Rufus Porter's Curious World: Art

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Use with or in material that HAS Use with or in material that the Scientific American logo DOES NOT HAVE the Scientific American logo The background color can be colors associated with the The background color can be Scientific American brand colors associated with the Scientific American brand RECOMMENDED By Andrea Gawrylewski CELEBRATING YEARS 3 4 1 Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815–1860 Edited by Laura Fecych Sprague and Justin Wolff . Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019 ($39.95). Exhibit: 12/12/19 to 5/31/20, Bowdoin College Museum of Art In his obituary in ); 2 this magazine, published on Sep- tember 6, 1884, Rufus Porter is described ); 1 as a “remarkable 2 natural genius” who had a peculiar ten- dency to move quickly from one occupa- ) 4 ( tion and place to another. “Although he work on a new kind of boat intended to tra- might be doing well at the business which verse the Connecticut River. He made his for the time engaged his attention, he primary living as an artist, painting portraits, would sell out and abandon it the moment landscapes and architecture. 1. Plumb and level indicator, circa 1846, New York, N.Y.; SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC a new idea came into his mind,” the writer In 1845 he published the fi rst issue of ); 3 hand-colored engraving, metal pointer, wood frame. remarked. “His brain was an overfl owing Scientifi c American, which he ran for less By Rufus Porter, 1792–1884, designer; and fountain of new ideas and active projects.” than a year before moving on to his next unidentifi ed engraver. Porter was a prolifi c inventor and is occupation. Thankfully, this endeavor en - 2. Rufus Porter, circa 1872; photographic print by an credited with dozens of inventions, includ- dured well beyond his lifetime. The image of unidentifi ed photographer. ing a fl ying ship, a portable camera obscura, our fi rst issue is in this new collection of Por- a rotary plow, and more. He left many of his ter’s works and part of an exhibition along- 3. Revolving almanack, circa 1841; framed engraving by projects unfi nished—this happened with side many of his portraits and illustrations of Samuel Maverick (1789–1845), engraver, after Rufus Porter. a revolving almanac he was perfecting in his inventions, housed at the Bowdoin Col- 4. The fi rst and other early issues of Scientifi c American, COURTESY AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETYCOURTESY AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN ( PHOTOGRAPHY BY LUC DEMERS, BOWDOIN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART, BRUNSWICK, MAINE ( COURTESY HOWARD AND W. JEAN LIPMAN PAPERS, ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION ( 1823, when he quickly changed gears to lege Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine. established in 1845. February 2020, Scientifi cAmerican.com 67 sad0220Reco3p.indd 67 12/10/19 5:13 PM.

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