moonscope press release

moonscope - a special exhibition

On 24 May 2007, the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford opens moonscope: a special exhibition of lunar images by two artists from the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries with a passion for representing the moon. The images by famous artist and Royal Academician John Russell (1745 - 1806) come from the museum’s unrivalled collection of lunar artworks by the renowned royal portraitist.

Russell’s enthusiasm as an astronomer led him to develop a huge portfolio of lunar artworks in an attempt to make an accurate record of the moon’s surface. These meticulous astronomic records will hang alongside spectacular watercolour images of the moon by Oxfordshire painter Rebecca Hind(Artist in residence - Sacred Land Project, author of 1000 Faces of God - Carlton Press).

Showing Russell’s spectacular lunar depictions alongside Hind’s will change the viewer’s perception of his works. These scientific records, such as the Selenographia (or moon globe) and the detailed five-foot lunar pastel, are fascinating in the context of the history of astronomy, but they are also works of art, and the moonscope exhibition will highlight this element of Russell’s lunar works.

The Museum of the History of Science has a full programme of special events, talks and activities for people of all ages to accompany the moonscope exhibition. Moon -related events include after-hours access to the University Parks for telescopic observation and advice on lunar drawing (28 May 2007, 7 - 11pm), Paper Moon, a day of talks, activities, storytelling and more to celebrate the moonscope exhibition (26 May 2007, 10am - 5pm), along with John Russell, Artist and Astronomer, a public lecture given by art historian Hilary Underwood (11 July 2007, 7pm).


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