Is that a river or a tear in the paper? Look closely at the lower center of the map. The line heading west from Crumb Creek shows a river but what it intersects is the illusion of ripped paper. Close up, the two kinds of lines are indistinguishable. You can see where the illusion ends and the river begins only when you take a wider view of that area of the map. Joseph Des Barres’s charts were widely used guides to the shores of North America. They were also experiments in the plasticity of lines as subversive as the work of any artist.
Ripped Paper or Flowing River?
| Artist | Joseph F. W. Des Barres |
|---|---|
| Title | “A Plan of the Delawar River” in The Atlantic Neptune |
| Year | 1780 |
| Dimensions | 82-88 cm |
| Medium | Hand-colored engraving and etching |
| Location | Newberry Library |