GENERAL DESCRIPTION
During the first half of the 19th century, frozen environments captured Western imagination as explorers sought the fabled Northwest Passage. The pioneers were predominantly English, and some of them, notably Sir John Ross (1777-1856), James Clark Ross (1800-1862), Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855), and Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), became household names. Publications describing their voyages, illustrated either by expedition leaders or by art-talented crew members, recreated the trackless world. [1] Strange animals on land and sea, and stereotypes about the indigenous peoples, added exotic overtones to the setting, as did extraordinary optical effects, the pulsating colorful brilliance of the Aurora Borealis, and the fearful sounds of cracking ice.
Matthew Maury’s The Physical Geography of the Sea (sixth edition, 1860) justified the existence of an ice-free ocean covering the North Pole based on studies of right whales, migration patterns of birds, observations of ocean and air currents, and trajectories of ice drifts. David C. Huntington summarizes this “eighth sea” as, “that hypothetical never-freezing ocean, a body of water estimated to extend over an area of three million square miles, is fed by the emergence of tropically originated waters whose currents constantly force the Arctic water southward.” [2]
For the most part, however, the Arctic was understood as a desolate, inhospitable wasteland where transportation was laborious, human accomplishment attended with great physical effort and discomfort, and the very existence of man and his machines constantly imperiled. The explorers who succeeded in charting new regions, unlocking geological secrets, and imposing occasional domesticity in wintered ships amidst nature's coldest seasons were therefore lionized as super-heroes and, to some extent, as martyrs; often they had had to pay for their achievements with the lives of some of their human companions.
Altogether, the Far North was a beckoning frontier, a challenge to man’s mastery of the globe, filled with expectations of national economic good and international prestige for the country that secured the Passage. It was not an Eden. But the forbidding treachery of its setting proved more compelling to explorers, armchair adventurers, and poets than the tropics.
[1] Literature on polar exploration is vast. See especially Chauncey C. Loomis, “The Arctic Sublime,” in Nature and the Victorian Imagination, ed. U. C. Knoepflmacher and G. B. Tennyson (Los Angeles, 1977), pp. 95-112. A good general introduction to the subject may also be found in the same author’s Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer (New York, 1971).
[2] This is the topic of Isaac Hayes’The Open Polar Sea, 1860-61. See David C. Huntington, “Introduction,” in Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs, by Gerald Carr (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1980), 14.
Adapted from
Gerald Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art), 37.
NOTES
Removed the TMS tag for Church's Icebergs as part of the revision process in October 2015.
Changed the title of this note from 1800-1900, Arctic Region, "Arctic Expeditions and the open Polar Sea" because it is now only reaching 1979.28 and this title reflects my original goal that it would reach other objects related to this time period and activity.
Changed the status of this note from routed to complete, June 21, 2016.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)
This note originally had a rule that linked to the exhibition 11304. That rule has been removed as of December 2, 2016 based on Shyam's advice (in D3C meeting 9/29/2016) that exhibitions cannot be targets for rules until the various exhibition IDs are cleaned up (TMS, Piction, Archives, Brain- all assigned IDs).
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS
AUDIO ASSETS
Shipwrecks Throughout History: From Tut to the Atomic Age (four recordings from the event) 2007.
12936513: UMO, 12936521: UMO, 12936529: UMO, 12936537: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
Used "The Shores of the Polar Sea" image to illustrate this CC. Found image in TMS and Piction but cataloging is based on Icebergs as though it is object photography.
WEB RESOURCES
Cold Case Closed~Check out curator Sue Canterbury's 2014 blog post on DMA's Uncrated, summarizing how recent maritime discoveries connect to Church's The Icebergs.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
Gerald Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1980). http://files.dma.org/multimedia/document/161611253907523_original.pdf
12712641: UMO
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1979.28
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
During the first half of the 19th century, frozen environments captured Western imagination as explorers sought the fabled Northwest Passage. The pioneers were predominantly English, and some of them, notably Sir John Ross (1777-1856), James Clark Ross (1800-1862), Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855), and Sir John Franklin (1786-1847), became household names. Publications describing their voyages, illustrated either by expedition leaders or by art-talented crew members, recreated the trackless world. [1] Strange animals on land and sea, and stereotypes about the indigenous peoples, added exotic overtones to the setting, as did extraordinary optical effects, the pulsating colorful brilliance of the Aurora Borealis, and the fearful sounds of cracking ice.
Matthew Maury’s The Physical Geography of the Sea (sixth edition, 1860) justified the existence of an ice-free ocean covering the North Pole based on studies of right whales, migration patterns of birds, observations of ocean and air currents, and trajectories of ice drifts. David C. Huntington summarizes this “eighth sea” as, “that hypothetical never-freezing ocean, a body of water estimated to extend over an area of three million square miles, is fed by the emergence of tropically originated waters whose currents constantly force the Arctic water southward.” [2]
For the most part, however, the Arctic was understood as a desolate, inhospitable wasteland where transportation was laborious, human accomplishment attended with great physical effort and discomfort, and the very existence of man and his machines constantly imperiled. The explorers who succeeded in charting new regions, unlocking geological secrets, and imposing occasional domesticity in wintered ships amidst nature's coldest seasons were therefore lionized as super-heroes and, to some extent, as martyrs; often they had had to pay for their achievements with the lives of some of their human companions.
Altogether, the Far North was a beckoning frontier, a challenge to man’s mastery of the globe, filled with expectations of national economic good and international prestige for the country that secured the Passage. It was not an Eden. But the forbidding treachery of its setting proved more compelling to explorers, armchair adventurers, and poets than the tropics.
[1] Literature on polar exploration is vast. See especially Chauncey C. Loomis, “The Arctic Sublime,” in Nature and the Victorian Imagination, ed. U. C. Knoepflmacher and G. B. Tennyson (Los Angeles, 1977), pp. 95-112. A good general introduction to the subject may also be found in the same author’s Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer (New York, 1971).
[2] This is the topic of Isaac Hayes’The Open Polar Sea, 1860-61. See David C. Huntington, “Introduction,” in Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs, by Gerald Carr (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1980), 14.
Adapted from
Gerald Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art), 37.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Gerald Carr, Frederic Edwin Church: The Icebergs (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1980). http://files.dma.org/multimedia/document/161611253907523_original.pdf
12712641: UMO
Web Resources
Cold Case Closed~Check out curator Sue Canterbury's 2014 blog post on DMA's Uncrated, summarizing how recent maritime discoveries connect to Church's The Icebergs.
Notes
Removed the TMS tag for Church's Icebergs as part of the revision process in October 2015.
Changed the title of this note from 1800-1900, Arctic Region, "Arctic Expeditions and the open Polar Sea" because it is now only reaching 1979.28 and this title reflects my original goal that it would reach other objects related to this time period and activity.
Changed the status of this note from routed to complete, June 21, 2016.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)
This note originally had a rule that linked to the exhibition 11304. That rule has been removed as of December 2, 2016 based on Shyam's advice (in D3C meeting 9/29/2016) that exhibitions cannot be targets for rules until the various exhibition IDs are cleaned up (TMS, Piction, Archives, Brain- all assigned IDs).
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1979.28
source file
time_and_place-0052.xml.nores