Scarabaeus

Gertrude Partington Albright

The title “Scarabaeus” lends a little mystery to early 20th century San Francisco printmaker/teacher Gertrude Partington Albright’s city on a hill, linking a monument of modernity with a fantastical narrative: the comparative likeness of a San Francisco cityscape to ancient kingdoms of the African continent; the thread of continuity in human innovation. The scarabaeus or scarab was a dung beetle, regarded by the ancient Egyptians as divine. It was represented on amulets, etc, of ancient Egypt, or in hieroglyphics as a symbol of the solar deity.

Albright was known for her depictions of old villages, cities, and other markers of civilization, approaching her subjects with a delicate hand that deftly captured the vastness of our collective development.