The Discovery of Adam

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The Discovery of Adam

Artist William Holbrook Beard (American, 1824-1900)

Date1891

DimensionsPainting: 18 × 24 in. (45.7 × 61 cm)
Frame: 27 1/4 × 33 1/2 × 2 3/4 in. (69.2 × 85.1 × 7 cm)

MediumOil on canvas.

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

2004.82

Not on View

Label TextLook closely at the shell of the strange tortoise-like creature for a clue to the meaning of this painting. A partially legible inscription reads 2000 000[0?] / B C / Adam. Standing on a beach, seven well-dressed primates examine, poke, discuss, and contemplate the significance of this animal. The “punchline” of the painting is that these civilized monkeys of long ago (note the prehistoric pterodactyls fighting in the background) can no more believe that they descended from such a primitive “Adam” than the artist and many of his contemporaries could accept that human beings evolved from apes. Created 32 years after the publication in 1859 of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Beard's composition intentionally and comically aligns the artist with an anti-Darwinian position. As the creation-evolution controversy continues to this day, Beard's satire remains as topical as when it was painted more than 100 years ago.Published ReferencesPeck, Robert McCracken, "William Holbrook Beard (1824-1900)," The Magazine Antiques, November 1994, p. 699.Exhibition HistoryNew York, Alexander Gallery, William Holbrook Beard: Animals in Fantasy, April-May 1981, no. 32, p. 57, repr. (col.) p. 50. (Essay by William H. Gerdts.).

Toledo Museum of Art, Monkey Business, July 2 - August 30, 2009.