In response to Mathew Craske's prize winning recent biography of Joseph Wright of Derby, Huntington curators Joel Klein and Melinda McCurdy discuss Wright's iconic painting, Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump (1768) in the exhibition, "Science and the Sublime: A Masterpiece by Joseph Wright of Derby," in the context of older traditions of European art and of the history of science.
Author J. Drew Lanham discusses what it means to embrace the full breadth of his African American heritage and his deep kinship to nature and adoration of birds. The convergence of ornithologist, college professor, poet, author, and conservation activist blend to bring our awareness of the...