The Art and Science of Exploration 1768-1780

Interesting exhibition at the Queen’s House, Greenwich looking at the role artists played on Captain Cook’s three voyages of discovery. These artists established the structure and style for documenting voyages which lasted until photography.

Hodges, who went on the second voyage, came out of the show best. He was the first professional artist to meet people unaffected any European contact. He produced pictures both on the trip and on his return to London. He seems to be a genius at using white paint and I loved the way he used thick white paint to show the sailors trousers.

As well as developed scenes Hodges also made detailed coastal profiles to mirror the maps the expedition were making and trained the officers to paint so they could help him.

I wasn’t quite sure that Stubbs and Zoffany fitted into the picture as they did work back in London based on the voyages however I guess it was another way of showing the Stubbs pictures of the kangaroo and dingo!

The last room was devoted to the botanical work of Sydney Parkinson and fascinatingly had hung together two sets of five versions of the same works. Each one showed the drawing, the printing plate, a watercolour version, a plain print and a coloured print.

Review
Telegraph


 

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