LA MONTAGNE PELÉE PEINTE PAR PAUL GAUGUIN

PAUL GAUGUIN (1848-1903)
La montagne Pelée (1,395m)
France (Martinique)

In Paysage de la Martinique côtière, Huile sur toile, 1887, Musée des Beaux-Arts André Malraux,
Le Havre, France

Le volcan
La montagne Pelée (1,395m) est un volcan gris actif situé dans le Nord de la Martinique, île française des petites Antilles dont elle est le point culminant.
La montagne, un stratovolcan gris calco-alcalin, est notamment connue pour son éruption de 1902 qui a entraîné la destruction de la ville de Saint-Pierre située à ses pieds et au cours de laquelle près de 30 000 personnes sont mortes. Cette éruption, la plus meurtrière du 20e siècle, a servi à caractériser le type éruptif péléen tirant son nom du volcan. Le volcan est surveillé et étudié par l'Observatoire volcanologique et sismologique de Martinique depuis 1903.
Le volcan fait partie du parc naturel régional de la Martinique créé en 1976, et est inscrit avec certains pitons du nord au patrimoine mondial de l'Unesco depuis 2023. Le dynamisme volcanique péléen se caractérise par des éruptions explosives, éruptions rares mais violentes : l'andésite contenue dans les profondeurs du volcan est une lave à forte teneur en silice, très visqueuse formant difficilement des coulées de lave. Cette lave, presque solide, forme un dôme en couvercle ou plus rarement en une aiguille de lave dans la bouche éruptive (cratère volcanique) et lorsque la pression ne peut plus être contenue, l'éjection brutale des gaz détruit le couvercle et provoque des nuées ardentes : un nuage de gaz sous pression, de cendres brûlantes et de blocs de lave, déferle sur les pentes du volcan accompagné d'un panache volcanique pouvant s'élever à des dizaines de kilomètres en altitude.
La dernière éruption en date est celle de 1929-1932. Elle n'a pas fait de victimes grâce aux évacuations de populations. C'est à la suite de cette éruption que la montagne Pelée a acquis sa forme actuelle avec une caldeira bien dessinée. Les dernières fumerolles, localisées entre les deux dômes, disparaissent en 1970.
Depuis novembre 2019, l'activité sismique interne au volcan s'intensifie, atteignant 51 secousses (non ressenties par la population) en un mois, en septembre 2020. Des remontées de gaz ont aussi été enregistrées (8 et 9 novembre 2020), ainsi que des séismes sous-marins et des fumerolles, mais selon l’Institut de physique du globe de Paris (IPGP), « ce ne sont pas les signes précurseurs d’une éruption ».

Le peintre
Paul Gauguin, est un peintre postimpressionniste français. Chef de file de l'École de Pont-Aven et inspirateur des nabis, il est considéré comme l'un des peintres français majeurs du 19e siècle, et l'un des plus importants précurseurs de l'art moderne. En1871, il devient agent de change à la Bourse à Paris et connaît un certain succès dans les affaires. Son tuteur, Gustave Arosa, homme d'affaires et grand amateur d'art, introduit Gauguin auprès des impressionnistes. En 1874, il fait la connaissance du peintre Camille Pissarro et voit la première exposition du courant impressionniste. Comme son tuteur, il devient amateur d'art et s'essaye alors à la peinture. Il participe, de 1879 à 1886, aux cinq dernières expositions du groupe des impressionnistes.
En 1882, il abandonne son emploi de courtier en bourse pour se consacrer à sa nouvelle passion, la peinture.  En 1886, sur les conseils de Félix Armand Marie Jobbé-Duval, Gauguin effectue un premier séjour à Pont-Aven en Bretagne, où il rencontre Émile Bernard, le tenant du cloisonnisme. De retour à Paris, il rencontre pour la première fois Vincent van Gogh, en novembre de la même année.
En avril 1887, il s'embarque avec le peintre Charles Laval pour le Panama où ils vont travailler au percement du canal. Ils y rencontrent des conditions de vie particulièrement difficiles et décident de partir dès qu'ils auront réuni suffisamment d'argent pour la Martinique, que Gauguin avait découverte lors d'une escale. Après un séjour à l'île de Taboga, il rejoint la Martinique où il reste dans des conditions précaires, de juin à octobre 1887, à l'Anse Turin au Carbet à deux kilomètres de Saint-Pierre, où se trouve, toujours aujourd'hui, un Centre d’Interprétation qui lui est consacré. Enthousiasmé par la lumière et les paysages, il peint dix-sept toiles lors de son séjour.
« L’expérience que j’ai faite à la Martinique est décisive. Là seulement je me suis senti vraiment moi-même, et c’est dans ce que j’ai rapporté qu’il faut me chercher si on veut savoir qui je suis, plus encore que dans mes œuvres de Bretagne. » (Paul Gauguin à Charles Morice, 1891)Malade de dysenterie et du paludisme, et sans ressources pour vivre, Gauguin regagne la métropole en novembre 1887. Laval prolonge son séjour jusqu'en 1888.
De nombreuses toiles de Paul Gauguin sont peintes des deux côtés. Comme beaucoup de peintres du 19e siècle désargentés, Paul Gauguin retournait certaines toiles qu'il possédait de peintres de son époque pour y composer ses propres œuvres. C'est le cas, par exemple, du nu de la collection Slomovic comportant au verso la vue d'une chambre. Un autre cas est la nature morte Villa Julia de l'ancienne collection Lefort des Ylouses montrant un nu (inachevé et non identifié) de l'autre côté.
Georges Wildenstein a établi un catalogue raisonné et dénombré 638 peintures (numérotées W1 à W638),
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2023 - Gravir les montagnes en peinture
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

 

PICO TURQUINO PEINT PAR EDMUND DARCH LEWIS

 

EDMUND DARCH LEWIS (1835-1910) 

Pico Turquino  (1,974m- 6,476 ft) 

Cuba 

In  "Pico Turquino in the Sierra Maestra" ,  View of Cuba, oil on canvas, 1850.

La montagne
Pico Turquino (littéralement "Pic Turquoise") est le point culminant de Cuba à 1 974 mètres d'altitude. Situé au centre de la Sierra Maestra, il se trouve dans le parc national de Turquino - également connu sous le nom de parc national de la Sierra Maestra. Son sommet fait l'objet d'une sorte de pèlerinage depuis que le père de la combattante révolutionnaire Celia Sánchez a érigé en 1953 un buste du héros national José Martí.

L'artiste
Edmund Darch Lewis était un peintre paysagiste américain connu pour son style prolifique, ses huiles marines et ses aquarelles. Lewis est né à Philadelphie, en Pennsylvanie, dans une famille aisée. Il a commencé à s'entraîner à 15 ans avec Paul Weber (1823–1916), d'origine allemande, de la Hudson River School.
À 19 ans, il expose à la Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts et est élu associé de l'Académie à 24 ans.
Les premiers travaux de Lewis dans le pétrole, en raison de son excellente formation, ont été précoces et sont considérés comme techniquement supérieurs à ses travaux ultérieurs. Il a voyagé à travers la Pennsylvanie, le New Jersey et New York, peignant des scènes de rivière, et pendant deux décennies, il a voyagé dans les White Mountains et a peint des paysages de montagnes, de rivières et de lacs. Il a réalisé de nombreuses peintures marines dans toute la Nouvelle-Angleterre, devenant un artiste prolifique et prospère. Son travail a été apprécié en raison de la luminosité de ses peintures. Il est d'ailleurs considéré comme l'un des peintres luministes majeurs de la Hudson River School.
Après avoir utilisé la peinture à l'huile au début de sa carrière, Lewis est passé à l'aquarelle. Bien qu'elles ne soient pas aussi exceptionnelles sur le plan technique, ses aquarelles sont aussi  également admirées pour leur luminosité (le luminisme encore et toujours),

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2023 - Wandering Vertexes ....
Errant au-dessus des Sommets Silencieux...
Un blog de Francis Rousseau

PICO TURQUINO (3) PAINTED BY EDMUND DARCH LEWIS

 

EDMUND DARCH LEWIS (1835-1910) 

Pico Turquino  (1,974m- 6,476 ft) 

Cuba 

In Pico Turquino - View of Cuba, oil on canvas, 1850.

The mountain
Pico Turquino (literally "Turquoise Peak") is Cuba's highest point at 1,974 meters above sea level. Located in the center of the Sierra Maestra, it lies within the Turquino National Park - also known as the Sierra Maestra National Park. Its summit has been the subject of a sort of pilgrimage since the father of the revolutionary fighter Celia Sánchez erected in 1953 a bust of the national hero José Martí.

The artist
Edmund Darch Lewis was an American landscape painter known for his prolific style, marine oils and watercolors. Lewis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a well-to-do family. He started training at age 15 with German-born Paul Weber (1823–1916) of the Hudson River School.
At age 19 he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was elected an Associate of the Academy at age 24.
Lewis's early work in oil, because of his excellent training, was precocious and is considered technically superior to his later work. He traveled throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, painting river scenes, and for two decades he traveled to the White Mountains and painted landscapes of mountains, rivers, and lakes. He made extensive marine paintings throughout New England, becoming a prolific and successful artist. His work was appreciated because of the luminosity of their objects. Because of the lively yet glowing work, he is considered one of the Luminist painters in the Hudson River School.
After mastering oil painting early in his career, Lewis switched to watercolor painting. Although not as technically outstanding, his watercolors were also admired for their luminosity - Luminism, and Lewis continued to generate canvases in mass production style.
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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

THE MOUNT PELÉ BY PAUL LEMAGNY FOR IN VINTAGE STAMPS 1955

VINTAGE STAMP 1955

PAUL LEMAGNY (1905-1977)
Mount Pelée (1,397 m - 4,583 ft)
France (Martinique) 

The artist
Paul Pierre Lemagny (1905-1977) is a French painter and engraver. Between 1940 and 1958, Paul Lemagny designed more than two hundred models of stamps for the postal administration, in particular the portrait of many illustrious men, one of his specialties. Forty-five of these models gave rise to the issue of a stamp, including Madame Récamier, who received the philatelic art prize awarded for the first time at the CNEP's autumn show in 1950. He also created a series on symbolist poets (Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud) who are models of the genre both in the portraits of the poets and in the evocations of their works. Lemagny was elected to the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1949, of which he became the youngest member at age 43.

The Volcano
Mount Pelé (1,397 m - 4,583 ft ) or Mount PElée  (Le Mont Pelé (in french), is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of stratified layers of hardened ash and solidified lava. Its most recent eruption was in 1932.  The stratovolcano's 1902 eruption destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre, killing 29,000 to 30,000 people in the space of a few minutes, in the worst volcanic disaster of the 20th century. ] The main eruption, on 8 May 1902, left only two survivors in the direct path of the blast flow: Ludger Sylbaris survived because he was in a poorly ventilated, dungeon-like jail cell and Léon Compère-Léandre, living on the edge of the city, escaped with severe burns. The volcano is currently active.  On December 6, 2020, The Martinique Volcano Observatory (MVO) has raised Mount Pelee's alert level to Yellow [Restless] from Green [Normal] due to an increase in seismicity under the volcano beginning in April 2019, and observations of tremor last month. As far as is known, this is the first sign of activity since the end of the 1929-32 eruption. This volcano is, of course, highly dangerous, and great vigilance of its activity is required. Whether or not it is going to enter a new eruptive period is currently unknown. According to the MVO press release "The increase in seismicity of superficial volcanic origin (up to 4-5 km below the summit) observed since April 2019, is therefore clearly above the base level characteristic for Mount Pelée.  In April 2019, volcanic seismicity appeared at depth around and under Mount Pelée (more than 10 km below sea level). It could correspond to the arrival at depth of magmatic fluids. Finally, new recorded tremor-type signals were observed on November 8 and 9, 2020: they could correspond to a reactivation of the hydrothermal system. Even if, in the current state of measurements, there is no deformation of the volcano on the scale of the observation network, the appearance, in a few months, of these three different types of seismic signals of volcanic origin shows a clear change in the behavior of the volcanic system, the activity of which is increasing from the base level observed over several decades."

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2022 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

PICO TURQUINO (2) PAINTED BY EDMUND DARCH LEWIS

EDMUND DARCH LEWIS (1835-1910) 

Pico Turquino (1,974m- 6,476 ft) 

Cuba 

In Pico Turquino - View of Cuba, oil on canvas ( 30x47cm), 1860.

The mountain
Pico Turquino  (1,974m- 6,476 ft) is the highest point in Cuba. It is located in the southeast part of the island, in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in the municipality of Guamá, Santiago de Cuba Province, within the Turquino National Park - also known as the Sierra Maestra National Park. The name is believed to be a corruption of turquoise (Spanish: turquesa) peak, named so for the blue hues taken by the heights in certain views.  It was first mentioned (under the name "Tarquino") on a map drawn by Gerardo Kramer in the late 18th century. It was first climbed in 1860 by F.W. Ramsden Its summit has been the subject of a sort of pilgrimage since the father of the cuban revolutionary, fighter Celia Sánchez erected in 1953 a bust of the national hero José Martí.

The artist
Edmund Darch Lewis was an American landscape painter known for his prolific style, marine oils and watercolors. Lewis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a well-to-do family. He started training at age 15 with German-born Paul Weber (1823–1916) of the Hudson River School.
At age 19 he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was elected an Associate of the Academy at age 24.
Lewis's early work in oil, because of his excellent training, was precocious and is considered technically superior to his later work. He traveled throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, painting river scenes, and for two decades he traveled to the White Mountains and painted landscapes of mountains, rivers, and lakes. He made extensive marine paintings throughout New England, becoming a prolific and successful artist. His work was appreciated because of the luminosity of their objects. Because of the lively yet glowing work, he is considered one of the Luminist painters in the Hudson River School.
After mastering oil painting early in his career, Lewis switched to watercolor painting. Although not as technically outstanding, his watercolors were also admired for their luminosity - Luminism, and Lewis continued to generate canvases in mass production style.

___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau

ATITLAN VOLCANO BY ALFRED MAUDSLAY

ALFRED MAUDSLAY (1850-1931) 

Atitlбn (3,535 m -11,598ft) 

Guatemala

 In Lake and volcano of Atitlan, gelatine print, 1898 

The mountain
Atitlбn volcano  (3,535 m - 11,598 ft)  is a large, conical, active stratovolcano adjacent to the caldera of Lake Atitlбn in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas range. It is within the Sololб Department, northern Guatemala. The volcano has been quite active historically, with more than a dozen eruptions recorded between 1469 and 1853, the date of its most recent eruption. Atitlбn is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc. The arc is a chain of volcanoes stretching along Central America formed by subduction of the Cocos Plate underneath the Caribbean Plate. This volcano is part of the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean. Atitlбn is home to two particularly rare and beautiful birds that are endemic to the cloud forests of this region. The horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus) is a Pleistocene relic of the Cracidae family that persists today only in small fragments of its previous range. Its habitat is limited to cloud forests above approximately 1,650 metres (5,410 ft). This bird is the size of a turkey and the adult male has a one-inch scarlet-colored "horn" projecting straight up from the top of its head. The Cabanis's or azure-rumped tanager (Tangara cabanisi) is probably the most restricted-range species in the region. It occurs only at mid-elevations within the Sierra Madre del Sur of Chiapas, Mexico and western Guatemala. Atitlбn lies on the southern rim of the caldera, while Volcano San Pedro and Volcano Tolimбn lie within the caldera. San Pedro is the oldest of the three and seems to have stopped erupting about 40,000 years ago. Tolimбn began growing after San Pedro stopped erupting, and probably remains active, although it has not erupted in historic times. Atitlбn has developed almost entirely in the last 10,000 years and remains active, with its most recent eruption having occurred in 1853.

The photographer 
The  British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay  was also a photographer... and rather a good one according to the numerous photographs on dry plate he left.   He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins.
After leaving Medical School, he moved to Trinidad, becoming private secretary to Governor William Cairns, and transferred with Cairns to Queensland. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor.  Later he served as British consul in Tonga and Samoa. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.
In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to a reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of Yaxchilán. With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, "Biologia Centrali-Americana".
In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make plaster casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of papier-mâché. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.
All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana, which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman.
In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th International Congress of Americanists in London in 1912.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

PICO TURQUINO BY EDMUND DARCH LEWIS

EDMUND DARCH LEWIS (1835-1910) 

Pico Turquino  (1,974m- 6,476 ft) 

Cuba 

In Pico Turquino - View of Cuba, oil on canvas ( 30x47cm), 1860.

The mountain
Pico Turquino (literally "Turquoise Peak") is Cuba's highest point at 1,974 meters above sea level. Located in the center of the Sierra Maestra, it lies within the Turquino  National Park - also known as the Sierra Maestra National Park. Its summit has been the subject of a sort of pilgrimage since the father of the revolutionary fighter Celia Sánchez erected in 1953 a bust of the national hero José Martí.

The artist
Edmund Darch Lewis was an American landscape painter known for his prolific style, marine oils and watercolors. Lewis was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a well-to-do family. He started training at age 15 with German-born Paul Weber (1823–1916) of the Hudson River School.
At age 19 he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and was elected an Associate of the Academy at age 24.
Lewis's early work in oil, because of his excellent training, was precocious and is considered technically superior to his later work. He traveled throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, painting river scenes, and for two decades he traveled to the White Mountains and painted landscapes of mountains, rivers, and lakes. He made extensive marine paintings throughout New England, becoming a prolific and successful artist.  His work was appreciated because of the luminosity of their objects. Because of the lively yet glowing work, he is considered one of the Luminist painters in the Hudson River School.
After mastering oil painting early in his career, Lewis switched to watercolor painting. Although not as technically outstanding, his watercolors were also admired for their luminosity - Luminism, and Lewis continued to generate canvases in mass production style.
___________________________________________
2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

IZALCO VOLCANO IN VINTAGE STAMPS 1890

VINTAGE STAMPS 1890 

 Izalco Volcano (1,950m - 6,398ft)

El Salvador

In Volcan de Izalco, faro de la America Central, 1 cents stamp, 1890,  

Columbian Bank Note Company 

The volcano
The Izalco Volcano (1,950m -  is the youngest of the volcanoes in El Salvador and one of the youngest in the Americas.   The name of Izalco has its origin in the Nahuatl language (Itshalco) and means: "Place in the obsidian sands or Place in the black sands".
According to the popular version, it originated in the year 1770 when a hole in the skirt of the Santa Ana Volcano began to emit smoke and ashes. However, the historian Jorge Lardé and Larín indicates that its origins go back to March 19, 1722 when "a new crater was formed where it vomited fire, lava and ashes", 1 which made an important eruption in 1745 .
For 196 years the volcano erupted almost ceaselessly, so much that its flames could be seen until the ocean , this gave rise to that it was known with the nickname of Lighthouse of the Pacific . Its activity was such that a cone of 650 meters was formed on the neighboring plain (1,952 msnm), with a crater of 250 meters in diameter. Its last regular eruption occurred in 1958 , although in 1966 it awoke from its inactivity with a small lateral eruption. 2 Since then, there has been a gradual decrease in activity and temperature of its fumaroles.

The stamps
Correos de El Salvador is a dependency of the Ministry of the Interior in charge of offering postal services with national and international coverage. By constitutional mandate, it is up to the Salvadoran State to provide these services by itself or through autonomous institutions, and to monitor this activity when it is provided by private companies.
On March 1, 1867 stamps were mandatory in the country. These stamps were oval in shape and showed the figure of the San Miguel volcano surrounded by eleven stars representing the eleven departments in which the republic was divided at that time.
The Philatelic Society of El Salvador was founded in the city of San Salvador on January 5, 1940, at the initiative of Enrique Patiño, Antonio Pinto Lima and Ciro Rusconi. Patiño was its first president and the first meeting of the society brought together sixteen philatelists. Also in the United States The El Salvador Collectors Club was formed on May 3, 1975, which was incorporated into the Jack Knight Collectors Club, and later changed its name to Associated Collectors of El Salvador .
Both associations joined in 2004 to create the Philatelic Society of El Salvador - ACES , dedicated to the online study of stamps and postal history of El Salvador.
The institution has a quarterly online magazine called El Salvador Filatélico - El Faro.

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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

VOLCÀN DE FUEGO BY ALFRED MAUDSLAY

ALFRED MAUDSLAY (1850-1931)

Volcán de Fuego (3,763 m - 12,346 ft)

Guatemala

 In The Firepeak and Meseta,  A glimpse of Guatemala, 1889

Volcán de Fuego (3,763 m - 12,346 ft) is an active stratovolcano in Guatemala, on the borders of Chimaltenango, Escuintla and Sacatepéquez departments. It sits about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) west of Antigua, one of Guatemala's most famous cities and a tourist destination. 

It has erupted frequently since the Spanish conquest, most recently in June and November 2018.

Fuego is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level. Small gas and ash eruptions occur every 15 to 20 minutes, but larger eruptions are rare. Andesite and basalt lava types dominate, and recent eruptions have tended to be more mafic than older ones.

The volcano is joined with Acatenango and collectively the complex is known as La Horqueta.e greater Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve).

In 1881, French writer Eugenio Dussaussay climbed the volcano, then practically unexplored.

The strongest earthquakes experienced by the city of Santiago de los Caballeros before its final move in 1776 were the San Miguel earthquakes in 1717. In the city, people also believed that the proximity of the Volcán de Fuego (English: Volcano of Fire) was the cause of earthquakes; the great architect Diego de Porres even said that all the earthquakes were caused by volcano explosions.
On 3 June 2018, the volcano suddenly produced its most powerful eruption since 1974. Large pyroclastic density currents were produced that over-topped the barranca boundaries they had previously been confined to and unexpectedly hit El Rodeo, Las Lajas, San Miguel Los Lotes, and La Reunión villages in Escuintla, which buried the towns and killed many of the surprised residents. Later, 18 bodies were found in the village of San Miguel Los Lotes.

The photographer 
The  British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay  was also a photographer... and rather a good one according to the numerous photographs on dry plate he left.   He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins.
After leaving Medical School, he moved to Trinidad, becoming private secretary to Governor William Cairns, and transferred with Cairns to Queensland. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor.  Later he served as British consul in Tonga and Samoa. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.
In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to a reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of Yaxchilán. With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, "Biologia Centrali-Americana".
In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make plaster casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of papier-mâché. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.
All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana, which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman.
In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th International Congress of Americanists in London in 1912.

_______________________________

2019 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

VOLCÁN DE AGUA / HUNAHPÚ (2) BY ALFRED MAUDSLAY

ALFRED MAUDSLAY (1850-1931)

Volcán de Agua / Hunahpú  (3,760 m- 12, 349 ft)

Guatemala

 In   Volcano de Agua   in the mist from Antigua from the book A glimpse of Guatemala,  

John Murray, ed. London, 1889 

The volcano 

Volcán de Agua (3, 760m - 12, 349 ft)  (also known by Maya as Hunahpú meaning Place of flowers) is a stratovolcano located in the departments of Sacatepéquez and Escuintla in Guatemala.  

The Spanish conquistadors also called it Hunapú until a lahar from the volcano on September 10, 1541 destroyed the original capital of Guatemala (now known as Ciudad Vieja) and the city was moved to the current site of Antigua Guatemala following this disaster.

Agua Volcano dominates the local landscape except when hidden by cloud cover. The volcano is within 5 to 10 km (3.1 to 6.2 mi) of the city of Antigua Guatemala and several other large towns situated on its northern apron. These towns have a combined population of nearly 100,000. It is within about 20 km of Escuintla (population, ca .100,000) to the south. Coffee is grown on the volcano's lower slopes.

In 1895 Anne Cary Maudslay and her husband, archeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay visited the Antigua Guatemala region as part of a journey through Guatemala's Maya and colonial archeological monuments, and climbed the Volcán de Agua (photo above)  ; she wrote a book called A Glimpse at Guatemala where she explains that water from the volcano crater could not have destroyed the old Santiago. 

The Volcán de Agua has been declared a protected area in 1956 and covers an area of 12,600 Ha.

The photographer 
The  British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay  was also a photographer... and rather a good one according to the numerous photographs on dry plate he left.   He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins.
After leaving Medical School, he moved to Trinidad, becoming private secretary to Governor William Cairns, and transferred with Cairns to Queensland. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor.  Later he served as British consul in Tonga and Samoa. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.
In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to a reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of Yaxchilán. With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, "Biologia Centrali-Americana".
In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make plaster casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of papier-mâché. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.
All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana, which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman.
In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th International Congress of Americanists in London in 1912.

_______________________________

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

ACATENANGO BY ALFRED MAUDSLAY

ALFRED MAUDSLAY (1850-1931)

Acatenango (3,976 m - 13, 045 ft) 

Guatemala

In  Volcán de Acatenango desde la meseta que lo divide del Volcán de Fuego,  

                      from the book A glimpse of Guatemala,   John Murray, ed. London, 1889 

The mountain 

Acatenango (3,976 m - 13, 045 ft) is a stratovolcano in Guatemala, close to the city of Antigua. Acatenango is joined with Volcán de Fuego and collectively the volcano complex is known as La Horqueta. The Fuego-Acatenango massif comprises a string of five or more volcanic vents along a north-south trend that is perpendicular to that of the Central American Volcanic Arc in Guatemala. From north to south, known centres of volcanism are Ancient Acatenango, Yepocapa, Pico Mayor de Acatenango, Meseta, and Fuego. Volcanism along the trend stretches back more than 200,000 years. Although many of the centres have been active contemporaneously, there is a general sequence of younger volcanism, from north to south along the trend.

The only known historical eruptions of Acatenango volcano occurred in the 20th century, between 1924 and 1927 from just north of the summit peak and again in December 1972. These phreatic explosions generated ballistic volcanic bombs that fell near the summit craters and fine volcanic ash that fell up to 25 km away.
In prehistoric time, Acatenango has erupted explosively to form widespread fall deposits, hot pyroclastic flows and lava flows. There have been numerous eruptions during the past 80,000 years from vents along the massif. The most recent explosive eruptions of Acatenango occurred 1,900 years ago , 2,300 years ago  and about 5,000 years ago . If such eruptions were to recur, many people and costly infrastructure would be at risk.

The photographer 
The  British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay  was also a photographer... and rather a good one according to the numerous photographs on dry plate he left.   He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins.
After leaving Medical School, he moved to Trinidad, becoming private secretary to Governor William Cairns, and transferred with Cairns to Queensland. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor.  Later he served as British consul in Tonga and Samoa. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.
In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to a reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of Yaxchilán. With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, "Biologia Centrali-Americana".
In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make plaster casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of papier-mâché. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.
All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana, which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman.
In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th International Congress of Americanists in London in 1912.

______________________________

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

VOLCÁN DE AGUA / HUNAHPÚ BY ALFRED MAUDSLAY

 ALFRED MAUDSLAY (1850-1931)

Volcán de Agua / Hunahpú  (3,760 m- 12, 349 ft)

Guatemala

 In   Volcano de Agua  from Santa Maria from the book A glimpse of Guatemala,  

John Murray, ed. London, 1889 

The volcano 

Volcán de Agua (3, 760m - 12, 349 ft)  (also known by Maya as Hunahpú meaning Place of flowers) is a stratovolcano located in the departments of Sacatepéquez and Escuintla in Guatemala.  

The Spanish conquistadors also called it Hunapú until a lahar from the volcano on September 10, 1541 destroyed the original capital of Guatemala (now known as Ciudad Vieja) and the city was moved to the current site of Antigua Guatemala following this disaster.

Agua Volcano dominates the local landscape except when hidden by cloud cover. The volcano is within 5 to 10 km (3.1 to 6.2 mi) of the city of Antigua Guatemala and several other large towns situated on its northern apron. These towns have a combined population of nearly 100,000. It is within about 20 km of Escuintla (population, ca .100,000) to the south. Coffee is grown on the volcano's lower slopes.

In 1895 Anne Cary Maudslay and her husband, archeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay visited the Antigua Guatemala region as part of a journey through Guatemala's Maya and colonial archeological monuments, and climbed the Volcán de Agua (photo above)  ; she wrote a book called A Glimpse at Guatemala where she explains that water from the volcano crater could not have destroyed the old Santiago. 

The Volcán de Agua has been declared a protected area in 1956 and covers an area of 12,600 Ha.

The photographer 
The  British diplomat, explorer and archaeologist Alfred Percival Maudslay  was also a photographer... and rather a good one according to the numerous photographs on dry plate he left.   He was one of the first Europeans to study Maya ruins.
After leaving Medical School, he moved to Trinidad, becoming private secretary to Governor William Cairns, and transferred with Cairns to Queensland. He subsequently moved to Fiji to work with Sir Arthur Gordon, its governor.  Later he served as British consul in Tonga and Samoa. In February 1880, Maudslay resigned from the colonial service to pursue his own interests, having spent six years in the British Pacific colonies. He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.
In Guatemala, Maudslay began the major archaeological work for which he is now best remembered. He started at the Maya ruins of Quirigua and Copan where, with the help of Frank Sarg, he hired labourers to help clear and survey the remaining structures and artefacts. Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to a reliable guide Gorgonio López. Maudslay was the first to describe the site of Yaxchilán. With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs. Maudslay published the first long-form description of Chichen Itza in his book, "Biologia Centrali-Americana".
In the course of his surveys, Maudslay pioneered many of the later archaeological techniques. He hired Italian expert Lorenzo Giuntini and technicians to make plaster casts of the carvings, while Gorgonio López made casts of papier-mâché. Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States. Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.
All told, Maudslay made a total of six expeditions to Maya ruins. After 13 years of preparation, he published his findings in 1902 as a 5-volume compendium entitled Biologia Centrali-Americana, which contained numerous excellent drawings and photographs of Maya ruins, Maudslay's commentary, and an appendix on archaic calendars by Joseph Thompson Goodman.
In 1907 the Maudslays moved permanently back to Britain. Maudslay become a President of the Royal Anthropological Institute 1911–12. He also chaired the 18th International Congress of Americanists in London in 1912.

_______________________________

 

2018 - Wandering Vertexes...

by Francis Rousseau 

VOLCAN TAJUMULCO IN VINTAGE POSTCARD 1940

VINTAGE POSTCARD 1940 

Volcàn Tajumulco  (4, 220 m - 13,850 ft)

Guatemala 

In The Volcàn Tajumulco seem from San Marcos, photo print 1940  

The mountain 
Volcán Tajumulco  (4, 220 m - 13,850 ft) is the highest mountain in Central America. It is a large stratovolcano situated in the department of San Marcos in western Guatemala. IIt is part of the mountain range of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, which begins in Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas. Tajumulco is composed of andesitic-dacitic lavas on the top of a large escarpment of uncertain origin. It has two summits, one of which has a crater 50–70 metres (160–230 ft) wide. A lava flow from the north-western summit descends into a steep valley on the same side of the volcano.
The volcano's eruptive history is unclear and the date of its last eruption is unknown. Reports from the 18th and early 19th century claim to record eruptions but these are considered unlikely.
The region around Tajumulco is relatively sparsely populated.  The nearest town is San Marcos, located 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) to the south-east.  Although it is infrequently visited,  the volcano can be climbed in about five hours from the hamlet of Tuichán. Several tour companies offer trips up the mountain, but the high altitude requires acclimatization before the summit can safely be reached. Views are variable as the area is frequently covered in mist and cloud, with conditions at their least favorable between April and September

VOLCAN SAN VICENTE / CHICHONTEPEC IN VINTAGE POSTCARD 1940

 VINTAGE POSTCARD 1940  

Volcan San Vicente / Chichontepec (2,182m-7,159ft) 

El Salvador 

The mountain 

San Vicente  (2,182m-7,159ft)  also known as Chichontepec or Las Chiches is a stratovolcano in central El Salvador. It is located next to the town of San Vicente (hence the name) and is the second highest volcano in El Salvador. In the indigenous language Nahuat, Chichontepec means the mountain of the two breasts, because its double summit resembles a woman's bosom. 

The volcano has two craters, one located in each summit, although not exactly at the top. Dense vegetation covers both summits. Numerous hot springs and fumaroles are found on the northern and western flanks of the volcano. To the northeast, at 820 metres in a ravine of 180 metres longitude, there are fumaroles—fountains of clear and muddy water or small volcanoes of mud.

The last significant eruption occurred more than 1,700 years ago. The volcano may have had a very long history of repeated, and sometimes violent, eruptions, and at least once a large section of the volcano collapsed in a massive landslide.

On August 9, 1995, Aviateca Flight 901 crashed at the volcano, killing all 65 people on board.

SANTA MARIA VOLCANO PHOTOGRAPHED BY TEMPEST ANDERSON

TEMPEST ANDERSON (1846-1913)

Santa María Volcano (3,772m- 12, 375ft)

Guatemala

In Santa Maria Volcano crater of 1902,  photographed in 1907, black and white glass lantern slide 

The mountain 
Santa María Volcano (3,772m- 12, 375ft)  is a large active volcano in the western highlands of Guatemala, in the Quetzaltenango Department near the city of Quetzaltenango.
The volcano was known as Gagxanul in the local K'iche' language, before the 16th century Spanish Conquest of the region.
The VEI 6 eruption of Santa María Volcano in 1902 was one of the  largest eruptions of the 20th century and one of the five biggest eruptions of the past 200 (and most likely 300) years.
Santa María Volcano is part of the Sierra Madre range of volcanoes, which extends along the western edge of Guatemala, separated from the Pacific Ocean by a broad plain. The volcanoes are formed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate under the Caribbean Plate, which led to the formation of the Central America Volcanic Arc.
Eruptions at Santa María are estimated to have begun about 30,000 years ago but the The VEI 6 eruption of october 1902 is the first eruption in recorded history. Before 1902 the volcano had been dormant for at least 500 years and possibly several thousand years, but its awakening was clearly indicated by a seismic swarm in the region starting in January 1902, which included a major earthquake in April 1902. The eruption began on 24 October, and the largest explosions occurred over the following two days, ejecting an estimated 5.5 cubic kilometres (1.3 cu mi) of magma. The eruption was one of the largest of the 20th century, only slightly less in magnitude to that of  NObaruptia in 1912 and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. The eruption had a VEI of 6, thus being 'Colossal'.
The pumice formed in the climactic eruption fell over an area of about 273,000 square kilometres (105,000 sq mi), and volcanic ash as far away as San Francisco, 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) away. The eruption tore away much of the south-western flank of the volcano, leaving a crater about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) in diameter and about 300 metres (980 ft) deep, stretching from just below the summit to an elevation of about 2,300 metres (7,500 ft). The first evidence of the eruption was a sprinkling of sand on Quezaltenango. The wind then changed from the south to the east and ashes began to fall at Helvetia, a coffee plantation six miles to the South-West. Because of the lack of recorded eruptive activity at Santa María, local people did not recognise the preceding seismicity as warning signs of an eruption. At least 5,000 people died as a result of the eruption itself, and a subsequent outbreak of malaria killed many more.

The photographer
Tempest Anderson  was an ophthalmic surgeon at York County Hospital in the United Kingdom, and an expert amateur photographer and vulcanologist. He was a member of the Royal Society Commission which was appointed to investigate the aftermath of the eruptions of Soufriere volcano, St Vincent and Mont Pelee, Martinique, West Indies which both erupted in May 1902. Some of his photographs of these eruptions were subsequently published in his book, Volcanic Studies in Many Lands.
Tempest Anderson spent nine months in Mexico, Guatemala and the West Indies in 1906/1907. He travelled to Mexico to attend the 10th Congres Geologique International before sailing by mail steamer to Guatemala to study the effects of the 1902 earthquake. During the trip he observed and photographed Cerro Quemado, Santa Maria, and Atitlan. During this trip he collected first hand accounts of the 1902 eruption of the Santa Maria and the immediate aftermath. Captain Saunders of the Pacific Mail Steamer S.S. Newport observed the eruption cloud which rose to a great height. The Captain measured it using a sextant and recorded it as reaching 17 to 18 miles. The sounds accompanying the eruption were loud and were heard even louder at more distant places than close to the mountain. The eruption was heard as far away as Guatemala City, the noises so strong, they were assumed to come from neighbouring volcanoes.

ATITLAN & TOLIMAN VOLCANOS BY ARTHUR P. COLEMAN (1852-1939)

ARTHUR P. COLEMAN (1852-1939)

  Atitlбn (3,535 m -11,598ft) & Tolimбn  (3,158 m -10,361ft) 

Guatemala 

In Atitlan and Tolimon seen from Lake Atitlan, 1937, watercolor, 

The mountains

Atitlбn volcano  (3,535 m - 11,598 ft)  is a large, conical, active stratovolcano adjacent to the caldera of Lake Atitlбn in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas range. It is within the Sololб Department, northern Guatemala. The volcano has been quite active historically, with more than a dozen eruptions recorded between 1469 and 1853, the date of its most recent eruption. Atitlбn is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc. The arc is a chain of volcanoes stretching along Central America formed by subduction of the Cocos Plate underneath the Caribbean Plate. This volcano is part of the Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean. Atitlбn is home to two particularly rare and beautiful birds that are endemic to the cloud forests of this region. The horned guan (Oreophasis derbianus) is a Pleistocene relic of the Cracidae family that persists today only in small fragments of its previous range. Its habitat is limited to cloud forests above approximately 1,650 metres (5,410 ft). This bird is the size of a turkey and the adult male has a one-inch scarlet-colored "horn" projecting straight up from the top of its head. The Cabanis's or azure-rumped tanager (Tangara cabanisi) is probably the most restricted-range species in the region. It occurs only at mid-elevations within the Sierra Madre del Sur of Chiapas, Mexico and western Guatemala. Atitlбn lies on the southern rim of the caldera, while Volcano San Pedro and Volcano Tolimбn lie within the caldera. San Pedro is the oldest of the three and seems to have stopped erupting about 40,000 years ago. Tolimбn began growing after San Pedro stopped erupting, and probably remains active, although it has not erupted in historic times. Atitlбn has developed almost entirely in the last 10,000 years and remains active, with its most recent eruption having occurred in 1853.




Tolimбn volcano  (3,158 m -10,361 ft) is located on the southern shores of Lago de Atitlбn. The volcano  was formed near the southern margin of the Pleistocene Atitlбn III caldera. The top of the volcano has a shallow crater and its flanks are covered with the thick remains of ancient lava flows that emerged from vents in the volcano's flanks. A parasitic lava dome, known as Cerro de Oro, was formed on the volcano's northern flank, which may have erupted a few thousand years ago.




San Pedro volcano  (3,020m -9,908 ft) (also named Las Yeguas) represented in the foggy background of in the Coleman painting, is the third stratovolcano on the shores of Lago de Atitlбn, in the Solol Department of northern Guatemala. At its base is the village of San Pedro La Laguna.




The first volcanic activity in the region occurred about 11 million years ago, and since then the region has seen four separate episodes of volcanic growth and caldera collapse, the most recent of which began about 1.8 million years ago and culminated in the formation of the present caldera. The lake now fills a large part of the caldera, reaching depths of up to 600 metres.

The caldera-forming eruption is known as Los Chocoyos eruption and ejected up to 300 km3 (72 cu mi) of tephra. The enormous eruption dispersed ash over an area of some 6 million kmІ: it has been detected from Florida to Ecuador, and can be used as a stratigraphic marker in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans (known as Y-8 ash in marine deposits). A chocoyo is a type of bird which is often found nesting in the relatively soft ash layer.

On February 4, 1976, a massive earthquake (magnitude 7.5) struck Guatemala, killing more than 26,000 people. The earthquake fractured the lake bed and caused subsurface drainage from the lake, allowing the water level to drop two meters within one month

The artist 

Arthur Philemon Coleman was a Canadian a geologist, professor, minerals prospector, artist, Rockies explorer, backwoods canoeist, world traveller, scientist, popular lecturer, museum administrator, memoirist and...  one of Canada’s most beloved scientist. 

Arthur Coleman is a fine example of that rare bird, a polished amateur artist whose drawings and paintings stand comfortably beside those of many professionals. He was active during the time when sketching and painting was ceding to photography the task of recording the visible world. Although he was also a photographer, painting was, for him, both a poetic and a descriptive pursuit, a way of wrapping an artistic expression around a phenomenon he was interested in or moved by. Thus motivated, Coleman's paintings give much joy and command a good deal of respect. The more surprising, perhaps given that he used to introduced himself more as a geologist than a painter.

Coleman travelled throughout the United States for professional conferences as well as geological field work.  He visited many of the major American mountain ranges including: the American Cordillera Mountains (Washington, Oregon and California); the Sierra Nevada Mountains (California and Nevada); Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho); and the Appalachian Mountains (eastern United States). Pleistocene glaciation had extended in Northern Europe as far south as Berlin and London and covered an area of two million square miles. Coleman also visited such countries as India, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Scandinavia, Bolivia, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay. In his final years he made two expeditions to the Andes in Colombia, to mountains in Southern Mexico and to two mountains in Central America.  He achieved the first ascent of Castle Mountain in 1884, and in 1907, he was the first white man to attempt to climb Mount Robson. He made a total of eight exploratory trips to the Canadian Rockies, wholly four of them looking for the mythical giants of Hooker and Brown. 

From 1901 to 1922, he was a Professor of Geology at the University of Toronto and was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1919 to 1922. From 1931 to 1934, he was a geologist with the Department of Mines of the Government of Ontario. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1900 and was its President in 1921. In 1929, he was appointed Honorary Vice-President of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

 "Mount Coleman" and "Coleman Glacier" in Banff National Park is named in his honor.  He was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1936.

He planned to climb "hi" mountain, "Mount Coleman"'in the Albertan Rockies, and had also prepared a trip to British Guiana, but death intervened.

He was author of:

- Reports on the Economic Geology of Ontario (1903)

- Lake Ojibway; Last of the Great Glacial Lakes (1909) 

- The Canadian Rockies: New and Old Trails (1911)

- Ice Ages, Recent and Ancient (1926), and was co-author of Elementary Geology (1922).

- The Last Million Years (1941) edited by George F. Kay