The awe of the Arctic: a visual history

Abstract

"A co-publication with The New York Public Library on the occasion of its 2024 exhibition The Awe of the Arctic, this richly illustrated catalogue with its groundbreaking scholarship is the first to survey five hundred years of Arctic imagery. The presentation ranges from sixteenth-century explorers who attempted to capture the perceived strangeness of a remote region to contemporary artists whose work conveys the human impact on its changing climate and landscape. Collectively, the essays explore a trove of books, prints, photographs, maps, and artifacts depicting and representing the various nationalities and cultures that have shaped our understanding of the polar north and the peoples for whom it is home."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Contemplating the Arctic / Brent Reidy -- Preface / Elizabeth Cronin -- Mercator's conceptions of the Arctic / Ian Fowler -- Déjà vu: the Artic peoples in the early modern book / Madeleine C. Vijoen. Per Freta Hactenus Negata: news from nowhere in the North Georgia Gazette, and Winter Chronicle / Kyle R. Triplett ; A glance at ice in The Arctic Expedition and Frankenstein / Elizabeth C. Denlinger ; "I am not yet frozen to death...": last words from the doomed Franklin expedition / Declan Kiely ; Annotated transcription of Stephen S. Stanley's letter to William Fergusson / Declan Kiely -- Feeble and heroic: encountering the fantastical Arctic landscape / Elizabeth Cronin. Frederick George Jackson's Cape Flora panorama: The journey to a first-rate halftone / Jessica Keister ; Above sea and ice: by baloon to the Arctic / Joseph J. Vissers ; The new North, the last waves: Agnes Dean Cameron's voyage to the Arctic / Julie Golia ; Buying in: magic lantern slides from Robert Peary's Arctic expeditions / Maggie Mustard ; The ephemeral Arctic: Albert Operti's "Arctic scnese" / Emily Walz ; Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat: the rebranding of the SS / Cheliuskin Bogdan Horbal -- Fragments from the Arctic: contemporary artistic work / Elizabeth Cronin and Maggie Mustard. Terry Adkins's Qikiqtaaluk: a recital for Matthew Henson / Dalila Scruggs.