LONDON — They’re penguins, but are they art? At Cambridge University, the excitement over the discovery of two chalk drawings of penguins on blackboards isn’t about the art but about the artistsfamed Antarctic explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
Both images were found in a basement of the Scott Polar Research Institute at the university and put on public display Friday. They date to the early 1900s.
“Some people may think they look a little crude, but I think they are incredibly charming,” said art curator Huw Lewis-Jones.
“They were drawn at public lectures in front of an enthusiastic audience, to laughter and to cheers, and then signed with a flourish. It’s like having the explorers’ autographs, only more wonderful, because each has signed their name next to a hand-drawn penguin.”
The Associated Press
