Lucia deLeiris' Antarctic Art
Robert Stephenson
List subscribers resident in New England or those who find themselves in
the Boston area between May 14th and November 1st shouldn't pass up the
opportunity of seeing Lucia's show at Harvard, as described below. Her work
is terrific and you won't be disappointed (please excuse any cross posting).
Rob Stephenson
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Exploring the Antarctic Landscape: Paintings by Lucia deLeiris
A Special Exhibition at Harvard University's Museum of Cultural and Natural
History
May 14-November 1, 1998
On May 14, Exploring the Antarctic Landscape: Paintings by Lucia deLeiris
will open in the Friends' Gallery at Harvard University's Museum of
Cultural and Natural History. This special exhibition is a celebration,
through the eyes of adventurer artist Lucia deLeiris, of the unique quality
of light in the extreme environment of Antarctica. The show is a
compilation of over 30 watercolor and pastel renditions of landscape and
wildlife observed during deLeiris's experiences in Antarctic summer at
Palmer Station in 1985 and 1986, and Antarctic spring at McMurdo Station in
1995. Photos, field journals, and equipment, including the artist's tent,
a portable heated studio that she invented for outdoor painting, will also
be on display. Ms. deLeiris's expeditions were funded by a National
Science Foundation grant program designed to help artists and writers
explore Antarctica so that they can help educate the public about this
little-understood continent. Exploring the Antarctic Landscape will be on
display through November 1, 1998. For more information, call (617)
496-8204.
Lucia deLeiris's adventures are expressed through her evocative art and
vivid account of her first hand experiences in the Antarctic environment.
Her work conveys the continent's bitter climate and sublime landscapes, as
well as its curious inhabitants. deLeiris writes, "I sat among the Adelie
penguin nests, observing the progression of the breeding cycle over the
summer season. I watched as they squabbled, stole stones from each other's
nests, courted, and fended off the predatory skuas flying overheadŠI sat
yards away from two-ton elephant seals, sketching their massive forms from
all angles. I was never more content. Those days on the islands were the
realization of a dream."
After receiving a B.S. in zoology from the University of Maryland, Ms.
deLeiris began her career as an artist in 1978 while working as a summer
research assistant and sketching deer at the Smithsonian National Zoo
Conservation and Research Center in Virginia. These personal deer sketches
became the basis for the illustrations in the research project's book, The
Biology and Management of an Extinct Species, Pere David's Deer (B. Beck
and C, Wemmer. ed., Noyes Pub., '83), and in The Last Chance
(Skrentny/Ames Productions, '79), a film prepared for the Smithsonian
National Zoo. Since then, Ms. deLeiris has painted for exhibitions and
illustrated numerous books, magazine articles, and special publications,
including The Natural History of the Antarctic Peninsula, with text by
Sanford Moss (Columbia University Press, '88), two Dover coloring books,
and posters for the National Geographic Society. Her work has been
exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C.,
the Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island, and several art galleries in the
Northeast.
******
Public entrances to the MCNH are located between 24 and 26 Oxford Street
and at 11 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, MA. Gallery hours are Monday
through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Sunday 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Admission rates are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors/students, and $3 for
children ages 3-13. Group Rates are available with advance reservations.
No admission is charged on Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to noon, except
for groups. Wheelchair access through the Oxford Street basement entrance
and through Tozzer Library on Divinity Avenue. For more information, call
(617) 495-3045 or visit the MCNH web site (http://www.mcnh.harvard.edu).
For information specific to Lucia's show, including a view of one of her
pastels, The Emperors, go to:
http://www.mcnh.harvard.edu/exhibitions/antarct.html
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Robert B. Stephenson
P. O. Box 435, Jaffrey, NH 03452-0435 USA
Tel: 603-532-6066. E-mail: rstep...@monad.net
Low-Latitude Antarctic Gazetteer: http://top.monad.net/~rstephenson/
Connecticut River Heritage Website: http://www.valley.net/~connriver
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Kedi Walton
>List subscribers resident in New England or those who find themselves in
>the Boston area between May 14th and November 1st shouldn't pass up the
>opportunity of seeing Lucia's show at Harvard, as described below. Her work
>is terrific and you won't be disappointed (please excuse any cross posting).
>
>Rob Stephenson
For anyone that's interested as well, Lucia deLeiris shared a hut with Sara
Wheeler (the author we've been talking about who wrote Terra Incognita) on
Cape Evans, Ross Island. The last chapter of the book is about the two of
them living together and anyone who's interested in Lucia's art should have
a look at the book too.
By the way, if it's as windy as everyone says it is in Antarctica, why is
Scott's Hut still standing? Was it phenomenally well built?