In the Summer of 1880, a relatively luxurious craft set off to convey a party of avid "sportsmen" to Spitzbergen on an arctic game hunting expedition. This trip was not for discovery or science, but to bag a polar bear, musk ox, or reindeer. One of the passengers, Abel Chapman, was a biologist intent not just on the hunt, but also on documenting the fauna of the arctic.
During the trip he assembled a scrapbook of his adventures done in stunning watercolor studies. They show the ships, ice, wildlife, and hunting scenes. The resulting album is a beautiful, if mildly disturbing, portrait of the journey thought the eyes of a naturalist and skilled painter.
Come in and take a look by asking for Rare QH11 .C43 1880z.
No comments :
Post a Comment