With joint roles as teaching assistant professor of museum studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Deirdre Madeleine Smith has an interdisciplinary approach to the history of visual culture and philosophical inquiry.
Some of her recent work has been with the museum’s natural history art collection, which includes thousands of prints, drawings, paintings and photographs that tie together art and the natural world. From photographs of wide-eyed does to paintings of salamanders, the collection is made up of a wide variety of works that extend back into the late 19th century.
“This collection archives fascinating stories about the history of art and image making, the history of science, the history of the museum and the history of animal and plant life,” says Smith.
“This collection archives fascinating stories about the history of art and image making, the history of science, the history of the museum and the history of animal and plant life,” says Smith.
She is not only interested in art featuring animals but also has published on the creation of art by animals. Rather than determining whether or not animals can create art, Smith looks at the creations of two species to reflect on what humans mean by art in the first place. Chimpanzees and bowerbirds are the most common animals singled out in debates on animal art due to their history of painting and elaborate mating rituals, respectively.
“Situating the practices of these two species within art history and the philosophy of art reveals that the story of art has always exceeded human boundaries,” Smith says. “It challenges us to rethink art as a continuum of aesthetic and social life across species.”