prints are presented to us like an open book. The size of the plates and the use of delicate, chine collé papers of the palest ecru replicate the original manuscript.
Julia Hawkins makes the following observation in her review for ‘+ plus’, a University of Cambridge publication. “These works are not only very appealing, with their palette of ochre, terracotta, sepia, cream, and the interweaving lines of manuscript and circles, but also immediately very conceptually successful, no doubt partly because humanity has always willfully persisted in seeing close parallels between the movements of the planets and our own actions and impetus, from medieval astrology to the horoscope columns in today’s tabloids.”
There is something inherently wonderful and timeless about images pulled from the intaglio surface of an etching plate. No other medium can produce such rich, velvety blacks and deep authoritative lines and also the finest and most delicate of scratch marks. It is the perfect vehicle for this body of work replicating all the nuances of line of those ancient manuscripts. And it adds a lush, sensual quality to the photographs, reminiscent of portraits from an earlier time. The work of the 19th century photographer, Julia M. Cameron comes to mind, whose notoriously long exposure times, minutes rather than seconds, captured some sign of movement, intentionally or not.
At the opening reception, Sir John Kingman, Director of the Institute, officially opened the exhibition and introduced Catherine Stewart to the assembly. After the formalities, wine glasses in hand, the crowd which was made up mostly of visiting scientists and Institute staff dispersed to view the work. It was interesting to see and listen to their reactions. All displayed a pervasive curiosity at the sight of elements from their world employed in a very different context. Viewing the work gave them an opportunity to consider the role of mathematics outside the scientific boundaries. Furthermore, it allowed them to contemplate their own relationship, as mathematicians at the beginning of the 21st century, to these seminal works in the history of science.
The ‘connections’ associated with this exhibition are numerous. There are the obvious links to Isaac Newton and between past and present. There are the conceptual connections between the growing awareness of a young girl of herself and the world around her and the scientific awaking generated by the work of Copernicus and Newton in furthering humankind’s understanding of the universe. As well, whenever an artist chooses to exhibit in a place outside the artistic milieu there is a reaching out to another constituent of the community at large. And there are, in this location, the visual links between the artwork and the daily outpouring, scribbling and notations on the many chalkboards that are installed throughout the Newton Institute (including the ‘lift’ and the ‘loo’), forever at the ready for inspiration and discussion to take place.
Finally, in the words of Catherine Stewart spoken at the opening reception, “The practices of science and art have much in common. Both are driven by a creative impulse. Both involve synthesis (gathering in new information and building on past experience). Both can be seen as attempts to interpret our surroundings and to expand our collective understanding of reality.”
The reviewer, Gillian Armitage, is a Canadian West Coast artist and long-time member of the Malaspina Printmakers Society.