Purdue displays French artist's depiction of early Hoosier life

The free exhibit runs through May 5 and is open to the public 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at Archives and Special Collections in Stewart Center, Room 279.

Watercolors, sketches and lithographs by the world-renowned artist feature residents living and working in the community founded by a group of separatists from the German Lutheran Church in 1814. Lesueur, who became famous for his hundreds of horticultural, anthropological and zoological drawings done while on an expedition to Australia in 1800, also drew Indiana wildlife. His work has been compared to that of John James Audubon.

"Lesueur is legendary in his homeland but remains largely forgotten in the state he called home for over a decade," said Sammie Morris, acting head of archives and special collections at Purdue Libraries. "This exhibit offers a unique opportunity to view life in early Indiana through the eyes of one of the world's greatest visual documentarians."

Lesueur first came to America in 1815 to accompany geologist William Maclure on a study tour of the United States. Lesueur was the first to sketch several American animals and is believed to have made the first study of the fish in the Great Lakes.

Maclure later enticed Lesueur to join him in Philadelphia, where Lesueur helped found the Academy of Natural Sciences. In 1825, Maclure and Robert Owen persuaded Lesueur to join them at their commune at New Harmony.

Lesueur arrived in 1826 with a boatload of other artists and intellectuals who had traveled aboard Maclures' "Boatload of Knowledge." He stayed until 1837, during which time he taught art, made scientific sketches and excavated archeological sites.

Writer: Jim Schenke, (765) 494-6262, jschenke@purdue.edu

Source: Sammie Morris, (765) 494-2905, morris18@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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