Transmutations: Alchemy in Art
Selections from the Eddleman and Fisher Collections
Ongoing, Chester G. Fisher Gallery
Admission is free but requires an appointment. See hours and visitor information.
In artistic depictions of alchemy, science and art blend to tell nuanced stories about the cultures that produced the two fields. The tone of European alchemical art from across the centuries can range from representational to humanizing, often using caricature, subtle satire, and theatrical gestures and poses. This exhibit features depictions of chemistry and alchemy from the 17th through the 19th centuries.
The paintings’ subjects include detailed scenes of busy workshops where alchemists perform distillation, metallurgy, uroscopy, and tooth pulling. Portrayals of alchemists range from a figure of human folly to that of an honest laborer. Later paintings show a romanticized view of alchemy, and illustrate how changes in artistic taste and convention also fueled misunderstandings about the practice of alchemy.
Representations like those featured in the exhibit provide insight on the kind of work that alchemists did and on the ways that they have been revered, reviled, and remembered.
This exhibit was made possible by Roy Eddleman, the Fisher Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, and the Midland Foundation.
Related publication
Transmutations: Alchemy in Art
Essays on selected works from the Eddleman and Fisher collections.
Order now
About Chester Garfield Fisher
Chester Garfield Fisher founded Fisher Scientific in 1900 at the age of 20. The company has been a principal supplier of laboratory apparatus throughout the past century. C. G. Fisher was first drawn to alchemical artworks because they included beautifully rendered depictions of laboratory apparatus. He began acquiring alchemical paintings in the 1920s and continued to collect alchemical artworks throughout his lifetime. Fisher Scientific International Inc. donated its collection (which includes paintings, works on paper, and artifacts such as glassware and instruments) to the Chemical Heritage Foundation in March 2000.
About Roy Eddleman
Roy Eddleman, CEO and founder of Spectrum Laboratories, was introduced to paintings of early chemical scenes while in junior high school. When Eddleman started Spectrum in the late 1960s, he began his own art collection, modeling it after Fisher’s. Eddleman’s goal has been to build a collection that memorializes chemistry. In contemplating the wide range of early chemical pursuits displayed in the Eddleman and Fisher Collections, he particularly values that so many of the paintings depict the business of chemistry. He wants it known that alchemists manufactured dyes, paints, and medicines and helped improve the quality of metals and glass. As Eddleman puts it, "People need to realize that alchemy was not simply quackery but includes real science." Roy Eddleman donated his collection of paintings and drawings in November 2002. |
