| Summary: | A century ago, in that tragic, Antarctic tent of 1912, one of the three dead men had been Chief Scientific Officer for the Terra Nova expedition and also, an artist-L Edward A. Wilson (1872 - 1912) may need little introduction for some and his esteemed character, biography and the expeditions he undertook — whether the 'winter journey' to collect emperor penguin eggs, subject of one of the greatest works of Antarctic writing, or that final journey to the South Pole — are well documented from a variety of perspectives. Wilson's own journals have been published in several editions and many publications have included reproductions of his watercolours or drawings. Yet there is little critical evaluation of his prolific artistic output independent of these wider expedition histories and, rather surprisingly, no monograph on his work either in parts or in whole, with the exception of a 1967 book on Antarctic birds? The enormity of this gap and the possible reasons for it cannot be addressed in a short research projecta, but a critical study of specific works seems useful. This research therefore examines a small set of drawings that have received little attention : his ice crystal studies. How these drawings relate to the knowledge of the day and how they may relate to discussions about science and art — as both were defined in Wilson's own time, and today — are further concerns in this essay. Both of these contexts will in turn contribute to a reconceptualization of Wilson's artistic output. A century ago, in that tragic, Antarctic tent of 1912, one of the three dead men had been Chief Scientific Officer for the Terra Nova expedition and also, an artist-L Edward A. Wilson (1872 - 1912) may need little introduction for some and his esteemed character, biography and the expeditions he undertook — whether the 'winter journey' to collect emperor penguin eggs, subject of one of the greatest works of Antarctic writing, or that final journey to the South Pole — are well documented from a variety of perspectives. Wilson's ...
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