Iceberg Adhering to Icy Reef, with the View to Seaward
Description:
A jagged icy cliff on the left descends to a pool of water; beyond these immediate ice formations, a plain of ice or water extends to the far horizon, where more cliffs rise against building clouds. An artist—possibly E.N. Kendall, or possibly Back himself— perches on a pile of rubble to the left of the frame, sketching or painting on a piece of paper. A gun lies near his feet, balanced on some rocks. Another man is negotiating the iceberg, either attempting to climb it or to make his way closer to the artist.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009, Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI
Location:
Accession Number:
Thordarson T 1872
Height (in centimeters):
12
Width (in centimeters):
20
Printing Context
In his book, Arctic Spectacles: The Frozen North in Visual Culture, 1818-1875 (2007), Russell A. Potter writes: "Beginning with the Buchan expedition to the North Pole in 1818 (on which then Lieutenant John Franklin served as second officer), nearly every expedition licensed the sketches of its artistically inclined officers to panorama exhibitors.” This was partially a by-product of the fact that “for each major expedition” that the Admiralty launched, “an official representation had to be provided, not just textually but also visually”—that is, the narrative examined here. Meanwhile, panoramas (an “all-encompassing” visual technology for which Robert Barker first received his patent in 1796) were “almost exactly coeval with [the] public fascination with the North” (Potter 5-7). Indeed, Potter contends that the Arctic was “the most ‘sublime and awful’ spectacle of that already spectacular era,” which fact was emphasized by the “60 Arctic shows—including 22 moving panoramas, 3 fixed panoramas, 12 lantern expeditions, 4 mechanical automata theaters, and 4 exhibitions of “Esquimaux” or Arctic natives” between 1818 and 1883” (12).Associated Events
Founding of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours (1804)With the formation only in 1804 of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, this medium of painting was not commonly thought of in the years of Back’s youth as a professional art. But at the close of the 19th century the transition began to occur from topographical draughtsmanship, which the academies taught military students, to picturesque renditions of nature. (Maclaren 293)
Associated Places
Yukon TerritoryAssociated Texts
Sir George Back variously painted or drew his images while on his expeditions, depending on the weather; in very cold temperatures his paints would freeze, so they were frequently rendered useless. These originals appear to be scattered among various private collections.Subject
One of two notable images by Sir George Back with a meta-artistic feature (a man sketching in the foreground), "Iceberg Adhering to Icy Reef" depicts the severely difficult landscape of the Canadian Arctic as simultaneously challenging and becalmed. This paradoxical depiction, in turn, suggests the difficulty of portraying such a landscape in an understandable manner.Theme
British. Landscape. Exploration. Arctic.Significance
"Lieutenant Back occupied himself in sketching the different views from the reef; from one of which the annexed engraving has been selected; conveying an accurate delineation of our position on Icy Reef" (Franklin 143). Franklin, not nearly the aesthete that Back is in his own narrative, informs us that Back's work is an "accurate delineation," reinforcing the usefulness of Back's artwork as a visual record of the expedition. (This distinction between the two men is also noted by I.S. Maclaren in his essay, “The Aesthetics of Back’s Writing and Painting," found in Romantic Science: The Literary Forms of Natural History; 287.) More interesting, however, is the possibility that Back has here drawn a retrospective self-portrait, one which simultaneously describes his comfort with and control of the landscape; this combination is reinforced by the image of the jauntily upturned rifle at his feet. There is also the significant chance that this image portrays E.N. Kendall, the other artist on Franklin's expedition, in which case the same implications apply regarding the imperialist "capturing" of the view; in addition, the classic trope of meta-artistry becomes relevant. This image, finally, has the potential to convey sublimity in the awful-looking ice shapes and building clouds, but this sense is mitigated by the size of the human figures (not artificially diminished) and the overall calmness of the scene. In many of its aspects, then, the image might be considered picturesque.Function
Stuart C. Houston notes that:The world’s greatest naval power and its underemployed navy after the end of the Napoleonic Wars found the continued presence of large blank areas on the world map an irresistible challenge. John Barrow, the powerful second secretary to the Admiralty, had strong backing from the newly important scientific community to renew the search for the Northwest Passage after a long wartime hiatus. (xiv)In addition to simply providing visual aids for a travel narrative, then, Back’s images must be seen as integral to the literal illustration of those “large blank areas” that Britain wanted to conquer. Expedition imagery during the Romantic period addressed other needs as well, including the translation of “otherness”—which the Arctic so easily exemplified in its comparatively uninhabited starkness—into a culturally understandable, and thus accessible, space for national expansionism and the application of identity. Furthermore, in ostensibly drawing accurate portrayals of the landscape (which Franklin frequently confirms), Back created scientific records designed to both titillate and inform the British public and scientific community.
Bibliography
Ames, Van Meter. “John Dewey as Aesthetician.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 12.2 (1953): 145-68. Print.Long Title
Narrative of a second expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea in the years 1825, 1826, and 1827, by John Franklin, Captain R.N., F.R.S., &c. and commander of the expedition, including an account of the progress of a detachment to the eastward by John Richardson, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c., surgeon and naturalist to the expedition, illustrated by numerous plates and maps, published by authority of the right honourable the secretary of state for colonial affairs, London: John Murray, Albemarle-Street, 1828.Featured in Exhibit:
Engraver:
Delineator:
Image Date:
1828
Publisher:
John Murray
