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Other picture boards in Van Diemen’s Land: The recovery of lost illustrations of frontier violence and relationships
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 14:41 authored by Brodie, ND, Kristyn HarmanKristyn HarmanArt history is replete with works whose prior existence is affirmed only by text, most commonly through titles and descriptions in catalogues, but also by passing mentions in other sources. A significant Australian colonial illustration of this phenomenon of textually surviving lost art concerns ‘Several Paintings on Panel’, described in detail by a colonial witness, which depict scenes intended to convey government messages to Indigenous Tasmanians during the Vandemonian War. These descriptions do not match the better known and frequently reproduced Tasmanian Picture Boards, typified in Figure 1, which survive in several archives around the world and have been the subject of considerable study and commentary. Their iconographical recovery is, we argue, an important correction to the imagery of frontier relations in 1820s and 1830s Van Diemen’s Land specifically and colonial Australia more generally.
History
Publication title
Aboriginal HistoryVolume
41Pagination
3-21ISSN
0314-8769Department/School
School of HumanitiesPublisher
Australian National University, Dept. of HistoryPlace of publication
AustraliaRights statement
Copyright 2017 ANURepository Status
- Restricted