Lecture - Turner and the Whale (2017)

Members of the Department of History of Art at the University of York shared the platform on Wednesday 14 June 2017, to deliver a lecture on the upcoming exhibition Turner and the Whale at the AGM of The Arts Society Ebor (formerly YEDFAS).

Co-curators Professor Jason Edwards and AHRC-funded PhD student Martha Cattell were joined by visiting fellow Dr Meg Boulton, who was a contributor to the exhibition catalogue.

Event Description:

Turner and the Whale opens at Hull Maritime Museum this autumn, as part of Hull’s year as the UK city of the culture. The exhibition brings to the region for the first time, from Tate Britain, three of J.M. Turner’s acclaimed whaling pictures of 1845-6, alongside a full-scale reproduction of the fourth picture from the Met Museum in New York.

The exhibition considers the quartet in a number of innovative contexts. Firstly, in relation to similar scenes of whaling done by the local Hull School of marine artists. Secondly, in relation to examples of scrimshaw: folk art scenes carved onto pieces of whale bone, by the whalers themselves. And, finally, in relation to scenes of arctic hunting made by the indigenous Inuit population. These images and objects will be introduced in three short talks.

J. M. W. Turner, 'Hurrah! for the Whaler Erebus! Another Fish!', exhibited 1846, oil on canvas. Photo © Tate, available under CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 (Unported) licence, https://bit.ly/2QbBGua