Martha Glowacki’s Natural History, Observations and Reflections Martha Glowacki’s Natural History | Page 7

Director’s Foreword
Martha Glowacki has been an important and influential
artist in the region for many years. She was one of the
featured artists in the exhibition Cabinets of Curiosities:
Four Artists, Four Visions presented at the Chazen (then
Elvehjem) in 2000. Following the exhibition, the
museum acquired her cabinet piece entitled My Arcadia
(2000) for the permanent collection and it has been a
prominent presence in Gallery XVI since the new
museum building opened in 2011.
I have continued to follow Martha’s career because
she—more than many artists today—has a profound
interest in the relationship between art and science.
Martha is not only a practicing artist; she is also very
knowledgeable about the history of science. She has
spent countless hours poring over rare old texts on
the subject both at the UW–Madison Libraries’ rare
book departments and other similar collections around
the country.
The connection between art and science may be making
news today, but the relationship has a long history.
When Europeans, particularly in the fifteenth century,
following the example set by antiquity, took a renewed
interest in the observation of the natural world, the
artist was a scientist and the scientist was an artist.
This consonance is obvious in the use of geometry and
perspective to measure and proportion space by artists
such as Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca,
and the exquisite anatomical drawings of Leonardo da
Vinci. Especially in the latter, the modern-day art
observer can discern how carefully and minutely the
artist studied the human body. Leonardo’s drawings
are both scientifically accurate and exquisite works of
art. Leonardo has applied all of his artistic skill to
render what he has learned about the anatomy of the
human body through careful observation and analysis.
Alberti and Piero, like others of their milieu, learned to
measure the world accurately and show how people and
things related in physical space. For almost a century, art
and science were effectively one and the same.
Over time, our scientific knowledge has become more
and more specialized and complex. And, artists of the
twentieth century have, in large part, turned away from
observation and depiction of the physical world. Art
and science have separated into two distinct categories
of human experience and understanding. No one would
disagree with the assertion that our understanding of
the physical world today, and its benefits to our society,
is far beyond anything even dreamed of during the
fifteenth century. However, artists like Martha Glowacki,
and even some scientists, are asking, “Was something
perhaps lost in the process? ”
Martha Glowacki’s art merits our attention. It con-
sciously reflects her profound interest in the history
of science and engages our own intellectual curiosity:
What are these things? How do they work? How were
they made? But at the same time her works appeal to
our eye. In their own right, they are exquisite and
wonderful to look at. It almost doesn’t matter what they
are or once were. They are beautiful. Knowledge of
their origins only adds another layer to our appreciation
of them.
Martha, thank you and congratulations.
Russell Panczenko, Director
Chazen Museum of Art
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