William Bradford - part 3

William Bradford, a celebrated American painter, was also a traveller and adventurer fascinated with the Arctic landscape. The Arctic Region series of works is the result of seven expeditions to the area undertaken for the purposes of art, the most ambitious of which was made in 1869. This voyage was underwritten by Boston collector and banker LeGrand Lockwood. A sealing ship called the Panther was commissioned for the trip; the vessel covered 5,000 nautical miles but was forced to turn back after being trapped for two days in pack ice. A source of great interest throughout the nineteenth century, the Arctic captured the public imagination, manifesting itself through a widespread desire for images, stories, and interpretations of this remote and desolate landscape.

For a more in-depth biography of Bradford see part 1, and for earlier work see parts 1 & 2 also. This is part 3 of a 4-part series on the works of William Bradford:

Photography 1869 (captions as given by Bradford) All albumen silver prints:

Arctic Regions
front cover

An Esquimaux getting ready for a seal hunt, his Toupek, or skin tent on the right

An extended view of a section of the front of the glacier

Arched iceberg in Melville Bay

Beset on all sides, the "Panther" remained in this situation for three days

Between the iceberg and field-ice

Cape Desolation

Castle Berg in Melville Bay, over 200 feet high

Cliffs seen on the south side of Arsut Fiord, 3,000 feet high

Concordia 

Esquimaux in his kayak or skin boat

Esquimaux in his kayak ready for seal-hunting

Esquimaux man and girls

Esquimaux Toupek or skin tent

Esquimaux Toupek, with dog and puppies

Esquimaux wide awake 

1869 Esquimaux women

Front view of the glacier

Godhaven in the Islands of Disco

Group of Esquimaux women and children

Hans, who was with Dr. Kane as hunter and interpreter

Hans, his wife, and children 

Hard at work under a full head of steam, trying to escape being nipped

Hunting by steam in Melville Bay

Iceberg drifting with the current about two miles the hour, and was 200 feet above the water 

Iceberg grounded near the land

Iceberg passed near the Newfoundland

Iceberg seen near the coast

Iceberg which we named the "Glory of Baffin's Bay"

Iceberg which we named the "Glory of Baffin's Bay"

Iceberg which, from its peculiar shape, would be selected to make fast to

 Iceberg with  an arch in it

Iceberg, showing the action of the water, washing and wearing it into its present shape

Icebergs

Instantaneous view of icebergs

Jansen and his family

Kunak Mountain with the commencement of a fog bank

Looking down Karsut Fiord

Instantaneous view of polar bears

William Bradford - part 2

William Bradford, a celebrated American painter, was also a traveller and adventurer fascinated with the Arctic landscape. The Arctic Region series of works is the result of seven expeditions to the area undertaken for the purposes of art, the most ambitious of which was made in 1869. This voyage was underwritten by Boston collector and banker LeGrand Lockwood. A sealing ship called the Panther was commissioned for the trip; the vessel covered 5,000 nautical miles but was forced to turn back after being trapped for two days in pack ice. A source of great interest throughout the nineteenth century, the Arctic captured the public imagination, manifesting itself through a widespread desire for images, stories, and interpretations of this remote and desolate landscape.

For a more in-depth biography of Bradford, and for earlier works, see part 1 also.

This is part 2 of a 4-part series on the works of William Bradford:

c1878 Yosemite
graphite and charcoal on canvas 51 x 75.6 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

1880 Fishing off the Coast of Labrador
oil on canvas 71.1 x 121.9 cm

1880 Whaling Ship and Iceberg
oil on canvas 50.8 x 76.8 cm

c1880 Icebound Ship
oil on canvas 96.5 x 142.2 cm
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

c1880 Icebound Ship detail

c1880 Near Midnight, Labrador
oil on canvas 46.4 x 76.2 cm
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA

c1880 Scene in the Arctic
oil on canvas 75.2 x 121 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

c1880 Whaler and Fishing Vessels near the Coast of Labrador
oil on canvas 45.7 x 76.2 cm
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana

1881 An Arctic Scene
oil on board 20.32 x 30.8 cm

1882 Locked in Ice
oil on canvas 51.4 x 76.2 cm

1883 Goelet Prize for Sloop Yachts with Gracie in the lead
oil on canvas 56.2 x 91.4 cm

1883 Looking down the Yosemite Valley near Sentinel Rock
oil on canvas 147.3 x 86.4 cm

1885 Labrador Fishing Settlement
oil on canvas (size not given)

c1885 Fishing Boats on the Coast of Labrador
oil on canvas 22.9 x 35.6 cm

1889 Caught in the Ice Floes
oil on canvas 50.8 x 76.2 cm

1890 Among the Ice Floes
etching in black on wove paper 42.5 x 67.6 cm (plate)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

c1910 Shipping Vessel with Ice Floes and Figures
oil on canvas 55.9 x 35.5 cm

Note: Dates for the works in the remainder of this series were not found and are listed in alphabetical, rather than chronological order.

n.d. An Incident of Whaling
oil on canvas  55.9 x 91.4 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

n.d. Arctic Anchorage
charcoal on gessoed board
(size not given)

n.d. Arctic Caravan
oil on canvas 45.1 x 78.1 cm

n.d. Arctic Harbour
oil on canvas 45.7 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Arctic Seascape
etching on cream wove paper 12.4 x 22.8 cm (plate)
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

n.d. Arctic Sunset
oil on millboard (size not given)

n.d. Arctic Whaler homeward bound among the icebergs
oil on canvas 50.8 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Arctic Whalers Homeward Bound
oil on canvas (size not given)

n.d. Coast of Newfoundland
oil on canvas 30.5 x 50.8 cm

n.d. Crushed in the Ice
oil on canvas 71.1 x 112.4 cm

n.d. Fishermen off the Coast of Labrador
oil on canvas 52 x 82.5 cm
© Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection
on loan at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

n.d. Fishing Boats and Icebergs
oil on canvas 30.5 x 50.8 cm

n.d. Fishing Boats off a Northern Headland
oil on canvas 50.8 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Icebergs, Labrador
oil on board (size not given)

n.d. Labrador Coast
oil on canvas 30.5 x 50.5 cm

n.d. Labrador Fishing Boats near Cape Charles
oil on canvas 45.7 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Labrador Mountain and Icebergs by the light of the Midnight Sun
oil on canvas tacked over panel 45.7 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Off Greenland—Whaler Seeking Open Water oil on canvas 45.7  x 76.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

n.d. Study of a lone Iceberg
oil on card laid down on canvas 14.6 x 26.7 cm

n.d. Sunset glow on sea and land
oil on canvas 45.7 x 76.2 cm

n.d. Surf beaten rocks, Mount Desert
oil on board 43.2 x 66 cm

n.d. The Archway
oil on canvas 64.1 x 101.6 cm

n.d. The coast of Labrador
oil on canvas 71.1 x 118.8 cm

n.d. The fisherman's house, their Arctic Harbour
oil on canvas 45.7 x 76.5 cm

n.d. The Ice Gate of Cape St. Michael
oil on canvas 76.2 x 86.4 cm