Unity of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and the Americas opens at the Americas Society

NEW YORK, NY.- Americas Society presents the exhibition Unity of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and the Americas, guest curated by Georgia de Havenon and Alicia Lubowski-Jahn, accompanied by a one-day-international symposium on April 30 at Hunter College. The show focuses on the trajectory and legacy of the prolific Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) who traveled from 1799 to 1804 throughout modern-day Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. During his lifetime, the journey would result in significant contributions to the understanding and study of tropical nature.

Unity of Nature presents a selection of outstanding landscapes, rare first-edition publications and maps, scientific instruments, and archival materials, as well as a cabinet by contemporary artist Mark Dion, all assembled together for the first time in this exhibition. The works provide insight into the scientist’s working methods and demonstrate Humboldt’s extensive scholarship and widespread influence on artists from Europe and the United States, as well as men of state and scientists. The title of the exhibition references Humboldt’s self-described aim to “represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces....”

Read the full feature here.