surfresearch.com.au   surfing images : 1788 to 1850

In many cases the images were printed in a number of editions and various subsequent publications and they are sometimes cropped or resized and appear with different captions.
This is particually the case in modern printings, see Finney and Houston (1966) et. al.

It is often difficult to determine the location (which may not be the same as the accompanying report) and whether the image is constructed from the artist's personal observation or a reconstruction based on eyewitness reports.

Images of surfriding were of varving quality and accuracy - most artists struggled with presenting the essential dynamics of the activity.
This is most commonly seen in the difficutly of locating the board and rider in a realistic position on the wave face.
Bolton noted in 1891 ... "Some pictures ...  represent the surf-riders on the seaward slope of the wave, in positions which are incompatible with the results."

In some examples, a realistic representation is unlikely, given that the artist had probably not actually witnessed surf-riding and was constructing their image from a published text, field notes, sketches  and/or verbal input.
For example, see Bayard (1873) and Riou (1873), below.
The second in particular, has some significant inconsistancies.

In images that were probably drawn from personal observation, some allowance must be made for a failure to comprehend the dynamics of wave-riding.
The riding (compared with the paddle-out) was rapid, the nature of the wave changed dramatically and it did not resemble contemporary Western activites.
These difficulties were circumvented with the development of surf photography, which would play a major part in the spread and evolution of surf-riding.

Most of the early images have some common features ...
- surf-riding is represented as a community activity.
- the riders adopt a variety of riding positions and significantly they  illustrate stance - a feature not noted in the early written accounts.
- the artist makes a significant attempt to accuately portray the wave shape and action and there is often an indication that the activity is in off-shore conditions - considered best by surf-riders.
- in most cases the wave size is less than six foot and board length is less than seven foot.
This is probably a result of observing a large number of riders close to shore.
In some instances, other riders are located much further from shore than the central figures, probably indicating they were riding larger waves and possibly with larger boards.

Some images feature bare female breasts, undoubtedly of interest to 19th century readers.
Generally, the more this feature is detailed then the less informative the illustration.

John Webber  : First drawing of a surfboard, circa 1778. Detail from ... "A View of KaraKakooa, in Owyhee."  Cropped from Finney and Houston (1966)  Page 12 First image of surf board.

Cropped from Finney and Houston (1966) Page 12
Various resized and/or cropped versions are also printed in
Finney and Houston (1966) Plate 1. A particually poorly printed version, unlike the rest of the book.

Margan and Finney (1971) Pages 20 - 21.	Lueras (1984) Pages 44 - 45 and 47
Nat's History (1983) Page 33.	Kampion (1997) Page 32.
	DelaVega (ed, 2004) Page 15.

Cropped version from Kampion (1997) Page 32. Featured area added.

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Jacques Arago or Alphonse Pellion ? :  "The Houses of Kraimokou, circa 1819." Finney and Houston (1996) Page 37..  First image of an Olo board.

A wonderfully detailed  ilustration of Hawaiian dwellings, with the chief in ceremonial dress and his wife beating tapa cloth. Like all the other early images, she is bare breasted.
The large Olo board takes a central position in the drawing and presumably a similar culutural position.

'' The artwork from Freycinet's circumnavigation on the Uranie includes original drawings taken 'd'aprés nature' by Arago, Taunay and Pellion on the voyage.''
http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/freycinet/pages/campperon.html

"The collection of drawings which Captain Freycinet has brought home from his voyage round the world . . . affords the strongest proof of the unwearied zeal and remarkable intelligence of M. Arago, the draftsman to the expedition" - from the introduction to Arago ?  by Forbes.
(p. xxvi). Borba de Moraes I, p. 44. Brunet I, 372. Ferguson 885. Forbes I, 562. NMMC I, 154. Sabin 1865. BT000064.

Items featured in the Freycinet Collection
http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/freycinet/pages/items.html

Vice-admiral Alphonse Odet-Pellion
http://www.netmarine.net/tradi/celebres/odetpellion/index.htm
French, available in translation by google.com

First printed in
Freycinet, L : Voyage autour du mode ... 1817 - 1820.  (Voyage around the world ... 1817 - 1820.)
Chez Pillet aine, Paris.  1825,
Volume 2, Part 2, Book 4, Chapter XXVII, Pages 517 to 622 (?).
Dela Vega (ed, 2004) page 20.

Also
Arago, J : Narrative of a Voyage round the World, in the Uranie and Physicienne Corvettes,
Commanded by Captain Freycinet, During the Years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820.
Treuttel and Wurtz, Treuttel, Jun. and Richter. London. 1823.
. . . With Twenty-Six Engravings . . . . :
Folding frontispiece map and twenty-five lithographed plates after Arago.

Also
Arago, J : Recollections of a Blind Man
Cited by Finney and Houston (1996) Page 38.

For an early copy of the image (credited Alphonse Pellion), see
http://www.hawaii.edu/lruby/hon291/hon291.htm

Scanned from Finney and Houston (1996) Page 37.
Various resized and/or cropped versions are also printed in

Finney and Houston (1966) Plate 12.	Finney and Houston (1996) Page 37.
Margan and Finney (1971) Page 19	Dela Vega (ed, 2004) page 20.
Nat's History (1983) Page 33 (badly cropped)	Lueras (1984) Page 35. Colourised, see below.

Kampion : Stoked (1997) Page 31 :  "Kraimoku Homestead" by Villroy. Bishop Museum.

Jacques Arago or Alphonse Pellion ? :  "The Houses of Kraimokou, circa 1819." Lueras (1984) Page 35. Colourised version from the  Mr. and Mrs. Severson Collection.  First image of an Olo board.  The sheen on the left hand side is a scanner imperfection.

Jacques Arago  :  "Wahine, Hawaii, circa 1819." Finney and Houston (1996) Page 38. Colourised version from the  Mr. and Mrs. Severson Collection.  Decorative, rather than informative.

The fascination with the naked female breast can be, perhaps, assessed by a desciption of a young aboriginal woman by Watkin Tench, a British Army officer posted to the initial occupation of Australia at Sydney Cove in 1788 ...                              "She excelled in beauty all their females I ever saw.

Scanned from Finney and Houston (1996) Page 38.
Various resized and/or cropped versions are also printed in
Finney and Houston (1966) Page 43, Figure 5.
Margan and Finney (1971) Page 19.

F. Howard : "Sandwich Island Surf-riders, circa 1830." Finney and Houston (1996) Frontpiece. The first reported Western image of surf-riding, it correctly identifies stance.

Scanned from Finney and Houston (1996) Frontpiece.
Various resized and/or cropped versions are also printed in
Finney and Houston (1966) Plate 10.
George (1990) Page 21.
Dela Vega (ed, 2004) Pages 18 -19.

Francis Olmsted  :  "Sandwich Islanders Playing in the Surf,  circa 1841."  .Lueras (1984) Page 39. First image by the same writer and artist.

Scanned from Lueras (1984) Page 39.
Various resized and/or cropped versions are also printed in
Nat's History (1983) Page 33
Dela Vega (ed, 2004) page 24.

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