The Chemist

The Chemist by Louis Charles Moeller shows a solitary scientist intent on his work in a dim interior cluttered with apparatus. Seated at a work table spread with equipment, books, and papers, he studies the contents of the round-bottom glass flask he holds in one hand as he apparently awaits the formation of a precipitate. The chemist’s strong features and focused gaze contrast with his baldness and sparse white hair, suggesting the premature aging of one who has labored long and intensely in intellectual pursuit. His white smock buttoned to the throat marks him as a nineteenth-century scientist. However, the irregular features of the stone wall behind him, with its high window at upper right and arched opening to a hearth at left, evoke historical associations between modern chemistry and the medieval pseudoscience of alchemy from which it developed. Indeed, Moeller’s work fits comfortably into a tradition of representing alchemists and their cluttered workshops, a subject treated by several of his European contemporaries. This chemist, whose clean-shaven face is at odds with the usual fashion for facial hair among late nineteenth-century American males, evokes a monkish asceticism in keeping with his focused pursuit of science and his dim, vaguely medieval surroundings.

The Chemist is typical of Moeller’s penchant for highly detailed interior scenes of private offices or libraries in which elderly men are seen engaged in favorite pursuits. Often these are social activities that bring individuals together in conversation or congenial dispute. In another undated work also entitled The Chemist, a man holds up a filled test tube as he explains the results of his experiment to two companions: all three are decidedly elderly and wear conventional black formal clothing. The Terra Foundation’s painting, however, suggests a professional at work, with the figure’s dress, his solitary activity, and the setting, clearly a dedicated laboratory for experimentation.

Prior to the twentieth century, chemistry was concerned with the nature of matter and its transformations; this is reflected in The Chemist by the presence of equipment for distilling, filtering, and the pressurized heating of materials. The precise nature of the work undertaken by Moeller’s chemist is undefined, however. As in his other images of professionals, identified in his titles as accountants, art connoisseurs, and lawyers, Moeller’s aim is to capture a recognizable typicality rather than a specific activity. Resisting contemporary scientific realities, The Chemist reflects traditional, popular notions that chemistry is ultimately as esoteric and mysterious as alchemy.

The Art of Healing: Medicine and Science in American Art, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama (organizer). Venue: Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, February 7–March 29, 1981; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi, April 10–June 30, 1981. [exh. cat.]

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003 (on exhibit extended run: November 2, 2002–March 2, 2003).

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

Annual Report. Lawter Chemicals, Inc., 1978. Ill. cover.

Gerdts, William H. The Art of Healing: Medicine and Science in American Art. (Brochure, Birmingham Museum of Art). Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham Museum of Art, 1981. Ill. (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 29 (checklist); ill. p. 38 (color).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 29 (checklist); ill. p. 38 (color).