Description:
Framed Plumb and Level Indicator, New York, New York, ca. 1846, printed inscription: “PLUMB & LEVEL INDICATOR. MANUFACTURED BY R. PORTER NEW-YORK.”
Label Text:
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Rufus Porter’s Curious World: Art and Invention in America, 1815–1860
December 12, 2019–May 31, 2020, label: Porter’s Plumb and Level Indicator demonstrates his myriad talents. He designed the mechanical device to communicate useful information efficiently, adorned it with a representation of masons against a watery landscape, and advertised it in Scientific American, the journal he had founded one year earlier. “Every carpenter, mason, brick-layer, and mill-wright,” the advertisement read, “will readily appreciate the utility of a more ready method of ascertaining the position of grounds, walls, and timbers.” As useful as Porter’s level may have been, it testifies more powerfully to his talent as a graphic designer. He fit decorative filigree, numbers, measurements, letters, and a visual representation of balance into the small frame.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2023.8.24 |
