Visual culture and Arctic voyages: personal and public art and literature of the Franklin search expeditions

Abstract

"In 1845, Sir John Franklin and his crew set out from London on the ships Terror and Erebus for the Northwest Passage that was thought to link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. When the Franklin expedition failed to return, numerous search expeditions (thirty-six in all) were sent in its wake, producing hundreds of sketches, paintings, and texts that ultimately fed into a fascination with the Arctic. Very little research has been done on the visual records of Arctic exploration during this period. This is despite a burgeoning of interest in the polar regions in general, specifically in the literary Arctic and Antarctic, and the discovery of the two Franklin ships (in 2014 and 2016). The visual informed, and continues to inform, our ideas of the polar regions in crucial ways. This book follows the depiction of the Arctic from the ship to the shore, beginning in the Northwest Passage and ending in the metropole, continually returning to the Arctic through the eyes of the little-known expedition members who took part in the search for Franklin"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction : witnessing the Arctic -- "On the spot :" scientific and personal visual records (1848-1854) -- "Breathing time :" on-board production of illustrated periodicals (1850-1854) -- "These dread shores :" visualizing the Arctic for readers (1850-1860) -- "Never to be Forgotten :" presenting the Arctic panorama (1850) -- "Power and truth :" the authority of lithography (1850-1855) -- Conclusion : resonances.