Full Title:
The Illustrated London News

Artist:
Melton Prior, et al.

Publisher:
— —

Seller:
— —

Year:
1888

Overview: On December 15, 1887, the Illustrated London News launched its “Across Two Oceans” public relations/human interest series with an announcement that Melton Prior had departed from the port of Southampton aboard the steamship Moselle (205). Prior was one of the paper’s “special artists,” a term reserved for artists sent on high stakes public relations assignments—often deployed with the British military on major international campaigns. The first leg of the journey included visits to some of the major British colonies in the West Indies—Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad—as well as British Guiana and Panama. The result was a series of sketches that illustrate not merely the artist’s blend of journalistic voyeurism and colonialist aesthetic, but also provides the researcher with the means to observe the scope of this ostensibly anthropological project as consistent with a very explicit imperialist agenda.

This is to say nothing, yet, of the means by which that gaze may be troubled in new ways, leading eventually to a critical reclamation of the representations and a reconceptualization of the ethos it purports to have captured.

Carnival in Port of Spain, Trinidad, May 5, 1888, 496-7 (full)

Women Collecting Bottles, Barbadoes, May 5, 1888, 475

Water-Street, Georgetown, Demerera, April 28, 1888, 463

View of the Canal Works at Buhio, Looking South-west, June 23, 1888, 700

View from St. John’s Church, September 15, 1888, 309

Trench with Water-Lilies (Victoria Regia) in Georgetown, Demerera, April 28, 1888, 466-7

The West Indies—Collecting and Counting Bunches of Bananas on Jamaica, August 4, 1888, 140

The Panama Ship Canal—View Near Buhio, June 23, 1888, 697

The Panama Ship Canal—Excavating, with Transporters of Earth, at Tabemilla, June 23, 1888, 700

The Panama Ship Canal—Cutting a Channel to Divert the Course of the River Chagres, June 16, 1888, 660

The Harbour, Curacoa, May 5, 1888, 475

The Canal Near Mindi, Looking Towards Gatun, June 23, 1888, 697

The Bearded Fig-tree; View from St. John’s Church, September 15, 1888, 309

Sunday Morning in Georgetown, Demerera, March 31, 1888, 330

Sugar-cane tops for cattle fodder, September 15, 1888, 309

Sugar-cane going to Market, September 15, 1888, 309

Street Scene, Barbadoes, Throwing Money, May 5, 1888, 475

Street Scene in the Village of Culebra, June 23, 1888, 697

Street Scene in Georgetown, Demerera, April 7, 1888, 363

Sketches in Venezuela—President’s House at Caracas- Guard on Duty, May 12, 1888, 507

Sketches in British Guiana—Penal Establishment on the Mazaruni River, May 12, 1888, 506

Sketch-Plan of the Panama Ship Canal, June 16, 1888, 666

Shooting Sting-Rayfish on the Berbice River, June 23, 1888, 676

Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, May 5, 1888, 475

Port of Spain, Trinidad, May 5, 1888, 475

Paying Labourers on their Arrival at Tabemilla, June 23, 1888, 701

On the Way to the Market, Kingston, Jamaica, August 4, 1888, 140

Newcastle, Jamaica, from the Morton D’Orsay Bridle-Path, September 22, 1888, 333

Mule Merchandise Train, from Puerto Cabello to Valencia, May 12, 1888, 507

Mode of Emptying Trucks of Earth at Culebra, June 23, 1888, 697

Mending Roads, Barbadoes, April 28, 1888, 466-7

Labourers and Tally-woman Disputing After the Payment of Wages, June 23, 1888, 701

Laborers Returning from Work, June 23, 1888, 697

Ice-Stall in the Market, Georgetown, Demerera, April 7, 1888, 363.

Government House, Trinidad, April 28, 1888, 466-7

Government House, Barbadoes, April 28, 1888, 466-7

Georgetown, Demerera—Sketched from the Lighthouse, March 31, 1888, 327

Fort Island, Essequibo, May 12, 1888, 506

Excavator at Work at Tabemilla (Tavernilla), June 16, 1888, 665

Cutting Through the Culebra Mountain- General View of the Works, Looking East, Towards Colon, June 16, 1888, 661

Convicts Going to Bathe, May 12, 1888, 506

Convicts Breaking Stones, May 12, 1888, 506

Colon, The Atlantic Terminus of the Panama Ship Canal, July 21, 1888, 77

Carriage of Bananas from the Field to the Wharf, Annatto Bay, Jamaica, August 4, 1888, 140

Beer and Fruit Stall on the Wharf at Puerto Cabello, May 12, 1888, 507

Barbadoes; St. Vincent, April 28, 1888, 466-7 (2:2.1)

Barbadoes; St. Vincent, April 28, 1888, 466-7 (1:2.1)

Barbadoes—Bissex Hill, St. Joseph, September 15, 1888, 309

American Dredger at Work, at Buhio; Labourers Returning Home from Work, June 23, 1888, 697

A Warder, May 12, 1888, 506

A Convict, May 12, 1888, 506

A ‘Slaven’ Dredge at Work at Buhio- View Sketched from on Board, June 16, 1888, 660

“Sugar-cane, a halfpenny a stick!”, September 15, 1888, 309

M. Ferdinand De Lesseps, Constructor of the Suez Canal, President of the Panama Canal Company, June 16, 1888, 665

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