Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
5. Conclusion
Like any other profession, chemists have been involved in shaping their
public image through the production and dissemination of visual material
that they believe best depicts their profession. Because these images are
often created by commercial artists they are also consciously or, what
appears more likely, unconsciously embedded within specific cultural
traditions and conventions. Thus, unlike fine art representations of chem-
istry,
23
chemists and commercial artists presumably do not seek originali-
ty (in a broad sense) but rather visual conventions that create immediate
associations between the image and chemistry. It can be assumed that in
these cases, chemists intend to show their science in a positive light but
at the same time need commercial artists to produce images that 'excite'
the eye. Therefore, within the highly delineated subject material and
conventions that these images demand, they seek to create interesting
and original images. Although perhaps less overtly articulated than their
formalist qualities, these images also expose conceptual and psycho-
social aspects of the chemistry they seek to represent. Visual images of
chemistry are situated and perceived within the larger cultural context of
chemistry - a science with a dual (some would say split) personality, at
once academic and industry-serving, conceptual and applied - so that
they express the multiple layers of the science itself. As a result they
provide insights into how chemistry seeks to aesthetisize its representa-
tion in the larger culture while simultaneously exposing how the larger
culture comes to understand chemistry through its visual representation.
A qualitative examination of the visual self-representation of chemis-
try reveals that three specific motifs prevail so strongly that they have as-
sumed a stereotypical character: the image of a scientist holding up a
piece of glassware and gazing at its contents as the key pose of chemical
portraiture, chemical landscapes of smokestacks and conduits in atmos-
pherically illuminated skies, and chemical still lifes of various flasks
filled with colored liquids. In this chapter we have examined these motifs
within the broader cultural-historical context. Not surprisingly, all three
'chemical' motifs can be traced back to longer traditions of the fine arts
23
See the virtual art exhibition 'Chemistry in Art' <www.hyle.org/art/cia/> and Spector
& Schummer 2003.
