John Webber
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John Webber (1751 – 29 May 1793) was an English artist best known for his images of early Alaska and Hawaii.
Webber was born on October 6, 1751[1] in London, educated in Switzerland and studied painting at Paris[2].
Webber served as official artist on Captain James Cook’s third voyage of discovery around the Pacific (1776-1780) aboard HMS Resolution. At Adventure Bay in January 1777 he did drawings of "A Man of Van Diemen's Land" and "A Woman of Van Diemen's Land". He also did many drawings of scenes in New Zealand and the South Sea islands.[2] On this voyage, during which Cook lost his life in a fight in Hawaii, Webber became the first European artist to make contact with Hawaii, then called the Sandwich Islands. He made numerous watercolor landscapes of the islands of Kauai and Hawaii, and also portrayed many of the Hawaiian people.
Back in England in 1780 Webber exhibited around 50 works at Royal Academy exhibitions between 1784 and 1792, and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1785 and R.A. in 1791. Most of his work were landscapes. Sometimes figures were included as in "A Party from H.M.S. Resolution shooting sea horses", which was shown at the academy in 1784, and his "The Death of Captain Cook" became well known through an engraving of it. Another version of this picture is in the William Dixson gallery at Sydney.[2]
Webber died in London in 1793. The Anchorage Museum of History and Art (Alaska), the Bishop Museum (Honolulu), the Honolulu Academy of Arts, the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts), the Yale University Art Gallery, the British Museum and the Mitchell Library (Australia) are among the public collections holding works by John Webber.
[edit] Paintings
 'A Chief of the Sandwich Islands' (oil), 1787 |
 'Abbey Mill, Shrewsbury' (oil) |
[edit] References
- Forbes, David W., Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 15-85.
- ^ William Hauptman, "Webber before Cook: two water-colours after Sterne," The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 136, No. 1903 (Apr 1994), p. 237.
- ^ a b c Percival Serle:Webber, John. Dictionary of Australian Biography. Angus and Robertson (1949).
