London - A fascinating exhibition telling the stories of travellers to Britain who caused widespread excitement, interest and curiosity in London’s social circles, opened at the National Portrait Gallery, Between Worlds: Voyagers to Britain 1700-1850 is the first exhibition to focus on the complexities and ambiguities of encounters between non-European visitors and their British contemporaries.  As well as its art-historical importance, Between Worlds has many contemporary cultural resonances.On exhibition until 17 June, 2007.

The visitors, who came from places with which Britain had a colonial relationship including North America, the South Pacific, India and Africa, each had different reasons for making their journeys and received markedly varied receptions on arrival.  The experiences - and the impact on British society - of travelers such as the ‘Four Indian Kings’ of North America, Mai of the South Pacific, Raja Rammohun Roy of India and Africa’s Sara Baartman are brought vividly to life through paintings, objects, drawings and documents.

One of the major international loans will be the commissioned portraits of the ‘Four Indian Kings’ who came to England to offer their assistance to the British government against the French in the battle for North America in 1710.  Amongst the best documented and most romanticized visitors featured in the exhibition is William Sessarakoo, a wealthy prince from a West African slave-trading family.

The exhibition will show how some of the most celebrated travelers to Britain of this period - the Tahitian Omai, through his visit to London in 1774, and Joseph Brant, probably the most influential American Indian leader in Britain during the American Revolutionary War, assumed roles as spokespersons for their people by their manipulation and management of the British. Raja Rammohun Roy, the eminent linguist, businessman, and social reformer often recognized as the “father of modern India” visited as an emissary of the Mughal emperor Akbar Shah II.

In contrast, it documents how two Aboriginal visitors, Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne, accompanying Governor Phillip (the first Governor of New South Wales) back to London in 1792, were not taken up by London ‘society’ in the same way, perhaps reflecting a hardening of attitudes by the 1790s.  The history of European oppression and mistreatment of indigenous peoples is evident in the narrative and visual representation of Sara Baartman, a member of the Khoisan, South Africa’s indigenous first people, called ‘Hottentots’ by European settlers.

South Asian visitors arrived in Britain from diverse socio-economic and religious backgrounds and there will be sections devoted to Sake Dean Mahomed, “Shampooing Surgeon” to the Prince of Wales, Raja Rammohun Roy, the famous Hindu advocate of Unitarianism, and Maharaja Dalip Singh, the tragic Sikh prince.  The exhibition will include Winterhalter’s famous portrait of the young prince painted in 1854 showing him in full court dress.

Between Worlds is curated by Professor Jos Hackforth-Jones, Provost at Richmond, The American International University, London, with Professor David Bindman, Durning-Lawrence Professor of the History of Art Emeritus, University College, London, Dr Stephanie Pratt, Principal Lecturer in Art History at University of Plymouth, UK and Dr Romita Ray, Assistant Professor of Art History at Syracuse University, USA.

A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue with a foreword by Ekow Eshun (Artistic Director, ICA) includes essays by Professor Jos Hackforth-Jones, Professor David Bindman, Dr Stephanie Pratt and Dr Romita Ray. Published by the National Portrait Gallery, £15 paperback.

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