Oceania at the Academy
In 1768 the Royal Society petitioned King George III to finance a scientific expedition to Oceania. Initially the voyage was set up so that those aboard could study and observe the 1769 transit of Venus across the sun. However, the expedition was later combined with a confidential mission to search for Terra Australis Incognita—the unknown southern continent. In the first of what would be three scientific voyages to the Pacific, the HMS Endeavour would, unbeknownst to the indigenous peoples across Te Moana-Nui-a-Kiwa, alter the Pacific region forever. In December 1768, George III also founded the Royal Academy, with the mission of promoting the arts in England through both education and exhibitions. The year 2018 marks a double 250-year anniversary—the founding of the Royal Academy and the start of Cook’s Pacific voyages. It also marks the first major survey of Oceanic art to be displayed in the United Kingdom.
at the Royal Academy (RA) brings all of these commemorations together under one
