Imitating Life

An exhibition featuring models from 19th Century glassmakers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.

Imitating Life is an exhibition featuring the museum’s collection of glass marine invertebrate models from the renowned Blaschka family. The exhibition also includes invertebrate spirit specimens, fungi models, and an excerpt from the short film Fragile Legacy, directed by David O. Brown.

The Blaschkas made incredibly detailed, delicate glass models of invertebrate sea creatures through the second half of the 19th Century. Bought by universities and museums across the world, they were a beautiful tool for teaching about weird and wonderful underwater creatures. Today, they invite us to consider the place that models hold in museums as pieces of art, history, and natural science.