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Climage change, one of the twenty-first century’s most critical issues, has begun to severely impact nature with profound consequences for all forms of life. Public understanding of this crisis has largely been shaped by news of extraordinary climactic events and scientific research. With glaciers, Arctic sea ice, and Antarctic ice shelves undergoing dramatic changes, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012 will introduce the rich artistic legacy of the planet’s frozen frontiers from the perspective of the artist. International in scope, the exhibition will feature artists from Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and the United States. Inspiring appreciation for works of art , the exhibition will encourage visitors to value and help preserve our planet’s extraordinary glaciers and fields of ice.
Comprised of 70 works of art, Vanishing Ice will unfold thematically and chronologically, tracing the visual impact of glaciers, icebergs, and fields of ice - unique and often fantastic formations - on artists’ imaginations. It will examine the connections among artists over more than two hundred years of history as they sought to understand and interpret the color, light, and structure of ice. Through their magical landscapes, visitors will vicariously experience the blue-green hues and extraordinary shapes of another world.
By spanning over two centuries, the exhibition also explores the stylistic evolution of alpine and polar imagery with artists drawing upon elements of romanticism, naturalism, symbolism, and abstraction. Vanishing Ice will also present the wide array of materials, media, and techniques that artists have employed to vividly capture the frozen landscape. Initially limited to drawings, prints, paintings and later photography, artists now use video, film, sound, site-specific sculpture, and multi-media installations to engage the audience.
The confluence of art, science and public education is one of the major themes of the exhibition. In their quest to discover new pictorial motifs, the artist-as-explorer contributed to a greater understanding of the Earth. In the wake of the large number of voyages launched during the nineteenth century, images of alpine and polar landscapes helped popularize important scientific discoveries and theories in natural history. Works of art by many artists, including Johann George Foster (British, 1754–1794) and Louis Lebreton (French, 1818–1866) appeared in expeditionary atlases, popular magazines, and exhibitions. The artists recognized their responsibility as image-maker in their dual role of augmenting and communicating knowledge of geography. Today, early landscape paintings continue to play a major role in science by helping climatologists measure the retreat of glaciers over the centuries.
As alpine mountains and the Poles become the most salient indicators of world-wide climate change, these now-fragile environments are once again attracting a growing number of artists to interpret the effects of global warming. The fate of retreating alpine glaciers have been documented and publicized by many photographers, including Gary Braasch (American) and David Breashears (American).
Like their nineteenth and early-twentieth century counterparts, many artists are joining state-sponsored expeditions. The US National Science Foundation provides opportunities for artists as diverse as Eliot Porter (American, 1901–1990) and Camille Seaman (Shinnecock Tribe, b.1969) to spend time in Antarctica as a way to increase public awareness of polar research. Under the aegis of similar scientific organizations in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, an international gathering of artists have joined scientists at the southernmost edge of the planet. David Buckland (British), by organizing Arctic expeditions composed of artists, scientists, writer, and musicians underscores the expanded role of the artist-activist in publicizing climate change.
Vanishing Ice will reveal the transformative power of art in shaping the public’s perception of these starkly beautiful environments. Beginning in the eighteenth century, writers and painters, such as Caspar Wolf (Swiss, 1735–1798), Francois-August Biard (French, 1799–1882), and Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900) contributed to a new appreciation of alpine and polar landscapes, which were once regarded with fear and now experienced on a heightened, emotional level. This quality, described as the Sublime, intersected with spirituality and was one of the defining aspects of a culture in the throes of rapid industrialization. Polar ice and glaciated mountains became metaphors for both the control of nature and correspondingly lack of control, freedom, nationalism, and more recently global warming. The subject matter is strongly embedded in Western consciousness.
To help visitors appreciate the two hundred plus years of history covered in this exhibition, an illustrated time line (with key works, ideas, events from art, literature, science, and exploration) will be presented. Artworks will be supplemented with object labels and text panels introducing the exhibition and thematic sections. Quotes by artists, scientists, writers, and explorers will be strategically placed throughout the galleries to underscore the key ideas and messages of the exhibition.
Vanishing Ice will include interpretive graphics for understanding why the Arctic, Antarctica and glaciers are so critical for maintaining a balanced, planetary ecosystem. The concluding component of this section will creatively present what individuals can do to help slow the process of global warming.
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