Gunilla Törnvall

PhD in Book History. MA in Art History, Lund University and MSc in Conservation (painting, paper, photographs), University of Gothenburg.

In my dissertation thesis on botanical illustrations, I combine my interests in art history, visual studies, materials and techniques, book history and history of science. I investigate how botanists have used images to communicate and inform, and how these images have been created based on the given conditions in a certain era: botanical science, pedagogical ideals, image conventions, materials, printing techniques and book markets.

I study the publication of Botany Professor Carl Lindman’s ’Bilder ur Nordens flora (1901-1905)’, which was in some respects a new edition of J. W. Palmstruch’s ’Svensk botanik (1802-1843)’, which in turn built on a number of international Floras.

I teach on various courses on subjects including scientific illustration, graphic techniques and conservation issues.

Research

• Completed projects
• Botanical pictures for the public: On the publication of Carl Lindman’s Bilder ur Nordens floraBotanical illustrations are admired for their aesthetic qualities, and have therefore sometimes been used to attract new groups to botany. However, the ...

• Publications

Other tasks and qualifications

Lectures (selected)

*” 'To be printed without contour': On the Transferring of Botanical Illustrations from Engraving to Lithography”, SHARP 2011, The Book in Art & Science, Washington DC, 14-17 July 2011.
*”The Turk and the Clam – Gunnar Jarring at Lund University Library”, Gunnar Jarring 1907-2002. A Symposium in Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Gunnar Jarring, 12 October 2007, Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien, Stockholm. Co-organizers: Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul.
*“Gunnar Jarring – his Eastern Turkestan manuscripts and personal papers”, Gunnar Jarring – Languages and Diplomacy, minnesdag arrangerad av Lunds universitetshistoriska sällskap, Centrum för Mellanösternstudier och Utrikespolitiska föreningen, Lund, 11 oktober 2007.
*“Preservation of the diaries from Andrée’s North Pole Expedition”, The Institute of Paper Conservation Fifth International Conference, Edinburgh 26-29 July 2006.

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