“An Esquimaux getting ready for a seal hunt, his toupek, or skin tent on the right”
George P. Critcherson
American, 1823–1892
John L. Dunmore
American, 1833–1897
William Bradford
American, 1823–1892
1869
A 1869 albumen print photograph showing a fur-clad hunter beside a skin tent and kayaks, made to record and share a scene of Arctic life with distant viewers.
You’re struck by the quiet composition: the dark, solitary figure and narrow kayaks set against a pale, flattened sea and rocky shore, with the tent’s stitched skin rising like a geometric shelter at the picture’s edge.
As an early photographic record, it illustrates photography’s role in 19th-century exploration and ethnographic display—documenting remote lifeways while also shaping metropolitan perceptions of the Arctic.
Medium
Albumen silver print from a glass negative
Dimensions
3 9/16 × 4 7/16" (9.1 × 11.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Transferred from The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Accession
466.1981.34
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
