Dessins au long cours : albums français dans le Pacifique Sud au XVIIIe et XIXe siècle

• Published in: E-REA
• Main Author: Viviane FAYAUD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) 2014-07-01
• Subjects: travel albums; maritime voyages; drawings; 19th century Pacific exploration; French expeditions; French shipboard art
• Online Access: https://journals.openedition.org/erea/3809

Par excellence, the Pacific is the space of sea travel. From the 18th century onward, numerous expeditions crossed the South Pacific. In line with centuries-old tradition, professional and non-professional draughtsmen embarked to provide icongraphical accounts of the scientific observations, the tragedies and the discoveries. Thus travel logs were embellished with sketches and drawings albums constituted. Along with scientific records and sample collections, French expeditions in the Pacific Ocean resulted in a considerable number of drawings, watercolors and wash drawings. Their format, themes and even style present common features which stemmed from a variety of sources: the official instructions that were given to them, previous shipboard art, values on board and tragedies encountered. In the Pacific, drawing on board was not just a past-time.