"Beset on all sides, the "Panther" remained in this situation for three days"
George P. Critcherson
American, 1823–1892
John L. Dunmore
American, 1833–1897
William Bradford
American, 1823–1892
1869
This albumen silver print shows the three‑masted ship Panther trapped in Arctic pack ice, made to document the peril and drama of a polar voyage.
What strikes you is the ship’s dark rigging and masts standing like a skeleton amid rounded, wind‑sculpted ice forms, the tilted hull and tiny human figures heightening the frozen, claustrophobic intensity of the scene.
Taken in 1869, the photograph exemplifies how early photographic processes transformed exploration into both scientific record and public spectacle, bringing distant, hazardous voyages into the visual imagination and helping to define modern documentary practice.
Medium
Albumen silver print from a glass negative
Dimensions
2 3/8 × 3 5/16" (6.1 × 8.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Transferred from The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Accession
466.1981.114
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
