In the early 20th century, tales of explorers reaching the North and South poles captured the country’s imagination. Names were made, rivalries were forged and the American public eagerly kept up through newspapers, books, lecture tours and more.
Among those tales were the adventures of pioneering polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd. His first Antarctic expedition in 1928 included photographers and a film crew who documented his discoveries in black and white. New York artist David Paige, captivated by Byrd’s explorations, reached out to Byrd with interest in witnessing and capturing the imagery and colors of the Antarctic during Byrd’s second trip in 1933.
According to Laura Kissel, polar archivist with the Byrd Polar Climate and Research Center Archival Program, Byrd was initially skeptical that he had room for an artist to join the voyage. But Paige was persistent, and Byrd eventually agreed. Byrd himself acknowledged, “Sea and sky and ice pack are perfect harmonies of color. It is a beauty of a sort that will stop you in your tracks. No use to cast about for words to describe it.”
Paige’s lovely, pastel drawings of the region are but one feature of the latest free exhibit in the Thompson Library Gallery, “Polar Expressions: Finding Beauty in the Coldest Regions on Earth,” on view through August 2.
While some might think that the Byrd Center focuses exclusively on climate research and collecting rock samples and ice cores, the Center’s archival program (ie.the Polar Archives), a collaboration with the Ohio State University Libraries, has over 200 collections documenting the extraordinary history of polar exploration. It’s one of nine special collections at The Ohio State University Libraries, devoted to areas from the performing arts and public policy, to cartoon art and rare books and manuscripts.
For “Polar Expressions,” Kissel curated a selection of art and memorabilia from the Polar Archives, offering a glimpse of the breadth of its holdings. The works illustrate how the chilliest, most remote points on earth are a powerful and enduring source of inspiration for artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians as well as explorers and scientists.
Kissel explained select artworks and artifacts have been lent to other institutions for exhibitions. Researchers and scholars, authors, artists, and students are but some of the constituents of the Polar Archives. The preservation and sharing of these materials are central to the University Libraries’ mission.
Students experienced the impact of preservation firsthand in Associate Professor David Brewer’s History of the Book in Modernity course. “This is one of the real strengths at Ohio State,” Brewer shared. “Ohio State has amazing collections, curators and librarians which/who can connect students to resources unavailable at the vast majority of smaller places and so allow them to take advantage of being students at a major research university.”
The final project of Brewer’s course is the curation of an exhibition showcasing a selection of materials the students have chosen from The Ohio State University Rare Books & Manuscripts Library. Before working on the project, the students visited “Polar Expressions’ independently as well as in a guided tour with Kissel and Exhibitions Coordinator Jeremy Stone. The gallery visit provided students the opportunity to better understand everything that goes into curating an exhibit. From learning about mounting pieces and writing labels to arranging objects that tell a story and sequencing cases, Brewer said the chance to talk with a professional about the process was very valuable for the students.
“After all, it’s a kind of work that almost none of them have ever done before, whereas they’ve all written enough papers in their time that they can largely do it on their own (the novelty of the assignment also keeps them from being tempted to phone any of it in; you can’t do something on autopilot if you’re doing it for the first time).”
While this isn’t Kissel’s first time curating an exhibit, it is her last at University Libraries. Kissel will retire in August after being with the Libraries for 30 years. As she considered ideas for this exhibit, Kissel found herself repeatedly drawn to the Polar Archives’ rich assortment of multimedia works by artists exploring and responding to the regions.
“I started brainstorming all the things in the collection that I thought were interesting and that I wanted to show,” Kissel said. “And then one day, I realized that everything I wanted to use had a commonality: It was some kind of art.”
Most of the items date back to the period of the expeditions in the early 20th century, when the travels of Byrd and other early polar explorers such as Frederick A. Cook, Robert E. Peary and Sir George Hubert Wilkins made international headlines.
As the collected works showcase the talents of their creators, they also share fascinating stories of the effort involved in launching early expeditions, the competitiveness that arose between explorers—especially around the discovery of the North Pole.
A section devoted to fan art includes an oil portrait of Byrd’s pet fox terrier, Igloo, who joined the explorer on trips to the Arctic and Antarctic, and embellished scrapbooks full of news clippings and ephemera about Byrd’s adventures. The books were exhaustively compiled over years by fan Mary Louise Burandt.
The beauty of the polar regions is reflected in the traditional handwork of Inuit artists, who are represented with a selection of stone carvings from the Kenneth and Rosalie Drake Collection, but also by modern multimedia.
A spherical video screen runs a loop of footage compiled by Byrd Center Media Specialist and filmmaker Pamela Theodotou, providing a unique direct view of regional lakes and glaciers. The guest experience extends beyond what the eyes can see. If you listen closely, you’ll hear multiple works by the Montreal-based composer Valmar Kurol being played in the gallery. These pieces were created in collaboration with fellow musician Michael Stibor following Kurol’s own excursions as a tourist to the Arctic and Antarctica, starting in the early 1990s.
“It’s the silence, the immensity of everything,” that made an impression, Kurol recalled. “Being a tiny dot in that relatively barren, cold, isolated, insecure atmosphere is a bit daunting as well. But at the same time, it's very exhilarating.”
“Polar Expressions” also reflects the continuing growth of the Polar Archives’ holdings. A large lithograph mural by James Richardson, son of Dr. Harrison H. Richardson, who accompanied Byrd on his 1939 U.S. Antarctic Service expedition, is featured in the gallery. Inspired by his father’s adventures, he created this piece sourcing a photograph from the elder Richardson’s collection of the expedition team lined up for posterity.
Kissel explained that the piece was acquired while she was working on the exhibition. And when she saw it, she knew immediately that it had to be in the show. When you see it, along with the range of examples of humans energized by icy, faraway lands to get creative, you’ll understand the reason for excitement.
“Polar Expressions: Finding Beauty in the Coldest Regions on Earth” remains on view through August 2 in the Thompson Library Gallery. Admission is free for all. More information, including hours and parking, is available on the Thompson Library Gallery website. Explore more of the Polar Archives through online exhibits, featured collections and oral histories on the University Libraries website.
About the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program
The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, known as the Polar Archives, advances knowledge, research and learning about the history of polar exploration within an active polar research environment. Named in honor of polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd, the Polar Archives’ mission is to collect, preserve and make accessible historical records, personal papers, photographs and other forms of documentation related to the exploration of the world’s polar regions.
About The Ohio State University Libraries
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