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Holy Stone JOSEPH CONRAD

Artist Margaret Beatty (Australian, 1916 - 1979)

Date1936

Object number00028528

NameLinocut

MediumInk on paper

Dimensions516 x 357 mm, 0.25 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionThis black and white linocut by well known Australian printmaker Margaret Beatty (1916-1979) depicts three seamen scrubbing a timber deck with holystones - blocks of sandstone used for cleaning decks.HistoryJOSEPH CONRAD, an iron hulled sailing ship, was launched in Denmark in 1882 as GEORG STAGE. A training ship, the vessel was used by the Danish until 1934 when Australian-born maritime writer and mariner Allan Villiers purchased the ship and renamed it. A collision with a British freighter in 1905 saw GEORG STAGE sink with the loss of 22 men; however it was raised and repaired and able to continue as a training ship. Between 1934 and 1936 the JOSEPH CONRAD under Villiers circumnavigated the world via New York, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Sydney, New Zealand and Cape Horn before returning to New York. The vessel was crewed by cadets from Britain, USA, Australia and New Zealand. At the end of the voyage Villiers sold the ship to American George Huntington Hartford, who made alterations including the installation of an engine. JOSEPH CONRAD was given to Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, USA in 1947 and is currently on display as a museum vessel.SignificanceThis image in a modernist style shows the nostalgia for the passing age of sail that arose in the 1930s.