|
|
CURATOR'S CHOICE SM
Museums and Exhibitions in New York City and Vicinity
| Home | | Museum Guide | | International | | Architecture & Design | | Theater |
GLENN LONEY'S MUSEUM NOTES
UNDER FULL SAIL--But going nowhere: Ernest Shackleton's "Endurance" trapped by Antarctic pack-ice. "Endurance" on Central Park West
Heroism and Antarctic Survival:
The Saga of Shackleton's Endurance at the Museum of Natural History [Closing October 11] The rapid and disastrous sinking of the Titanic—torn open by a drifting Arctic iceberg—has passed over into legend. But the gradual sinking of the Endurance—crushed between shifting packs of Antarctic ice—occurred only a few years later, without much public attention.Europe was on the verge of the First World War when Sir Ernest Shackleton departed with his well-chosen crew for Antarctica.
When he finally returned, after an appalling ordeal—without losing a single man of his crew—this amazing feat of courage, teamwork, survival, and faith was almost eclipsed by the disasters of war.
Even today, the name of the resourceful leader of this ill-fated Antarctic Expedition and of his doomed ship are little known.
That should soon be corrected by the remarkable new exhibition on view at the American Museum of Natural History. And by the best-selling book by Caroline Alexander, guest-curator of this ingeniously designed show.
Her account of the adventures—and even greater mis-adventures—of the heroic Shackleton and his stoic crew was the inspiration for this recreation. Titled The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, it includes over 140 archival photographs.
Almost all the photos were taken by the expedition's talented photographer, Frank Hurley. That any of these images survived is as amazing as the survival of the entire crew.
PHOTOGRAPHY ON ICE--Expedition photographer Frank Hurley sets up his tripod to record last hours of "Endurance." Trapped in pack-ice off the coast of Antarctica, the Endurance was in effect crushed to death. As she listed to one side, Shackleton and his men removed as much of the food and gear as they could.
Frank Hurley took photos of the last days and hours and minutes of this gallant ship. They are both breathtaking and heartbreaking.
In one shot, the three-masted ship—with all sails unfurled—looks like a model, set in a white plaster sea of jagged ice.
In another, she is pointing into great points of ice, her stripped, frozen masts and rigging shining in the southern sun. She is already a ghostly presence, like one of those German Romantic ship-paintings of Caspar David Friedrich.
In October 1915, Hurley took the last photograph of the lost ship as her masts began to slide beneath the ice. A silent team of sledge-dogs sit watching this disaster.
ICEBOUND IN A FROZEN SEA--Ernest Shackleton's "Endurance" with sails struck from her three masts. They did not long survive, for Shackleton's crew had to endure on whatever was at hand. Shackleton and his crew lived five months on floating ice-floes.
But Shackleton and Hurley were determined that some record of their experience must also survive. So Hurley dove down into the freezing water to rescue from the ship's wreck photographic negatives he'd stored in a waterproof case.
Even most of these had to be abandoned. Hurley and Shackleton went through the trove carefully, selecting the survivors. The other glass-plates were shattered, to prevent Hurley having second-thoughts about trying to carry additional weight.
In three boats, the crew reached Elephant Island. But it was desolate, and Shackleton knew they could not long survive there.
So he and a few crew-members sailed the James Caird, a small life-boat—over the worst of the Antarctic Seas, in hurricane conditions—for seventeen days and 800 miles, until they reached South Georgia Island. As luck would have it, they landed on the wrong side of the island from the whaling station where they'd find help.
This is now regarded as one of the most courageous and dangerous boat journeys in history.
And the miracle is that they all survived. And that Shackleton—a man who didn't know when to quit—returned on another expedition to Antarctica. But this time, he died there, in 1922. And he is buried there, on this southernmost icy continent he could not conquer.
It would have been almost enough for the American Museum of Natural History to have organized a show of Frank Hurley's powerful photographs. They have seldom been on display.
PAINTING OR PHOTO?--Frank Hurley's distant view of the doomed ship "Endurance" resembles a German Romantic painting. But the Museum has done much more than that. It has put this brave but doomed expedition in the context of other Antarctic explorations.
It has also virtually recreated the experience itself. In one chamber, the actual lifeboat James Caird rides imaginary waves, as the roiling Antarctic seas curve round it in projection.
Exhibition visitors can stand on either of two platforms and take sun-sightings through actual sextants, just as Shackleton did on that memorable voyage.
In another section of the show, a large image of the Endurance is etched into clear plastic, the floor around it inlaid to suggest the ice-packs crushing the life out of it.
Not only Frank Hurley's still-photos unfold the story of the disaster—and the crew's own courage and endurance—but there is also film-footage he took while the ship was still visible above the ice.
Families of surviving crew-members have lent treasured souvenirs of that voyage and the desperate months of survival which followed.
Film-animations also help recreate the events connected with this adventure. Actor Liam Neeson narrates in several sections.
There's even a section with portraits of all the members of the expedition. Here, one can discover what happened to them after they returned from the Ice Hell of Antarctica.
Frank Hurley went on to become a world-renowned and globe-girdling photographer. He was still at work on the day he died—long after his feats of endurance on and off the Endurance.
On display at the Museum are 15 portraits made on Hurley's own expeditions to Papua New Guinea in the 1920s. These prints—from Hurley's original glass-negatives—were given to the Museum in the 1930s.
A wonderful living-link with the past was provided by the Museum for the opening of this impressive show. Hurley's charming daughters were on hand to talk about their father and his work.
One of them became a professional photographer herself, learning much from her talented dad.
Identical twins, they were dressed almost identically at the inaugural festivities. What's more, they were constantly finishing each other's sentences!
This is a most imaginatively designed show, one that the entire family can enjoy.
Caroline Alexander's book, The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, has been published by Alfred A. Knopf, in association with the Museum. It's available for $29.95 in the Museum Shop and at bookstores nationwide.
There is also a commercial video of Frank Hurley's own 1919 film: "South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition." This costs $29.95 as well. More information about it can be obtained by calling: 800-603-1104. [Loney]
Copyright © Glenn Loney 1999. No re-publication or broadcast use without proper credit of authorship. Suggested credit line: "Glenn Loney, Curator's Choice." Reproduction rights please contact: jslaff@nymuseums.com.
