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Art and Astronomy

For thousands of years artists and scientists have created stories or images about the sky and its constellations to explain our vast universe. Large monuments such as Mayan calendar sculptures in Mexico were constructed by ancient cultures to interpret the cosmos, while smaller objects such as celestial spheres, astrolabes, and armillary spheres were developed by European astronomers to navigate the unknown. In this unit Jane Clarke talks about the large public sculptures surrounding the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, and Amy Babinec talks about the small astronomical objects in the Art Institute’s collection.

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View a video selection of this lecture.

Read a summary of this lecture.
See related books and media.