Item of the Week:Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences

This photograph was too good not to share. At the perfect place at just the right time, Library Assistant Sara Mason caught this double rainbow over the Chrysler Museum one Saturday afternoon. It’s a wonderful image – one that got us thinking about what amazing things rainbows are. Fleeting, it’s hard to see one without stopping to take a long second look. In his book, Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences, Philip Fisher explores this effect – a combination of pleasant surprise and curiosity that philosophers throughout history have labeled “wonder”. Specifically, Fisher embarks on his discussion by tracing the history of curiosity about rainbows. How, he asks “did the combination of pleasure and puzzlement in the face of rainbows lead to a scientific explanation” of this phenomenon? Weaving together science with philosophy, art history, and poetry, Fisher’s point of view is not quite what you would expect – he argues against the more common suggestion that familiarity breeds contempt and that explanation leads to a loss of innocent wonder. Whether you agree or disagree with Fisher, I think we all must admit that “wonder” is an important part of the experience here at the Chrysler Museum – it’s that special something that gets us to stop and take a second look in the galleries or to pause and pull a book off the shelf that wasn’t really what we were supposed to be looking for. Wonder, the Rainbow, and the Aesthetics of Rare Experiences is in the Library. If you have a chance, stop by and take a look - who knows what other wonderful things you might find?