Arctic Images 1818-1864: Problems of Representation and Imperialism

My thesis explores nineteenth-century Western perceptions of the Arctic through analyses of a selection of primarily British visual material comprised of landscape paintings and representations of Arctic exploration and Inuit. The images discussed occur i n a variety of media, including grand oil paintings, on the spot sketches, prints, popular exhibitions, such as panorama, diorama and moving panorama shows, and displays of living Inuit. Comparing this imagery with textual sources such as newspaper and ma gazine reviews, expedition journals, scientific texts and manuscripts, I question how the Arctic was represented and perceived in Britain over the forty-year period between 1818 and 1864. Do the diverse media, forms of display and different artistic appro aches add up to a single idea about the Arctic, Inuit and explorer, or was the West's relationship with the North more complex, fragmented and diverse? How do Western encounters with the Arctic compare to colonial histories in the East; in other words, do es a similar 'Orientalist' discourse exist for the North? In answering these questions, I explore the limits and usefulness of colonial discourse theory, particularly Orientalism (Said 1978).