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Paradiesische Alternativen. Das "lebende Tierinventar" der Rosa Bonheur

Contribution and context: The text appears in an edited volume, Vom Objekt zum Bild. Piktorale Prozesse in Kunst und Wissenschaft, 1600-2000. The book, edited by Bettina Gockel is a special issue of the Zurich Studies in the History of Art. It offers a reconsideration of the still life genre by tracing relations between things and the processes that lead to their pictorial representation, founded upon an interdisciplinary approach combining the history of art with the history of geology, zoology, botany, and chemistry.

During the nineteenth century the French artist Rosa Bonheur actively shaped her biosphere. Believing in the utopia of direct contact with nature as well as following the precision of zoological representations, she produced detailed studies of wildlife. This essay links Bonheur's queer lifestyle to an analysis of her day-to-day art production and emphasises the central role of her extensive collection of living animals. Surprisingly her studio accommodated almost exclusively taxidermied bodies. Death is the prerequisite for images of harmonious nature, untouched by the chaos of evolution, while the stilled lives challenge the artist's self-staging.