Follow The Kangaroo & the Moose Digital Trail to explore how the exhibition themes link with objects from our collection
The Kangaroo and the Moose
2 October 2015 – 21 February 2016
Hunterian Art Gallery
Admission free
The Travellers' Tails project is a collaboration between Royal Museums Greenwich, The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow, The Horniman, The Grant Museum of Zoology at UCL and the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby.
The project investigates the themes of exploration, art and science inspired by the National Maritime Museum's recent acquisition of the 'Kangaroo' and 'Dingo' by the English painter George Stubbs.
The Hunterian will create a special exhibition, The Kangaroo and the Moose, with the Kangaroo as its centrepiece. The painting will be on loan to The Hunterian between 2 October 2015 and 21 February 2016.
The Kangaroo was commissioned from Stubbs by the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks, immediately following his part in Captain James Cook’s 'first voyage of discovery' to the Pacific and first landing in Australia (1768–71).
The Hunterian will position the Kangaroo in relation to its own famous paintings of New World animals by George Stubbs that were commissioned by the Hunterian’s founder Dr William Hunter together with related natural history specimens, artefacts and prints that commemorate the European discovery of Australia.
The exhibition will explore key themes such as the representation of nature and early theories of extinction against the backdrop of the scientific and artistic dialogues between the painter George Stubbs and the scientists William Hunter and Joseph Banks. The presentation of the Kangaroo will be linked to objects and specimens in the Museum’s permanent displays through a digital trail.
A programme of events, talks and activities will take place at The Hunterian from 2 Oct 2015 – 21 Feb 2016.
Vote for the best Moose picture from our art workshop.
Share your research and join the conversation
Be part of the project – share your research, come to our events, follow the blog, have your say or join us on social media: #travellerstails
Alexander Shaw’s curious cloth catalogue
Our colleague Bob McLean in the University Library's Special Collections has been researching a rare and curious 18th century work on bark cloth samples from the Captain Cook voyages. Read all about it here. There are two very fine samples of barkcloth in the exhibition - come and take a look.
