“I was privileged to visit Antarctica in the 1989/1990 season with the New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme to execute a series of paintings of the Historic Huts of Scott and Shackleton, and Dry Valley’s region. Spending a day alone in the Cape Royds and Cape Evans Huts with total silence and only the ghosts of the past was an inspiring and sobering experience”
-Jonathan R White
“I felt incredibly lucky to follow in the footsteps of artists Peter McIntyre, Maurice Conly and Austen Deans, and so was delighted to accept the invitation that gave me access to the frozen continent. John Alexander, the deputy officer in charge at Scott Base, gave me permission to stay outside for as long as I liked. I sketched constantly.”
“After my visit I executed a series of paintings. These included: Taylor Glacier from Bonney Riegel, Dry Valley Region, Antarctica; Adelie Penguins at Cape Bird, Ross Island, Antarctica; Interior of Shackleton’s Hut at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica; and Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. The work came together in an exhibition called ‘Exhibition Antarctica’, which was opened by Sir Edmund Hillary at Canterbury Museum on 16 March 1992.”
Several ‘Oil on Canvas’ works from J.R.White’s Antarctica Series
“The exhibition was an opportunity for New Zealanders to see and experience Antarctica. It is a place so few of us will ever see and my paintings provided the viewer with a small insight into our unique southern landscape beyond the Subantarctic Islands.”
