Lydia Hamlett
“Hugh Edwin Strickland was a 19th-century naturalist working in that febrile pre-Origin of Species climate of inquiry. This is a small detail of what is essentially a monumental graphic interpretation of how different families and genera of birds are inter-related.
It looks a bit like a cross between a family tree and an ancient map and appears unfinished in places. Through the connecting lines, we can almost trace his actual thought processes and it’s like the whole theory being worked out in front of
our eyes.
In addition to being very prophetic, it’s beautiful and aesthetically pleasing and reveals Strickland’s absolute dedication and passion. Indeed, he himself said the chart could be used in a museum as a guide for specimens on display.
Truly encapsulating the spirit of this exhibition is the crossover between science and art – the chart is being shown in public for the very first time. It is displayed as an artwork, free-standing in a niche, enabling the viewer to walk all around it.
The exhibition is also the first time that the eight University of Cambridge museums have collaborated together. We are all set within a square mile of Cambridge and have an incredible range of objects due to the wide range of collections and disciplines.
Alongside Strickland in the part of the show concentrating on discovery, there are some Gaudier-Brzeska drawings from Kettle’s Yard that find the French sculptor exploring new styles in reaction to cubism.
There is also material from the Scott Polar museum, charting the different stages of expeditions and featuring Edward Wilson watercolours and Wyatt Rawson’s diary from the last naval attempt to reach the North Pole in 1875.
The magnificent venue in which we are exhibiting is an architectural gem and curiosity owned by the Bulldog Trust, a charitable and educational body whose aim is to show public art from regional collections that otherwise would not be seen in London.
It was built on the Embankment by William Waldorf Astor, at the time, probably the richest man in the world, and has incredibly ornate rooms and decoration. There are fictional and historic characters carved into the woodwork – one of the Three Musketeers peers out from a newel post – and many curious objects and carvings in surprising places.
Things didn’t end so neatly for Strickland, however. In 1853, he was killed by an express train while out sketching on a railway line after attending a meeting of the British Association in Hull.”
Lydia Hamlett is the programme curator for the University of Cambridge Museums
Discoveries: Art, Science and Exploration from the University of Cambridge Museums is at Two Temple Place until 27 April
“Hugh Edwin Strickland was a 19th-century naturalist working in that febrile pre-Origin of Species climate of inquiry. This is a small detail of what is essentially a monumental graphic interpretation of how different families and genera of birds are inter-related.
It looks a bit like a cross between a family tree and an ancient map and appears unfinished in places. Through the connecting lines, we can almost trace his actual thought processes and it’s like the whole theory being worked out in front of
our eyes.
In addition to being very prophetic, it’s beautiful and aesthetically pleasing and reveals Strickland’s absolute dedication and passion. Indeed, he himself said the chart could be used in a museum as a guide for specimens on display.
Truly encapsulating the spirit of this exhibition is the crossover between science and art – the chart is being shown in public for the very first time. It is displayed as an artwork, free-standing in a niche, enabling the viewer to walk all around it.
The exhibition is also the first time that the eight University of Cambridge museums have collaborated together. We are all set within a square mile of Cambridge and have an incredible range of objects due to the wide range of collections and disciplines.
Alongside Strickland in the part of the show concentrating on discovery, there are some Gaudier-Brzeska drawings from Kettle’s Yard that find the French sculptor exploring new styles in reaction to cubism.
There is also material from the Scott Polar museum, charting the different stages of expeditions and featuring Edward Wilson watercolours and Wyatt Rawson’s diary from the last naval attempt to reach the North Pole in 1875.
The magnificent venue in which we are exhibiting is an architectural gem and curiosity owned by the Bulldog Trust, a charitable and educational body whose aim is to show public art from regional collections that otherwise would not be seen in London.
It was built on the Embankment by William Waldorf Astor, at the time, probably the richest man in the world, and has incredibly ornate rooms and decoration. There are fictional and historic characters carved into the woodwork – one of the Three Musketeers peers out from a newel post – and many curious objects and carvings in surprising places.
Things didn’t end so neatly for Strickland, however. In 1853, he was killed by an express train while out sketching on a railway line after attending a meeting of the British Association in Hull.”
Lydia Hamlett is the programme curator for the University of Cambridge Museums
Discoveries: Art, Science and Exploration from the University of Cambridge Museums is at Two Temple Place until 27 April
