Photographer Lena Herzog’s book Lost Souls features images of wunderkammern – encyclopedic collections of “wonders and curiosities” created in the 16th and 17th centuries. These collections included paintings, sculptures, tools, plants, and anatomical specimens alike. At the time, art and science were not viewed as entirely separate disciplines, and another name for the collections was kunstkammern, or “art rooms.” Often arranged in artistic tableaux, wunderkammern were precursors to the modern museum in their attempt to catalog and understand the world.
Museum Wormianum, 1655
Some of these early wunderkammern still exist today in museums and private collections. Between 2001 and 2008, Herzog visited 15 of these collections to photograph their displays. Her subjects are often infants born with genetic defects that prevented their survival, preserved as scientific specimens. Herzog’s haunting, tender images capture not only the content but also the intent of wunderkammern: as she says, “to see, and to know.”
In this slideshow, Herzog explains the history of wunderkammern and her motivations in photographing them. A note: the slideshow contains images of fetal genetic anomalies that may be disturbing for some.
Herzog’s work is on view at the International Center of Photography in New York through September 12, 2010, and Lost Souls is available for purchase here.
