The Awe of the Arctic

For centuries, what lies above the Arctic Circle has been a source of intrigue for those who live below its border. Stories from the ancient Greeks mixed with Norse mythology and reports from early voyages have given rise to lively conceptions of ice-free waters and a fabled people who lived at the top of the world. Expeditions to the Arctic in search of resources and trade routes slowly replaced these legends with more accurate information. Yet even these narrative accounts were filled with details of a foreign world that excited the imagination. Accompanying illustrations seemed to promise verisimilitude, giving shape to the incredible.

Drawing on the rich collections of The New York Public Library, this lavishly illustrated catalogue is a large survey of how the Arctic has been visually depicted, defined, and imagined over the past 500 years, and invites us to consider how this history has shaped our current understanding of the polar North and the peoples for whom it is home. The presentation ranges from 16th-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 vulnerable landscape.