The lecture “”A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”” delivered on 14 July 2022 is now available on the RST YouTube channel.
Society researcher Marley Large will talk about their three years exploring the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection.
Researching an art collection is full of adventure and excitement: a previously undiscovered document is found hiding in the archives; the thrill of seeing an artwork for the first time – but it is also about countless hours spent trawling through old documents, minutes, letters, books, notes and receipts.
There are nearly one thousand artworks in the Society’s collection – mostly colonial works on paper and each one has its own story and what stories they can tell:
- The fascination of newly encountered fauna and flora
- The consequences of colonisation
- The extraordinary landscapes
- Convict days
- The early settlers
Anita Hansen (Honorary Curator, the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection) has been an artist all her life, working in Tasmania, interstate and overseas. She holds a PhD (UTAS) Nineteenth Century Natural History Art and Belonging in Tasmania, a MFA (UTAS) The Illustrations and Work of William Archer, a Graduate Diploma in Plant and Wildlife Illustration (University of Newcastle) and a BFA (UTAS). Anita co-edited The Royal Society of Tasmania’s book The Library at the End of the World: Natural Science and Its Illustrators and Poles Apart, and has published a number of journal articles. Anita has been a committee member of the Plimsoll Gallery and has curated exhibitions in Tasmania and interstate. Anita continues to serve on the Society’s Art Committee.
Marley Large
Marley Large (Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania), has completed research projects for the Royal Society including an investigation of their records to support their Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People and a major project investigating records relating to the RST artworks. Marley, along with Dr Anita Hansen, was a member of the Joint RST-TMAG Artworks Committee, researching the provenance of the Society’s Art Collection. Marley and Anita were fortunate to examine each of over nine hundred items in the Collection during their research. Through the years of research, they were able to connect most of the artworks to records about them held in the Society’s Library at the Special and Rare Collection at UTAS. Marley’s interest in art developed when studying for a history degree; she was exposed to and came to understand some of the many subtleties, sensitivities, crude statements and areas in between, in the relationship between art and history. Marley continues to serve on the Society’s Art Committee.
