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Reading Nature, Observing Science: Examining Material Practices in the Lick Observatory Archives and Kenneth S. Norris Papers

Case 5: Illustrating the Cosmos

The images on the top shelf of case 5 display a selection of astronomical illustrations from the Lick Observatory archives. Notably, the archives contain sketches and correspondence from famous astronomical illustrator Étienne Trouvelot. Did the ideas and images offered by artists like Trouvelot have an impact on the way astronomers at the Lick perceived the cosmos? Can astronomical illustrations count as factual data? When observing the cosmos, can objectivity be disentangled from aesthetic experience? Click the above link to read more about this topic.

Our research in the Lick Observatory archives has uncovered correspondence and sketches from Étienne Trouvelot, a French artist and astronomer known for his whimsical illustrations of celestial objects. Trouvelot worked with the Lick Observatory's first director, Edward S. Holden, at the U.S. Naval Observatory while Holden was a professor of astronomy there. It seems they continued to communicate throughout Holden's tenure at the Lick.

Even though Holden also created astronomical illustrations in his own scrapbook, he held that the photographic image was much more objective and factual than the illustration. As an artist and a scientist, Trouvelot occupies an interesting position within the nineteenth-century discussion of objectivity. In one letter to Holden, not displayed here, he suggests that a good observer must possess both "fire and ice." It seems that for Trouvelot, interfacing with the cosmos was both an aesthetic experience and an act of cool judgement; we can perhaps sense this tension between sensation and sensibility in his illustrations, two of which are displayed in this exhibition. In another letter to Holden, displayed here, he urges Holden to consider the capacities of the eye and the advantages of observing the cosmos directly through the telescope, rather than relying secondarily on the images produced by the camera. We wonder how Trouvelot's relationship with the Lick ultimately impacted the images created there.

An oversized set of prints of Trouvelot's drawings (approximately 2' by 3') was gifted to the Lick Observatory. These prints are accessible through UCSC Special Collections, or they can be viewed online through the digital collections of the New York Public Library.

The archives also contain several illustrations created by other astronomers at the Lick Observatory; displayed here are illustrations and sketches by James Keeler and J.M. Schaeberle, as well as images collected in the archives from astronomers at other observatories. Additionally, on display in Case 3: In Relation to Nature are the personal scrapbook and copybook of astronomers Holden and Charles D. Perrine, in which they recorded their observations both numerically and pictorially, using sketches, light distribution charts, and even vividly descriptive notes alongside measurement logs.

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1. Case 5: Illustrating the Cosmos The images on the top shelf of case 5 display a selection of astronomical illustrations from the Lick Observatory archives. Notably, the archives contain sketches and correspondence from famous astronomical illustrator Étienne Trouvelot. Did the ideas and images offered by artists like Trouvelot have an impact on the way astronomers at the Lick perceived the cosmos? Can astronomical illustrations count as factual data? When observing the cosmos, can objectivity be disentangled from aesthetic experience? Click the above link to read more about this topic.
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2. Velvet Cases The velvet case contains a chest of slides from Norris's slide collection, along with a handwritten inventory. Twelve of the slides in this case are featured in the listed images, although they do not actually correspond to the titles in the written inventory. The featured slides document various species of lizards, snakes, frogs, and toads, as well as desert habitats throughout California and New Mexico. As the majority of these slides are dated 1948, they are representative of Norris's work in desert ecology during his studies at UCLA. These velvet cases also contain atlases from UCSC Special Collections that pertain to the theme of Reading Nature.
6. Kenneth S. Norris: Natural History Field Quarter
7. Kenneth S. Norris: Echolocation
8. Case 5: Illustrating the Cosmos The images on the top shelf of case 5 display a selection of astronomical illustrations from the Lick Observatory archives. Notably, the archives contain sketches and correspondence from famous astronomical illustrator Étienne Trouvelot. Did the ideas and images offered by artists like Trouvelot have an impact on the way astronomers at the Lick perceived the cosmos? Can astronomical illustrations count as factual data? When observing the cosmos, can objectivity be disentangled from aesthetic experience? Click the above link to read more about this topic.
9. Case 5: Photographing the Cosmos The middle and bottom shelves of case 5 display documents, images, and objects related to the early astrophotographic work of the Lick Observatory. Is it possible to obtain "objective" representations of celestial objects like galaxies and nebula when their details are invisible even in the telescope? How were Lick astronomers' ideas about the objectivity of the camera filtered through the aesthetic concern to produce visually stunning photographs? How is our idea of the reality of the cosmos--then, as now--a matter of aesthetic expectations created by certain standards and conventions of representation? Click the above link to read more.

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In the book, Trouvelot writes, "Those unacquainted with the use of optical instruments generally suppose that all astronomical drawings are obtained by the photographic process, and are, therefore, comparatively easy to procure; but this is not true. Although photography renders valuable assistance to the astronomer in the case of the Sun and Moon, as proved by the fine photographs of these objects taken by M. Janssen and Mr. Rutherfurd ; yet, for other subjects, its products are in general so blurred and indistinct that no details of any great value can be secured. A well-trained eye alone is capable of seizing the delicate details of structure and of configuration of the heavenly bodies, which are liable to be affected, and even rendered invisible, by the slightest changes in our atmosphere."