Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen University exhibition to tell forgotten story of Arctic exploration

The exhibition will be hosted by Aberdeen University. Picture by Scott Baxter / DC Thomson.
The exhibition will be hosted by Aberdeen University. Picture by Scott Baxter / DC Thomson.

A new exhibition at Aberdeen University will bring together the work of one of Scotland’s most acclaimed landscape artists and the story of an Orcadian explorer – united by their passion for the Arctic.

Opening in the Sir Duncan Rice Library on Monday, the exhibition, which will run until December 16, will blend the work of Barbara Rae and artefacts from university collections which tell the story of John Rae.

Mr Rae became the first European to discover the fate of Franklin and his men while at the same time discovering the only navigable Northwest Passage, while Mrs Rae, who is no relation, also made multiple journeys across the Arctic.

John Rae discovered the fate of Sir John Franklin’s ship. Picture supplied by National Maritime Museum London.

By doing this, she created a new body of work deeply connected to the region’s unique landscape, with her paintings capturing the critical condition of the Arctic highlighting global warming.

The exhibition will bring together Mrs Rae’s contemporary work with a retelling of the story of Mr Rae, who trained as a surgeon and in 1833 signed on for a short-term with the Hudson Bay Company in Canada.

Captivated by the landscape and lifestyle, he stayed with the company until 1856, working on several major mapping and charting projects, spending his free time hunting and learning travel and survival skills from the First Nation and Metis people.

Arctic interest

Mrs Rae credits her own interest in the Arctic to Mr Rae after learning about the Northwest Passage in a school geography lesson and vowing that she would one day also undertake the journey.

The Arctic.

Her work will be displayed alongside items connected to Arctic exploration, that help tell the often overlooked story of Mr Rae, including intricate ivory carvings, snowshoes, and other tools.

These will be exhibited alongside 19th century books on Arctic exploration written by himself and his contemporaries.

‘Tell the mostly forgotten story of John Rae’

Curator of the exhibition, Christina Mackenzie said: “During preparation for the exhibition The Northwest Passage, museum staff found many interesting items in the University of Aberdeen’s rare books and museum collections relating to Arctic exploration.

“It is great to be able to not only display these amazing artworks by Barbara Rae but to tell the mostly forgotten story of John Rae and his accomplishments. Seeing the paintings alongside items relating to such exploration is striking and really does make you think about how different the landscape is now to when he was traversing it 200 years ago.”

The opening hours of the exhibition will be daily from 11am to 7pm.

Conversation