Art & Alchemy

"These essays emerged from a 2001 conference at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. As organisers Jan Bäcklund and Jacob Wamberg explain in their introduction, the collection redresses 'the current skepticism towards alchemy as a possible source for art' (9). The ten essays that follow, however, range far beyond that art historical agenda by exploring the fascinating intersections between alchemy and art from the late Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Despite the inherent challenges of interdisciplinarity, the well-illustrated volume makes clear that historians of alchemy and historians of art stand to benefit enormously from this kind of fruitful collaboration." - Tara E. Nummedal, Ambix, Vol. 55, No. 1, 2008