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The Arctic region has been the subject of much popular writing. This book considers nineteenth-century representations of the Arctic, and draws upon an extensive range of evidence that will allow the 'widest connections' to emerge from a 'cross-disciplinary analysis' using different methodologies and subject matter. It positions the Arctic alongside more thoroughly investigated theatres of Victorian enterprise. In the nineteenth century, most images were in the form of paintings, travel narratives, lectures given by the explorers themselves and photographs. The book explores key themes in Arctic images which impacted on subsequent representations through text, painting and photography. For much of the nineteenth century, national and regional geographical societies promoted exploration, and rewarded heroic endeavor. The book discusses images of the Arctic which originated in the activities of the geographical societies. The Times provided very low-key reporting of Arctic expeditions, as evidenced by its coverage of the missions of Sir John Franklin and James Clark Ross. However, the illustrated weekly became one of the main sources of popular representations of the Arctic. The book looks at the exhibitions of Arctic peoples, Arctic exploration and Arctic fauna in Britain. Late nineteenth-century exhibitions which featured the Arctic were essentially nostalgic in tone. The Golliwogg's Polar Adventures, published in 1900, drew on adult representations of the Arctic and will have confirmed and reinforced children's perceptions of the region. Text books, board games and novels helped to keep the subject alive among the young.
three scenes: firstly a picture of Ross’s ship, the Victory , frozen in at Felix Harbour; secondly the site of the magnetic pole, which was discovered by Ross’s nephew, James Clark Ross during that first winter, and thirdly a small village of eighteen snow houses inhabited by a neighbouring group of Inuit. The prominence given to contacts with the Inuit by early nineteenth century explorers was clearly
; America’s Charles Wilkes and Richard Byrd; the United Kingdom’s James Clark Ross, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton; Norway’s Carstens Borchgrevink and Roald Amundsen; Japan’s Shirase Nobu; Australia’s Douglas Mawson; and New Zealand’s own Edmund Hillary are the best-known examples. For Anne-Marie Brady, these connections have meant that ‘New Zealanders have a stronger
, Viking, 1986; G. H. Liljequist, High Latitudes: A History of Swedish Polar Travels and Research , Stockholm, Swedish Polar Research Secretariat/Streiffert Forlag, 1993. For biographies see, for example, T. and C. Stamp, William Scoresby, Arctic Scientist , Whitby, Caedmon, 1983; M. J. Ross, Polar Pioneers: John Ross and James Clark
end of the century, James Clark Ross’s voyage of 1839–43 inspired a number of paintings by London and provincial artists, in which the landscape, skyscape and ice features were imagined, and were largely based on earlier Arctic images. The most influential imagining of the Antarctic Ocean was Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Although originally published in 1798, and illustrated by J
’Clintock’s voyage, during which tangible evidence of the fate of Franklin was found, where frequently repeated illustrations of the opening of cairns, and the discovery of a boat and other artefacts, were presented to the public as significant moments. However, most pictures illustrated scenes witnessed during the journey. The paintings of W. J. H. Browne, who accompanied James Clark Ross in HMS Enterprise and HMS
expeditions during the 1850s. The report on James Clark Ross’s first rescue mission in 1848–49 is a good example. His departure in early May went virtually unreported, as did the arrival of his last dispatch to the Admiralty dated 13 July 1848. When Ross returned to Britain in November 1849 The Times provided a short report which, in the absence of any new information about Franklin, focused on the
, happy native people. Interestingly the board showed what must be some of the earliest images of Antarctica based on information from Sir James Clark Ross’s expedition of 1839–43. Alongside drawings of Ross’s ships surrounded by icefloes and ice-covered mountains there were depictions of seals, penguins, a walrus (inaccurately located, as it is a north polar mammal) and a volcano, presumably the newly