By Miloslava Hruba
Prof. Christopher Durr from the chemistry department made multiple visits to the Mead to examine and study art objects on display in the exhibition “Dimensionism. Modern art in the Age of Einstein”, and another dozen, purposefully selected artwork for his students in Inorganic Chemistry courses in the Mead’s study room. His classes found a parallel in a collaborative project between SURF (Summer Undergraduate Student Fellowship) and Mead Art Museum Summer Student Internship in the pandemic summer of 2020.
This booklet presents the cumulative, and completely remote work, by then rising second-year students at Amherst College, Timothy Zhao, Arjun Nanda, and Grea Lee under the direction of Prof. Christopher Durr, and in consultation with Miloslava Hruba, from the Mead Art Museum.
Tim, Arji, and Grea researched and analyzed a diverse group of art from the Mead Art Museum’s collection, through the lenses of both chemistry and art history. While it briefly sketches the cultural and historical context of each object, it describes and illustrates in detail the chemical and physical properties of pigments that we subjectively perceive as colors.