An invitation from Jennifer Storer, Acting Director Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Exclusive talk for the Friends of TMAG
On their recent visit to France for the Theatre of the World opening at La Maison Rouge gallery in Paris, TMAG staff visited the Muséum d'histoire Naturelle at Le Havre to view their significant collection of early illustrations of Tasmania from the 1800-1804 voyage of Nicolas Baudin to Australia.
On board Baudin’s voyage were two artists, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur and Nicolas-Martin Petit, who created some of the most significant images in Tasmania’s history of the original Aboriginal inhabitants. Lesueur’s paintings of Aboriginal objects such as bark canoes and water carriers have been vital to the contemporary cultural retrieval of these practices.
Lesueur also produced beautiful drawings and paintings, working alongside the voyage’s zoologist François Péron, who collected many animal and plant specimens. Most of the 1500 drawings Lesueur took back to France were of zoological and marine subjects, but also included numerous coastal profiles of different parts of Australia.
The Le Havre visit was hosted by the Museum’s Director, Cédric Crémière, and Curator of the Lesueur Collection, Gabrielle Baglione.
Gabrielle is making a flying visit to TMAG next week. We are using her visit to explore the possibility of a partnership between TMAG, the Friends of TMAG and the Muséum d'histoire Naturelle for a future exhibition of these works.
She has agreed to talk to the Friends about the Lesueur Collection. This is a unique opportunity to hear about this historically and scientifically significant collection of images, and we hope that you can come along.
The venue is the Royal Society Room, with entry via Davey Street.
This is a free talk, but places are limited. Please RSVP to Donita Shadwick, TMAG Executive Assistant to the Director, on 6165 7024 or donita.shadwick@tmag.tas.gov.au
Further information:
http://www.museum-lehavre.fr/en/collections/ca-lesueur/en-lesueur-peintre-voyageur
http://www.daao.org.au/bio/charles-alexandre-lesueur/biography/?
http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/whats_on/newsselect/2013articles/visit_to_le_havre
