ART IN ANTARCTICA.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 72, 26 March 1909, Page 3

ART IN ANTARCTICA.

MR. IWARSDEN'S EXPERIENCES. FROZEN PAINTS. WIDE SELECTION OF SKETCHES SECURED. [Bi TEWtGBArH. — Special to Tub Post.H CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Mr. G. E. Maisden, the official artist of the expedition, was working at his profession, that of a painter in London, at the time when the expedition to the Antarctic was being planned by Lieutenant Shacfeleton, and at very short, notice indeed he consented to proceed to the Antarctic in order that the world might have some record of the wonderful colour schemes that are to be found in Ihe regions of snow and ice. He was treading practically a new field. A. good many artists have taken thejr brushes a^id palettes into the Arctic

regions in search of " the wonderful blues and greys of the ice, the vast fields of purest white, and the awful magnificence of the Aurora, but only one or two men have attempted similar work in the Antarctic. Dr. Wilson, who went south with the Disco-very under Captain Scott, was one of the few. A LARGE AND VARIED COLLECTION. Mr. Marsden told a representative of ' the Lyttelton Times yesterday that he had brought back with him a large and varied selection of sketches, from which he hoped to produce pictures which would be of general interest after he had got back to London. Finished work is not easy for an artist to produce in the Antarctic regions, with the temperature down somewhere below zero, and the use of ungloved hands is a matte:* of extreme discomfort as well as of considerable danger. Moreover, the expedition was a small one, and there was plenty of hard work to be done in establishing depots, carrying provisions, attending to the ponies and dogs, and performing the other duties incidental to life and exploration in the Antarctic. Mr. Marsden took his share of all the work, and consequently did not have as much time as he would have lflced to devote to sketching and painting. "I have not got any great quantity of finished work," said Mr. Marsden, in the course of a brief conversation while the Nimrod was being brought to her berth. "I have a lot of sketches, however, and they will be completed when I get Home, and probably used for the book that will be published to describe the doings of the expedition. A SPLENDID OPPORTUNITY. "Of course it was a splendid opportunity for an artist. There is any amount of splendid colour in the Antarctic. The work was new to me, of course, and after ordinary landscape painting, it was strange to deal with snow and ice, but there no special and technical difficulties in securing fairly correct renderings. "The blues that are so marked a feature of the ieescapes in the Arctic regions are not seen often in the Antarctic, and on the barrier were encountered hardly at all. SNOWBERGS NOT ICEBERGS. "The barrier is built up of snow, not of ice, and the bergs are snowbergs, not icebergs, and consequently present quite a different appearance to the bergs met with in the Arctic. Naturally, I could not devote all my time to painting," added Mr. Marsden. "We always had work of some sort in hand — laying depots and so on — and it was not possible to turn my whole attention to my own particular subject. However, I had sufficient time to get a fair number of sketches — representations of the conditions prevailing in the regions explored by us. Some of the colouring down there was very subtle indeed — the snow fields, so purely white at first sight, develop wonderful gradations of colour when studied, and make close study necessary. ' ' Mr. Marsden was not prepared, rather naturally, perhaps, to say how far he had been successful in his efforts to place on record Antarctic effects, and the public will have to judge for itself when his work is published. SOME OTHER DIFFICULTIES. The practical difficulties of painting in the Antarctic, apart from all questions of colour and atmosphere, are extraordinarily great. Mr. Marsden found that it was absolutely impossible to use

water colours in the open, because they froze solid before they could be applied to paper. He gave up the attempt after gome fruitless experiments. Oil colours were also liable to freeze, though in a less marked degree than the water colours. He finally fell back on pastelles, and these worked well. The sketches that he was able to produce by this process were by no means complete, but they contain the information necessary for pictures in water colours and oils. Of the discomfort of sitting still and making even lovely sketches of Antarctic scenery it is hardly necessary to speak. Pluck as well as skill is required from an artist in polar regions. THE MOTOR-CAR. HOW IT BEHAVED. PROVED THOROUGHLY USEFUL. fßr Telegraph. — Special to The Post.] CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. The motor car as a new venture in connection with polar exploration, and when it was seen to have come back safely with the Nimrod, lashed securely on the deck forward, there was naturally a great deal of curiosity as to how it had behaved. The car is an Arrol Johnston, petrol-driven, and specially designed for work amongst the ice and snow. Many motor experts cast doubfc upon the usefulness of such a machine in polar regions, but experience seems t o I have proved them to have been wrong. Mr. V. C. Day, the motor-car expert, i told a reporter that the car, taken as a | whole, had been a great success. It was ! found that it could not negotiate the barrier ice, but the fault lay with the ice, not with the car. The barrier was formed of snow, and was so soft in condition that it was absolutely impossible I for any motor car to traverse it. OF NO USE FOR THE "DASH." The car, however lightly constructed, would sink in up to the frame of its own weight, and very brief experiments showed that it would not be possible to use it on the southern expedition. Mr. Day stated, however, that he had every reason to be satisfied with the car. It had covered a distance of about 450 miles on the sea ice, and had been of very great assistance to the expedition in conveying stores. It would pull three sledges at ten miles an hour, and on ordinary ice negotiated cracks and small cievasses in a manner that was surprisI ing. The engine was a petrol engine and, contrary to the prophecies of some motor experts, no trouble had been experienced with the petrol. It was found, however, that the oil froze in the low temperatures experienced, and that was | a constant source of difficulty. The starting uf the engine was a very slow process, owing to the fact that warm oil I had to be put into the cylinders. When once started, however, the motor ran well. The skids that were taken down were not used. Mr. Day said that he used Parsons' chains on heavy rubber tyres, and found that with these the car ran well, even | on fairly soft ice I THIRTY MILES AX HOUR. i On occasions a speed of 30 miles an ' hour was attained. Ho started to use the car somewhere about September, and was able to usa it until well on in j December, when the higher temperature made the ice too soil. At this stage, if the wheels skidded for a minute, they would plough, their- way

into the ice and tnere was a vast amount of trouble in getting it going again. In order to reduce weight he absolutely stripped the machine, taking the bodyoff and leaving onlyi the chassis with a seat on. it. Every bit of machinery that could' be takeji out, such as mufflers and so on, was removed, and 1 the machine was brought down "to bare bones." In that condition she had been brought back. Mr. Day said' that he had no difficulty in getting the car ashore. It was taken cfo\vn to the ice undamaged, and had been brought back safely. SPLENDID WORKMANSHIP. He pays a particular tribute to the splendid workmanship of the car. Although the has raced about on sea ice, jumped into cracks, and been treated m anything but a gentle manner, nothing broke, and this although the tern was often from 60 to 50 deg. clow freezing pomt — a point at which steel becomes extremely brittle. Generally speaking, the expedition had demonstrated that the motor-car is thoroughly useful in polar work. It cannoti cover soft enow, as is found' on the barrier, but when faced with any large expanse of fairly good ice it can travel rapidly and reliably, and haul very heavy loads.