HYLAND
he twentieth century saw the ascent of
abstraction, and yet, nothing, if truth be told, delights us
as much as verisimilitude. The perfection and imitation of
nature—mimesis—is a human and especially an artistic
urge, whether the form be literary or visual.
HYLAND Editor Kyle Marshall recently had occasion to visit
the Ariana Museum in Geneva, and there saw an astonishing
variety of eighteenth century fish and vegetable matter in
faience. The eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, saw
an unusual synthesis, perhaps never again to be equaled,
between scientific illustration and art, epitomized in the
early part of the century by the botanical and entomological
drawings, sensuously precise, of Maria Sibylla Merian. But
faience is more folly than science, ersatz food in dishes
created purely to please rather than instruct. Nevertheless,
these ceramic delicacies convince as well as charm us.
T
Plat aux asperfes; Sceaux (France), vers 1755, faïence, polychromie
de petit feu; Succession Lucie Schmidheiny, 2001 Inc. AR 2001-238
