In the 18th and early 19th centuries, European explorers in the Pacific region faced a challenge: how to describe the peoples they met and how to report what they had seen and found. Thus, it was necessary that serious expeditions include artists and scientists in its ship's company. One ambitious journey of the 19th century was the third voyage of the French explorer Dumont d'Urville, from 1837 to 1840. It was just before the invention of photography, when phrenology, the study of people's skulls, was popular. On this South Pacific voyage, D'Urville chose to take an eminent phrenologist, Pierre-Marie Dumoutier, to make head lifecasts of the indigenous peoples they would encounter in order to preserve their likenesses. When the expedition returned to France, the casts were displayed, then later stored in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris. The collection was soon overtaken by photography and history. In 2007, photographer Fiona Pardington first learned of the lifecasts when a chance convers
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, European explorers in the Pacific region faced a challenge: how to describe the peoples they met and how to report what they had seen and found. Thus, it was necessary that serious expeditions include artists and scientists in its ship's company. One ambitious journey of the 19th century was the third voyage of the French explorer Dumont d'Urville, from 1837 to 1840. It was just before the invention of photography, when phrenology, the study of people's skulls, was popular. On this South Pacific voyage, D'Urville chose to take an eminent phrenologist, Pierre-Marie Dumoutier, to make head lifecasts of the indigenous peoples they would encounter in order to preserve their likenesses. When the expedition returned to France, the casts were displayed, then later stored in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris. The collection was soon overtaken by photography and history. In 2007, photographer Fiona Pardington first learned of the lifecasts when a chance convers
European explorers of the Pacific in the 18th and early 19th centuries faced a problem - how to describe the people they met and report what they had seen and found. From Cook onwards, a serious expedition included artists and scientists in its ship's company. An ambitious journey of the 19th century was the third voyage of the French explorer Dumont d'Urville, from 1837 to 1840. It was just before the invention of photography, when phrenology, the study of people's skulls, was the latest thing. D'Urville chose to take on the voyage an eminent phrenologist, Pierre-Marie Dumoutier, to preserve likenesses of people by making life casts. When the expedition returned to France, the casts were displayed, and later stored in the Musee de l'Homme in Paris, to be joined eventually by other casts from Dumoutier's collection, including those of the d'Urville and Dumoutier families. All were overtaken by photography and history.
Dr Kriselle Baker is a freelance writer and curator. She is the author of The Desire of the Line: Ralph Hotere Figurative Works (Auckland, 2005) and, with Vincent O'Sullivan, Ralph Hotere (Auckland, 2008). Prof. Elizabeth Rankin teaches Art History at Auckland University. Previously professor at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, her writing has focused on retrieving the histories of neglected South African artists, and on sculptors and printmakers internationally.
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