A special exhibition of paintings is being held to mark the centenary of Captain Scott’s final Antarctic expedition.
The paintings of Edward Wilson, polar explorer, doctor, naturalist and gifted artist, will be on display at Brantwood House, Coniston on Saturday March 13. The exhibition is jointly organised by the North West regional committee of the Royal Geographical Society and the Institute of British Geographers.
Wilson, perhaps best known for his role on Captain Scott’s two Antarctic expeditions as chief scientific officer and Scott’s closest confidante, unfortunately perished alongside him and another expedition companion, Henry Robertson Bowers, in a lonely tent on the Ross Ice Barrier on their fateful return journey in 1912.
He was the first artist to truly capture the luminescent and terrible beauty of ‘The White Continent’ through these astonishing water colours, on loan from the Royal Geographical Society’s collections in London; Cheltenham Museum and Art Gallery; and Abbot Hall, Kendal.
Howard Hull, director of the Brantwood Trust commented: “Edmund Wilson accompanied Scott on the attempt on the South Pole both as his close friend and as a highly experienced explorer. He was also an accomplished artist and a deeply religious man.
“Over the course of ten years he captured the terrible beauty of Antarctica in all its moods - in particular he was inspired by the unique aerial effects that he witnessed.
“As an artist, Wilson was profoundly influenced by the writings of John Ruskin, so it is particularly appropriate for his work to be exhibited at Brantwood, Ruskin’s former home in the Lake District.”
Wilson is also remembered for his leadership of the sledging journey to Cape Crozier in 1911 where he was the first to obtain an egg of the emperor penguin, one of the ‘holy grails’ of scientific research at the beginning of the twentieth century. An emperor penguin’s egg and other expedition artefacts will also be on display, alongside clothing of the type worn by Wilson, loaned by the Cumbrian-based polar traveller Geoff Somers.
Robin Ashcroft, chair of the Royal Geographical Society North West regional committee and someone who has spent time in Antarctica, said: “Edward Wilson’s paintings really do capture the amazing beauty of Antarctica. It is a place apart and there couldn’t have been a better artist to first record it in this way. For those of us who have known ‘The White South’ his work instantly takes you back to this most ethereal of environments.”
Original research for the exhibition has been undertaken by Isobel Williams, whose biography of Wilson, With Scott in the Antarctic, Edward Wilson, Explorer, Naturalist, Artist, was published in 2008.
A Terrible Beauty: An Exhibition of the Works of Edward Wilson in Antarctica (1902-1912), Artist, Explorer, Naturalist and Doctor on the Scott Expeditions to Antarctica runs from Saturday March 13 until Sunday May 30 at Brantwood, Coniston. For further information contact Brantwood on 015394 41396 or visit www.brantwood.org.uk
