Arctic Artist: The Journal and Paintings of George Back, Midshipman with Franklin, 1819-1822Arctic Artist is the liveliest and most complete account of Sir John Franklin's tragic first Arctic land expedition. George Back's prose captures the drama of this journey, and his superb watercolour sketches reveal the beauty and wonder of this northern land. Back's journal completes Stuart Houston's trilogy of the journals of Franklin's officers, and is particularly valuable because it is the only journal that records the entire expedition; Franklin himself relied on it for his own published account of the journey. Houston provides an introduction and extensive annotations, as well as synopses of the frank comments regarding the expedition recorded in the various journals of the Hudson's Bay fur trade posts. I.S. MacLaren's commentary on Back's paintings reveals a naval officer of exceptional talent. Conversant with the artistic conventions and aesthetic temper of his age, Back used his sketchbooks not only to depict the expedition's progress but also to capture his imaginative response to the northern wilderness. MacLaren also edits and comments on two other documents written by Back during the expedition: a candid letter to his brother and a poem dramatizing the disaster that claimed the lives of eleven of the twenty explorers in Franklin's party. |
Contents
Stromness to York Factory | 3 |
York Factory to Cumberland House | 7 |
Cumberland House to Fort Carlton | 28 |
Fort Carlton to Fort Chipewyan | 44 |
Fort Chipewyan to Fort Enterprise | 65 |
To Point Lake and Return | 84 |
Fort Enterprise to Fort Chipewyan | 93 |
Fort Chipewyan to Fort Enterprise | 109 |
Preparations To Leave Fort Enterprise | 117 |
Descent of the Coppermine River | 125 |
Exploring the Arctic Coastline | 148 |
Point Turnagain to Obstruction Rapids | 163 |
Obstruction Rapids to Moose Deer Island | 182 |
Great Slave Lake to York Factory | 201 |
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Arctic Artist: The Journal and Paintings of George Back, Midshipman with ... C. Stuart Houston No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
animals appearance Arctic arrived Athabasca August Back's journal boat Buffalo Canadians canoes Cape Barrow Carlton Chipewyan cloudy with snow cm paper cold colour continued Coppermine River Course crossed Cumberland House day cloudy day fine distance dogs encamped engraving Enterprise Esquimaux Figure fish Fort Chipewyan Fort Providence Fort Resolution fresh breezes frozen George Back HBCA hills Hood Hudson's Bay Hudson's Bay Company hunters Ile-à-la-Crosse Indians John journey July June killed land Lieut¹ Franklin Longitude McVicar meat miles Moose Deer Island morning Narrative night was cloudy North North West Company painting party passed picturesque Pierish pine Point Lake Portage Providence rapid returned Richardson Robert McVicar rocks route scenery sent shore side sketch sketch-book Slave Lake sledges snow shoes St Germain tents track tripe de roche voyageurs watercolour Wentzel Wind blank winter wood yards York Factory