By Melanie Correia

(Ursus maritimus) and the Arctic Imaginary

By Melanie Correia Exhibitions Manager, New Bedford Whaling Museum

Charles Sidney Raleigh. Intruders in the North, 1888. Oil on canvas. 24 x 36 inches. NBWM, Kendall Collection, 2001.100.4328.

This winter, December 12, 2022 - May 7, 2023, the New Bedford Whaling Museum will open a new exhibition Polar Bears and the Arctic Imaginary. Based around the museum’s own permanent collection, the exhibition will focus on both historical and contemporary impressions of these grand bears of the Arctic region.

The curated pieces of this exhibition speak individually to multiple facets of their lives including their natural history and the dangers facing them today. Most early whaling images in the Arctic feature polar bears as side characters to the main depictions of the taking of the whales. Some however, such as the engraving that appeared in Harris’ Voyages (London, 1744), A View of the Whale-Fishery, and the manner of KillingBears near & on the Coast of Greenland, draw direct attention to the presence of polar bears in the Arctic regions frequented by whalers.1

1 John Harris, Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca, or, A complete collection of voyages and travels consisting of above six hundred of the most authentic writers… 2 vols. London: Printed for

T. Woodward, 1744-1748. In contrast to the seventeenth and eighteenth century views of bears in whaling scenes, a real highlight in this exhibit is the newly conserved painting by Charles Sidney Raleigh, Intruders in the North. This painting is in the Kendall Collection where it was an early acquisition with a low “Original Art” number (O-19). Uniquely, Raleigh puts Ursus maritimus directly in the foreground. He relegates the whaling action to a background view, as seen from a distance, turning the pair of bears away from the viewer, and positioning them as spectators. The title itself evokes the invasive nature of commercial whalers on their environment suggesting that Raleigh at least was understanding to the sensitivity of the environment and the creatures living in it.

As a whole, this exhibition encapsulates the New Bedford Whaling Museum’s mission to promote history, science, art, and culture. The history of hunting polar bears, and how whaling and other maritime trades tie into that history are on full view. Their magnificence has inspired art, both historical and contemporary. Examples can be seen throughout

the exhibit, from historic photographs, to decorated Pairpoint glass, to a 2017 painting, Trying Not to Think of a Polar Bear, on loan from artist Tabitha Vevers. Even before the famous soda drinking animations, polar bears impacted modern human culture. This is easily glimpsed, for instance, in the Iñupiat pincushion made for the tourist market, a pair of walrus ivory relief-carved salt and pepper shakers, and the souvenir patches using images of polar bears to represent Barrow (Utqiagvik), Alaska.

Nonetheless, grave threats face these animals, the largest predators on the terrestrial earth. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has classified the polar bear as a vulnerable species since 2006, with the US government listing them as threatened in 2008. Population models and forecasts predict increased rates of starvation as a result of longer ice-free seasons, a decline in mating success, since sea ice fragmentation could reduce encounter rates between males and females, and less nutrient rich foods, suggesting that polar bear populations will decline by one-third by 2050. These effects have been determined to be almost exclusively the result of global warming and climate change.

Polar Bears (ursus maritimus) and the Arctic Imaginary uses fine and decorative art representations and cultural artifacts to tell stories about this endangered, dangerous, and fascinating creature. It also asks a serious question: how has human interference in highly specialized and fragile ecosystems, capitalistic environmental exploitation, and global warming/ climate change effected the natural environment? Like the environment itself, our understanding of the effects of our actions is evolving. Exhibitions like this one, as well as the hard science going on constantly to monitor and hopefully mitigate (or at least slow) the worst results, serve to inform and create a dialogue. Meanwhile, on the front lines, there are animals and other living things fighting for their continued existence in an ever-changing world.

Anonymous. A View of the Whale Fishery, and the Manner of Killing-Bears Near & On the Coast of Greenland, 1790. This print is a reverse copy of the plate appearing in Harris’ Voyages. It appeared in Thomas Bankes, A New, (Royal), and Authentic, System of Universal Geography... (London: C. Cook, 1790). As an example of the prevalent style of Arctic whaling composition dating to the mid-seventeenth century, this print includes all of the common elements where bears appear as both curiosities, monsters, and creatures to be destroyed, whether out of fear or sport, the prints are seldom clear. NBWM, Kendall Collection, 2001.100.7058.