Cook and Banks (portraits)

Artist Peter Hudson

Date2012

Object number00054556

NamePainting

MediumMixed media on board

DimensionsDisplay dimensions: 1150 × 1835 × 50 mm
Overall: 1145 × 1835 × 50 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionA painting by Peter Hudson titled 'Cook and Banks' (part of a diptych). This part of the diptych consists of two panels consisting of framed portraits of James Cook and Joseph Banks. The other panel (00054555) comprises a panel of text by Peter Hudson and an extract of Cook's own account). This work is a homage to the friendship and the successful union of James Cook and Joseph Banks, their skills, intellect and their enormous contribution to navigation and science.HistoryThis work by Peter Hudson was produced for East Coast Encounter, a multi-arts initiative involving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, writers and songwriters to re-imagine the encounter by Lieutenant James Cook and his crew with Indigenous people in 1770. Peter Hudson was the initiator of the East Coast Encounter concept and was a passionate advocate for the project. Cook's voyage along the Australian east coast has become central to national historical narratives. The East Coast Encounter project asked artists to re-envisage this seminal journey by imaginatively exploring moments of contact between two world views during these encounters. It also brought these events into the present by incorporating artists' reflections on their relevance today, and their responses to visits to significant contact locations. Topics such as encounter, impact, differing perspectives, nature and culture and views of country are investigated. Cook and the ENDEAVOUR crew would spend nearly 7 weeks at Gungardie on what Cook named Endeavour River. While repairing the damage to the hull, members of the crew, led by Banks, spent time investigating the surrounding area. Significantly it was here that Cook and his colleagues met and engaged with the local Indigenous people, the Guugu Yimithirr. Cook gained a small insight into their life which led to the shifting of his initial perceptions. It was here that some Guugu Yimithirr words were recorded, including 'gangurru', which later became 'kangaroo'. These portratits of Cook and Banks acknowledge the enormous contribution to navigation and science the men made. The work references Nathaniel Dance’s iconic portrait of Cook and provides a counterpoint to Reg Mombassa’s Jim Cook Mugshot (00054583).SignificanceThis painting by Peter Hudson tells part of the story of first contact and European occupation of Australia.