Art created during, or inspired by, the voyages of Captain James Cook has become rather popular of late.
Two contemporary New Zealand examples include Marian Maguire's series of lithographs entitled The Odyssey of Captain Cook (2005), in which Maguire exploited the tradition of Greek vase painting to create a mythological rendering of Captain Cook's travels, and the 2009 exhibition THE CAPTAIN exploring images of James Cook held at Tauranga Art Gallery.
This fascination in Captain Cook is not limited to contemporary artistic explorations but in the art and artifacts created and collected on these voyages. Two recent historical showcases include James Cook and the Exploration of the Pacific shown at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland GmbH in Bonn and Auckland Museum’s exhibition Illustrated Leaves: Florilegia from the 16th to 21st Centuries. The Auckland show displayed botanical illustration by artists on Cook’s first Voyages including Sydney Parkinson, Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander.
To reflect this continued interest in Cook’s travels ARTstor now includes the collection of Cook's Voyages to the South Seas. ARTstor has combined with the Natural History Museum, London to share 1,647 images of scientific illustration associated with all three of Cook’s Voyages.
For more information go to www.artstor.org/what-is-artstor/w-html/col-endeavour-london.shtml
Victoria Passau
Fine Arts Library