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EXHIBITION
A museum is highlighting one of the most influential books in British nature writing with a multimedia exhibition
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An exhibition exploring the story of one of the most inf luential books in British nature writing is to run for most of 2024.
‘Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine’ opened at Chelmsford Museum on 23 March, and will remain until 3 November.
Co-curated by Chelmsford Museum and the University of Essex, it looks at the life of John Alec Baker, better known as J A Baker, and his celebrated 1967 book, The Perergine.
The book condensed 10 years of sightings and observations by Baker into a single winter – the big freeze of 1962-63 – and is seen by many as the forerunner of much modern nature writing, with Baker’s intense, poetic prose combining with detailed, up-close observations of the birds.
Over the years, it has attracted a remarkable list of famous advocates and admirers, from nature writer Robert Macfarlane to filmmaker Werner Herzog.
At the time, the fortunes of the Peregrine were at a low ebb in the UK, with the effects of poisoning by DDT and other pesticides reducing numbers drastically and pushing breeding birds to a few, mainly coastal, areas.
Restless Brilliance features 60 items, on display for the first time, from the University of Essex’s J A Baker archive in the Albert Sloman Library. These include personal photos and his detailed ornithological diaries. It also draws on contributions from modern day naturalists, such as Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham, as well as from residents and artists, to highlight the author’s legacy today.
Co-curators Dr Sarah Demelo of the University of Essex and Sarah Harvey of Chelmsford Museum said the sharing of Baker’s story was long overdue, saying in a statement, “J A Baker’s books had a profound inf luence on nature writing and on the survival of the Peregrine in the UK. Nearly 60 years later, his prose continues to inspire, and yet we know relatively little about the man himself.
“We hope visitors to Restless Brilliance will leave with a greater understanding of Baker’
