Opening of Sketching Splendor: American Natural History 1750-1850

Enjoy refreshments and get the first look at the American Philosophical Society’s 2024 exhibition, Sketching Splendor: American Natural History 1750-1850. The exhibition explores how William Bartram, Titian Ramsay Peale, and John James Audubon made sense of nature’s complexities through their writings, drawings, and watercolors. It highlights their approaches to capturing the natural world during a time of rapid intellectual, social, and political change. Highlights include William Bartram’s map of the Alachua Savanna, Titian Ramsay Peale’s watercolors from the Long Expedition, and one volume of John James Audubon’s original Birds of America. A video installation titled Field Companion, 2021, by Philadelphia-based artists Nadia Hironaka and Matthew Suib will also be on view.