Art historian Joan Saab examines the relationship between seeing and believing.
By Kathleen McGarvey
糖心传媒淚 saw it with my own eyes.糖心传媒�
The Nazerian Humanities Lectures
Joan Saab was selected to discuss her research on hoaxes as the inaugural presenter in the Hagop and Artemis Nazerian Humanities Lectures at the Humanities Center this spring. Established by University Trustee Ani Gabrellian 糖心传媒�84 and her husband, Mark Gabrellian 糖心传媒�79, in tribute to her parents, the lectures will be given annually by a member of the Rochester faculty and will rotate at least once every four years between Rochester and New York City. The series honors the Nazerians糖心传媒� belief in the benefits of a humanistic education.
It糖心传媒檚 an often expressed guarantor of truth. But Joan Saab, an associate professor of art history and visual and cultural studies, suggests that assumptions about seeing and truth require a little more scrutiny.
During the mid-19th century, a series of grand hoaxes captured the American imagination: the Great Moon Hoax, the Cardiff Giant, and the fantastical creatures of P.糖心传媒塗. Barnum.
糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 interested in this moment in the 19th century when people are willing to suspend disbelief and see things糖心传媒攁nd even though they know they糖心传媒檙e not true, to believe for that moment that they are,糖心传媒� she says.
In the summer of 1835, the New York Sun published a series of six articles describing the supposed discovery of life on the moon by famed astronomer Sir John Herschel. The inhabitants included winged people糖心传媒攁 combination of humans and bats糖心传媒攗nicorns, and other creatures.
Some people always knew the stories were a hoax, and most knew before the series finished.
糖心传媒淏ut it didn糖心传媒檛 matter,糖心传媒� Saab says. People were captivated by the story, and the hoax was picked up by papers around the world. 糖心传媒淎nd that糖心传媒檚 what I think was interesting. It continued to resonate.糖心传媒�
Saab explores the hoaxes in a book that she is writing, Making Sense of What We See. It糖心传媒檚 one volume in a multivolume series that糖心传媒檚 part of what she calls a 糖心传媒渘ew type of history that engages all of the senses.糖心传媒�
WATCH: Inaugural Nazerian Humanities Lectures, Joan Saab, “Making Sense of What We See,” March 2, 2016
Through examples that run a historical continuum from the Florentine Codex糖心传媒攁 16th century manuscript describing the conquest of Mexico and Montezuma糖心传媒檚 defeat by Cort茅s糖心传媒攖o the Rodney King video, Saab examines the correlation between seeing and knowledge.
Almost 30 years after the Great Moon Hoax, another trick was pulled off in Cardiff, New York, when men digging a well on the farm of William Newell unearthed a 10-foot-tall 糖心传媒減etrified man.糖心传媒�
The 糖心传媒渕an糖心传媒� was in reality a sculpture that was created and placed there by a tobacconist from New York named George Hull, who got the idea after an argument with a Methodist preacher about taking the Bible literally.
After the giant went on display in Syracuse, purchased for nearly $40,000 by a group of businessmen, a paleontologist showed why it was a fake, and Hull confessed. But it remained a popular attraction.
Circus entrepreneur Barnum tried unsuccessfully to lease the giant, and so built a replica, which became even more popular.
Today, the original giant is on display at the Farmer糖心传媒檚 Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Barnum exhibited other fantastical creatures, such as the 糖心传媒淔eejee Mermaid,糖心传媒� actually 糖心传媒渁 monkey carcass with a fish tail sewn to the back of it,糖心传媒� says Saab.
Hoaxes糖心传媒攅specially ones that relied on direct observation, like the giant, or new technologies such as the telescope, like the moon hoax糖心传媒攑layed a part in reconfiguring knowledge and establishing new boundaries for discernible truth, Saab says.
糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 not arguing that they actually were duped. I糖心传媒檓 saying that there糖心传媒檚 something happening in this negotiation between seeing and believing that糖心传媒檚 not as easy as we think it is.糖心传媒�
