Edward Seago Exhibition of Antarctic Paintings at Bonhams

Wednesday, 16 May 2007 07:46

London - BONHAMS is delighted to announce an exhibition of Edward Seago’s paintings of the Antarctic, by kind permission of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.  The paintings were executed during Prince Philip's tour of the Falkland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula during the austral summer of 1956-7 aboard HM Yacht Britannia.  Invited guests, including the artist Edward Seago, accompanied the royal party.  These paintings, from The Duke of Edinburgh's private collection, have rarely been placed on public view since their first exhibition at St James's Palace in November 1957.  On Exhibition May 27 – June 15.

The Exhibition at Bonhams HQ, 101 New Bond Street, celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the artist’s tour of the Antarctic and will support an appeal in aid of the work of the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, in helping to preserve the UK’s polar heritage.  The exhibition will also mark the launch of a book about Seago’s paintings from the voyage, by Institute Director, Julian Dowdeswell and Librarian, Heather Lane.

The Antarctic paintings on display at Bonhams capture the rapid changes of light and the enthralling and unexpected range of colours found in the Antarctic. In 1957, at St James’s Palace in London, Seago formally presented the fruits of his Antarctic journey to The Duke.

Seago went to the Antarctic with a firmly established skill in using oils to capture the essence of a landscape or seascape. Despite being in the Antarctic regions, the Falkland Islands and South Georgia for barely three weeks, he was able to produce a series of paintings showing the icebergs and other physical phenomena, bases and men at work, and the whalers who were active at that time.

Although working in sub-zero temperatures, Seago found that the dryness of the air meant that conditions were no worse than painting on a winter’s day in England.  Seago’s vivid series of Antarctic land and seascapes are some of the first ever to depict the continent.  The Prince recalled Seago’s enormous capacity for work: “He always seemed to have a pencil in his hand, and with just a few lines could reproduce all the atmosphere and ‘feel’ of a place with the smallest pencil sketch.”

Among the paintings are images of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh painting on the veranda deck of HMY Britannia, storms at sea, icebergs, Port Stanley harbour, Shackleton’s Cross, ice floes, the RRS John Briscoe in an ice pack and HMY Britannia passing through the spectacular Neumayer and Lemaire Channels. 

Edward Brian (Ted) Seago (1910-1974) is best known as a painter of landscapes and marine views.  His paintings, in oils and watercolours, follow the tradition of the Norwich School.  Born in Norwich, he spent much of his early life in rural Norfolk, from which he drew his principal inspiration.  A heart defect and long periods of ill health limited his education and his parents showed little interest in his artistic abilities. From 1923 he was apprenticed to the artist Bertram Priestman.

He toured England, Ireland and France with a traveling circus and was involved in espionage work in Europe before WWII. He contributed paintings to a number of books of poems by his friend John Masefield. During WWII he served as a camouflage officer in the Royal Engineers under the command of his painting companions Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck and Lieutenant-General Sir Harold Alexander.  He was the author of ‘Peace in War’ (1943) and ‘High Endeavour’ (1944) and ‘With the Allied Armies in Italy’ (1945).

After the war, Seago traveled and exhibited across the world including Canada, South Africa and the USA.  He was one of the artists officially invited to paint the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1952.  He painted a number of royal portraits including King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret.

The fully-illustrated book, The Antarctic paintings of Edward Seago, will be on sale during the Bonhams exhibition (at 101 New Bond Street) with all proceeds going to the Museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute.  Accompanying the exhibition will be a display of archives, historic photographs and artifacts, also held by the Museum, illustrating the history of polar exploration and science.

SPRI Director, Professor Julian Dowdeswell, says, “We are very pleased to have this opportunity to work with Bonhams to bring Seago’s atmospheric paintings of the Antarctic to a wider audience.  We hope that this exhibition will bring to public attention the need to preserve Britain’s polar heritage. The Scott Polar Research Institute is perhaps less well known for its role in conserving these historic materials than for its current scientific research into environmental change, but the heritage role is no less important and one for which public support is urgently needed.”

The Exhibition at Bonhams will allow visitors the chance to see the Antarctic through the eyes of one of this country’s best known marine artists and to share something of the experience of a guest aboard Britannia as she sailed some of the most hostile seas in the world. 

BOOK TO ACCOMPANY THE EXHIBITION: The Antarctic paintings of Edward Seago / Julian Dowdeswell and Heather Lane, Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, 2006. iii, 98 p. : col. ill. 25 x 35 cm. (SPRI Occasional Publications Series.) ISBN 0901021059. ISBN 13:9780901021052. Price £30

Lists and reproduces the paintings of Edward Seago produced during the 1956-57 cruise of the Royal Yacht Britannia to the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands. Includes a brief narrative of the voyage, a chronology of Seago's life and work, an essay on and photographs of the contemporary landscape of Antarctica, with a foreword by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

Bonhams, founded in 1793, is the world's oldest and largest auctioneer of fine art and antiques remaining with British ownership. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK.  In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America and in August 2003, Goodmans, a leading Australian fine art and antiques auctioneer with salerooms in Sydney, joined the Bonhams Group of Companies.  Today, Bonhams is one of the largest and fastest growing auction houses in the world, offering more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further eight throughout the UK. Sales are also held in Switzerland, Monaco, Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) and the USA (New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Bonhams also has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives offering sales advice and valuation services in 25 countries. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of more than 50 Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com