The eyes of scallops and the creativity of submarine animals: convergence and conflict in science, philosophy and art

Abstract

What could be more curious than the eyes of underwater animals? What do they see in their alien, watery world? In the early twentieth century, there was unprecedented observation of underwater life forms using aquariums. Central to this article is an aquarium photograph of a scallop – scientifically known as Pecten – taken by scientist Francis Ward in collaboration with scientist, William Dakin. Through investigation of the image, the article first explains the story behind the generation of the image, then links the image to debates on the eyes of Pecten in the philosophy of Henri Bergson, and lastly draws connections between the expressive dimensions of the image and modern art. Taking the eyes of scallops as a case study, the article addresses the expanding science of marine animals, technologies of underwater observation, and the impact of evolutionary biology, especially the perceived similarity of scallop eye and human eye, to modern thought. The argument is made that from 1900 to 1917 an interest in underwater animal vision and the creativity of nature created common ground between disparate figures in science, philosophy and art and that despite modernity’s concern for autonomy these disciplines became entangled and mutually informing.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Ann Elias

Ann Elias is Professor of Art History at the University of Sydney. Fields of interest include camouflage in art, nature and war, the cultural history of flowers in art and visual culture, and the history and aesthetics of visual representations of oceans. Her latest book is Coral Empire: Underwater Oceans, Colonial Tropicals, and Visual Modernity (Duke UP, 2019). Recent work investigates intersections of the environmental history and visual culture of the floor of Sydney Harbour.