The Maria Sibylla Merian conference of 2017

Changing the Nature of Art and Science.
Intersections with Maria Sibylla Merian

In commemoration of her death three hundred years ago, the Maria Sibylla Merian Society organized in cooperation with the University of Amsterdam, the Artis Academy and the Artis Library an international conference on 7, 8 and 9 June 2017, titled Changing the Nature of Art and Science. Intersections with Maria Sibylla Merian. The aim of the conference was to bring together new research and projects relating to Maria Sibylla Merian. With her life and work as a focal point this conference also discussed topics that relate to Merian from a broader perspective.

Topics that were included:

• the religious, scientific, commercial, artistic context in which Merian worked and the overlapping  areas among these cultural fields
• techniques and visual strategies of natural history illustration
• cultures of collecting and book production
• entomological research in Merian’s time
• new biographical and archival research into Merian’s life
• Merian’s networks in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Amsterdam and Surinam
• Surinam as a colony and a place for commerce and study
• female naturalists, collectors and artists
• Merian’s influence on later naturalists and illustrators of natural history
• Merian’s heritage in a broader sense
• Merian’s art as inspirations for modern artists and novelists

For a link to the the official conference website, click HERE. To download the pdf’s with the official program and a full overview of the speakers and the abstracts, click the buttons below.