100 Years of Progress: Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art
100 Years of Progress, oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in, 2021. Installation view at Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art. Bizzell Memorial Library, permanent collection, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK.
It was an honor to be included in the 108th SoVA Student Exhibition this year at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma. I received the Excellence in Painting Award, selected by this year’s juror Jennifer Scanlan, for my painting 100 Years of Progress. The work depicts a solar eclipse and includes stars from the taurus constellation in the same position as the 1919 eclipse used to prove Einstein’s theory of relativity.
100 Years of Progress, oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in, 2021.
The Solar Eclipse
Much of our understanding of the universe today is built upon Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. It was proven in 1919 during the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington was interested in “Einstein’s theory because of its wide-ranging implications for astrophysics and cosmology.” (Coles, P., 2019) Eddington sought to observe the bending of light around the sun during that years solar eclipse. By photographing the position of stars before and during the eclipse, the shift in observed position of these stars could be measured. It proves that light is bent through he curvature of space caused by the gravitational field of the sun. This new understanding shapes the future of physics and the understanding of our universe.
It also establishes the solar eclipse as a powerful symbol of the modern world. Historically many cultures considered the solar eclipse to be a bad omen and were “seen as cosmic interruptions.” (Bromwich, J., 2017) In the 20th century it marks the beginning of the post WWI era, a raging pandemic that killed 50,000,000 people, and a new understanding of the nature of physics. On 6/21/2020 a solar eclipse marked another global pandemic and record temperatures recorded in the Arctic Circle. Temperatures reached 100 degrees in Siberia. As you can see the solar eclipse can act as a marker or a signpost for our relationship with the world and universe. It can be read as a powerful symbol of contemporary thought, emotion and activity.
Bromwich, J. (2017) ‘The Demons of Darkness Will Eat Men, and Other Solar Eclipse Myths’, The New York Times, 18 August, Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/science/solar-eclipse-myths.html
Coles, P. (2019) ‘Einstein, Eddington and the 1919 eclipse’, Nature, 15 April, Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01172-z