Framing the World
Framing the World: The Life and Art of Augustus Earle
by Paul Moon
PB. 496 pp. 220x156. Full colour.
ISBN: 9781877431449
LIMITED EDITION 200 numbered copies
Augustus
Earle (1793 - 1838) was a highly-accomplished painter and sketch
artist, as well as an insightful commentator on the cultures he
encountered during a period of rapid European colonisation in the early
nineteenth century. By the time of his death, he had become the most
widely-travelled independent professional artist of the age.
At age
seventeen, after completing his studies at the Royal Academy, Earle left
England and travelled, supporting himself entirely from his art. Ever
energetic, his known output of over two hundred paintings, sketches and
lithographs stretched from the bustling centres of the Mediterranean,
North and South America, Australia, South East Asia, and India, to more
remote locations such as New Zealand, and the almost barren island of
Tristan da Chuna in the Atlantic Ocean.
Unusually, Earle focussed to a
significant extent on the indigenous peoples in the countries he
visited. The result is a body of work that reveals the sometimes
intimate cultural contacts between Europeans and others. In Brazil he
was almost fixated by the plight of slaves; in Hobart and Sydney the
Aborigines; and in the north of New Zealand, the Maori. For this reason,
Earle is an important historical as well as artistic figure today, with
his paintings and writings offering us a unique glimpse into societies
on the cusp of radical change.
In 1830, due to ill health, he
returned to London from Madras. But ever adventurous, in 1832 he took up
the post as draughtsman on the Beagle as it set sail on its soon-to-be
famous voyage. However persistent sickness forced him off the ship at
Montevideo and he made his way back home to London. There he lived his
last years in declining health while working on a final book
