Art and Science

ArtSci - ISSN 2515-8767 - © ISTE Ltd

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The Villefranche sur Mer marine station has received many names throughout its history, the last two of which are OOV for Observatoire Océanologique de Villefranche (1989) and IMEV for Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (since 2019). This special issue shows how this station is rich in history, architecture, geopolitics, science and strong personalities. At the end of the 18th century, naturalists had discovered the abundant biodiversity of the Villefranche bay: myriads of living forms so artistically assembled letting themselves transported by the sea along the currents and the seasons. The articles in this issue illustrate the tenacity of the scientists who seek to unravel the mysteries of this very diversified life. There are remarkable illustrations of scientists and artists who accompanied scientists or who got directly inspired by these uni-multicellular marine organisms.

We tell the story of the exploring the flora and fauna of the Nice region, and in particular of pelagic organisms. This quest is the work of some twenty biologists associated with painters. In 1800, Antoine Risso, Jean Gabriel Prêtre, François Péron and Alexandre Lesueur described and painted flowers, fish and some marine invertebrates. In the middle of the century, Jean Baptiste Vérany, a naturalist from Nice, welcomed prestigious German and Swiss biologists - Johannes Müller, Rudolf Leuckart, Ernst Haeckel and Carl Vogt - who explored little known organisms such as siphonophores and radiolarians. And in the 1880s, Hermann Fol, Jules Barrois and Alexis Korotneff set up a marine station in Villefranche sur Mer, recognized as an exceptional site for the study of plankton. During this period, the Natural History Museum of Nice was enriched by the exceptional collections of flowers, fish and funghi assembled by Risso, Vérany and Jean Baptiste Barla, who employed Vincent Fossat for his talent as painter / illustrator. By the end of the century, the Nice region attracted foreign royalty and aristocrats, visiting biologists and impressionists painters. In a companion article (Sardet 2024 / 2 Les modernes - from 1970 to 2024) we show that organisms explored in the 19th century are still the subject of research at the Institut de la Mer de Villefranche (IMEV).

François Péron and Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, a zoologist and a naturalist draughtsman, formed a unique pair of scientists over a period of 10 years. Between 1800 and 1810, they put their work, their hypotheses and their experiments at the service of knowledge of the animal world. One of their favourite subjects was the study of marine fauna, particularly jellyfish. In 1809, in Villefranche sur Mer, in the Mediterranean, they continued the work they had been carrying out in the oceans during the voyage of discovery to the Southern Lands (1800-1804) decided by Bonaparte and led by Nicolas Baudin. Two centuries later, specialists in marine organisms continue to pay tribute to this pioneering work.

In a companion article (Sardet 2024-1 Les anciens : de 1800 à 1900) we told the story of the exploration of the fauna of the Nice region, and in particular of pelagic organisms. In this article we examine how, more than a century later, research in cell and developmental biology and in physiology evolved at the marine station of Villefranche-sur-Mer. While research in the biology and ecology of plankton remained predominant on the site, and gradually led to the growth of a large multidisciplinary oceanography laboratory (LOV), physiology and cell biology were introduced in the 1960s. New research teams focused on the physiology of fish and protists were welcomed. And in the 1980s a new research team was created by the CNRS which has grown to the present Laboratoire de Biologie du Developpement (LBDV). We describe how imaging and molecular biology techniques were used to understand fertilization and development in sea urchins, tunicates, cnidarians, and many other marine organisms already studied by the founders and visitors of the marine station in the 19th century. We discuss the development of new model organisms - the ascidian Phallusia, the appendicularian Oikopleura and the hydrozoan medusa Clytia. We also discuss promoting scientific discoveries via aesthetic photographs, drawings, exhibits and web sites.

The discipline of Oceanography might seem unlikely to harbor artistic work. However, the study of the ocean includes the study of marine organisms. Depictions of marine organisms appear in many reports of oceanographic expeditions, and some are undeniably works of art, jewels of scientific illustration. Here are exhibited a selection of plates from reports of early oceanographic expeditions held in the library of the Institut de la Mer de Villefranche. From the reports of the Challenger Expedition (1873-1876), the Campaigns of Albert 1er of Monaco (1885-1915), the Plankton-Expedition (1889) and the Deutsche Tiefsee-Expedition auf dem Dampfer ’Valdivia’ (1898-1899).

Some scenarios of science fiction films, episodes of television series, or documentaries are based on and, or develop the theme of extraterrestrial civilizations’ research and discovery and their various consequences. The present study discusses their likelihood and implausibility by reviewing facts versus fiction in movies and television series. Some selected films were classified into two categories, depending on the location of the fictional discoveries of the remains of extraterrestrial civilizations: on Earth or other planets. Results highlight that while fiction movies are often inspired by controversial ufological theories such as that of ancient astronauts, some of them also emphasize scientific concern such as the risk of biological contamination.

Hermann Fol was a very accomplished Swiss naturalist of the late 19th century, but today is largely forgotten. He was a student of the notable biologists Édouard Claparède and Ernst Haeckel, and like them, specialized in the study of marine organisms. Fol is known only among embryologists for his description of fertilization in echinoderms. In reality, his work ranged well beyond such studies to encompass diverse taxa of the marine plankton, illustrated with remarkable scientific artwork, and included designing various scientific devices. Fol worked on human embryology, light penetration in seawater, methods of reducing microbial contamination of drinking water, and development of a rabies vaccine. His career was marked by a long series of disputes with contemporary naturalists and was relatively short, ending at age 47 with a mysterious disappearance. Here I provide a review of his contentious life, his scientific work, his scientific art, his scientific inventions, and his role in establishing Villefranche-sur-Mer as a center of marine science. The life and work of Hermann Fol is shown to be an example of the very wide-ranging activities of 19th century naturalists, and the apparent dangers of an over-sized ego.

Is the approach of the scientist, in this case, the archaeologist, and that of the artist when they discover a prehistoric site, truly so distant? To comprehend a space, it is necessary to gauge what already exists. If this element serves as a clue for the archaeologist, how is it perceived by the artist attempting to understand it? Visual artist Charlotte Pringuey-Cessac and prehistorian Bertrand Roussel discuss their respective approaches to the Terra Amata site, within the framework of an exhibition they presented from December 6, 2019, to May 17, 2020, titled "Bruit originaire" (Original Noise). Even if the origin of humanity is probably forever concealed from us, it does not prevent us from wanting to approach it. It seems that there is a similar and shared intention between the artist’s practice and that of the prehistorian. Whether in the artist’s intention or the archaeologist’s, the idea of promise persists in the very practice of each.