AFA 20th Anniversary

Plumb and level indicator, invented by Rufus Porter (1792–1884), ca. 1846. Printed inscription: “Plumb & Level Indicator. Manufactured by R. Porter New-York.” Hand-colored engraving, metal pointer, wooden frame, 10 x 10 x 2 in. Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Me.; Gift in memory of Robert Thayer. Porter’s plumb and level indicator demonstrates his myriad talents perhaps more so than any other object. He designed the mechanical device to communicate useful information efficiently, adorned it with a representation of masons against a watery landscape, and advertised it in Scientific American , the influential journal he had founded one year earlier. “Every carpenter, mason, brick-layer, and mill- wright,” the advertisement read, “will readily appreciate the utility of a more ready method of ascertaining the position of grounds, walls, and timbers.” As useful as Porter’s level may have been, it testifies more powerfully to his talent as a graphic designer. He fit decorative filigree, numbers, measurements, letters, and a visual representation of balance into the small frame. 2020 Antiques & Fine Art 147 1. The reproduction frame was made in 2017 by Johanna Moore, a Maine artist and frame maker. on view for the f irst time. The exhibition is organized chronologically around major themes in Porter’s life. Born in Boxford, Massachusetts, and raised in Maine, as an artist, Porter is best known for his interior wall paintings, which inspired a school of New England murals in domestic settings. His work immersed residents in panoramic landscapes. He also painted portrait miniatures commercially. The results reveal his keen observation of the physical world and use of refined techniques, including the camera obscura and a nuanced understanding of pigments. Porter was also an avid inventor. Among his creations was a revolving gun design that he sold to Samuel Colt. He successfully applied for many patents, and dedicated years to creating a “Travelling Balloon,” a never-realized mechanized aircraft powered by a steam engine, more than fifty years before the Wright brothers’ first successful airplane flight. 2 Porter believed the dissemination of information was critical to the improvement of society and used publishing to pursue this goal. In 1820 he published the first of a series of early practical art manuals in the country. Later, in 1845, he founded Scientific American , the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States that continues to today. Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815–1860, is on view at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, through May 31, 2020. The exhibition kicks off a year of programming at Bowdoin tied to the bicentennial of Maine’s statehood in 2020. The accompanying publication, edited by Laura F. Sprague and Justin Wolff, is co-published by the Bowdoin College Museum of Art with Pennsylvania State University Press. For information, call 207.725.3275, or visit www.bowdoin.edu/art-museum.  Laura F. Sprague is senior consulting curator at Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and co-curator of the exhibition. continued from page 140 2. Porter’s foresight that mechanized flight was imminent was accurate, for in 1866 Solomon Andrews (1806–1872) flew his airship called the “aereon” in New York City, though there were earlier airships built in Europe, including one built in 1852 by French engineer Henri Giffard.