Talsarnau, North Wales

Museum Practicum: Objection Blog, American Philosophical Society (APS)

Oktavia LaBarge, October 10, 2013

Title: Talsarnau, North Wales

Year: ca.1805

Material: Pen and brown ink and brown wash over pencil

Creator: Cornelius Varley

Collection: American Philosophical Society: Through the Looking Lens: Cornelius Varley’s Wondrous Images of Art and Science, 1800-1860

This is a work of art from Talsarnau, North Wales from 1805 by Cornelius Varley, depicting workers unloading supplies from a boat.  What is interesting about this piece, is what people would consider the most important parts, the boat, the people, and the house, are all unfinished.  In contrast the sky in the background seems to be where Varley focused most of his attention.  The background creates an almost luminous feeling in the painting and seems to be almost threatening. This object is in the American Philosophical Society museum or the APS, in an exhibition dedicated to Cornelius Varley.  Varley was an artist in the late 18th century and early 19th century.  Through the exploration of art, Varley expanded his practice to science and invention and created the Patent Graphic Telescope or PGT.  The PGT, looks like a telescope and reflects the object that one is looking at onto a piece of paper, where the user can trace the image.  

The APS borrowed many different artworks of Varley from different locations. This particular object is from the Yale Center for British Art, a gift of Lowell Libson. The museum had in its collection manuscripts that belonged to Varley.  The APS was originally a society of scientist that was created by Benjamin Franklin in 1743.  Eventually the APS broadened its membership to people from all different educational disciplines.  Many of the members donated different objects to the APS, which may have been where they received some of the objects from the Cornelius Varley exhibition.

  This artwork was located at the end of the exhibition which is a timeline of Varley’s life.  The last section of the exhibition is Varley’s work from 1845 to 1860.  However, the work Talsarnau, North Wales was created in 1805.   It is placed in this section to reveal a comparison between the painting next to it which is also called Talsarnau, North Wales.  The work next to it reveals the development of Varley’s work overtime.  In comparison to the work from 1805 this work is finished, but also has a completely different overall feeling.  The sky does not create a sense of a storm coming, but rather reflects a calm landscape. It is interesting to see how the later works of Varley developed after the invention of the PGT.  This work of art is important for the visitors of the museum because it shows how Varley’s art work has developed over time and how the PGT affected the development of his work.

        The label reveals the comparison between the two works by Varley, stating the time difference between the two.  The label at the beginning of this section discusses what Varley was doing at this stage of his life.  This points out the two works and how he made watercolor replicas of his earlier works. He may have done this to see for himself how he had changed as an artists.

        Someone who might not be interested in learning about Varley or his artworks may be someone who is not interested in art.  This person may not think that Varley should have his own exhibition because he is not a well known artists and a lot of his work is not finished.  In addition, someone who is interested in modern and contemporary art would not like the work of Varley because they are primarily landscapes.  I do not think a lot of children would be interested in Varley because many of his works are very science based and this exhibition may not make very much sense to them. 

Some experiences that I would develop to engage the viewers with this object would involve having the APS offer a drawing class where different people learned to draw using the PGT.  This would give visitors a deeper understanding of Varley’s process in creating art.  Another way that I would engage viewers with this object would be to create a larger space between the Talsarnau from 1805 and the one from a later date.  I would next give visitors sticky notes and ask them to compare and contrast the two works.  This would give visitors an opportunity to become interactive in the exhibition and allow for other visitors to see how people interpret the two works.