Seeing the Scottish Polar Bear: William Burn Murdoch, ‘Starboard’, and Edinburgh Zoo, C.1910

This article surveys the longstanding relationship between polar bears and Scotland, with a particular focus on their appearance in the art and visual culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It explores the relationship from two interconnected perspectives: that of Scottish explorers entering polar bear territories in the Arctic regions c.1880–1920; and that of captive polar bears "exploring" Scotland during the same period. Particular attention is paid to "Starboard," an individual bear that lived at Edinburgh Zoo between 1913 and 1932, and the artist and explorer William Burn Murdoch (1862–1939), who was responsible for this bear's capture. Focusing on visual and textual representations of polar bears from a variety of sources, the article reveals the ways in which the Scottish polar bear trade overlapped with the whaling trade, with the growth of zoos and menageries in Europe, and with Scotland's scientific, imperial, and artistic ambitions at the turn of the century.