By JOSE LUIS ORTIZ FLORES
Try to imagine the photography technology at the beginning of the XX century; not at all as the cameras and technology we have nowadays. Howard Russel Butler was an American artist who painted eclipses, in 1918, 1923, 1925 and 1932, at a time when photography was not able to deliver images as we know today.
Since 1842, photographers tried to photograph solar eclipses, but the “solar crown” was not able to be captured.
Before solar eclipses, Russel Butler painted northern lights and sunsets. For the first eclipse he painted in 1918, he developed a method. As the astronomical event lasted only for very few minutes, he took notes during the eclipse on three main variables of color: brightness, tone, and saturation, and then he painted the eclipse considering these variables. He observed this eclipse from Baker City, Oregon, and his notes had scientific precision.
Butler studied Science at Princeton University, and after that, he studied arts in New York and France. So, the mix of science and art was important for his solar eclipse paintings.
In 1923, Butler observed and painted the solar eclipse from Lompoc, close to his home in California. In 1925, he observed and painted the solar eclipse from the roof of the Arrigoni Hotel in Connecticut. And for his last solar eclipse painted, Butler did not have to move from his studio in New York City, as the astronomical phenomenon crossed just right there. Contrary to painting, photography requires a real physical object to be there to take a picture of it. This is the reason we perceive any photo as something “more real” than any other type of visual representation of reality, like a painting of a solar eclipse.