Bloomsbury Antarctica through Art and Archive: Refractions of the Life of Edward Wilson (International Library of Visual Culture)

Recent centenaries have commemorated the heroic era of Antarctic exploration and the work of pioneers such as Edward Wilson. He was a polar polymath who was an explorer, doctor, scientist and artist. Yet, how did Wilson manage the impossible practice of en plein air (open air) watercolour painting in the sub-zero conditions of this extreme environment? In this book, Polly Gould refracts the literature on anthropological studies, scientific experiments and art to arrive at her own cross-disciplinary reading. Through her use of the anthropologist Franz Boas' work on the colour of water, however, Gould provides unprecedented access to the Antarctic art archive. In her analysis of this material, she uncovers a cache of work that challenges current readers' understanding of the Antarctic and explores the realities of that environment.