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Frederick A. Cook: the role of photography in the making of his polar explorer-hero image

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2014

Pat Millar
Pat Millar*
Affiliation:
130 High Street, Oatlands, Tasmania 7120, Australia ([email protected])
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Abstract

This paper aims to show how the photography of Frederick A. Cook (1865–1940) played an important role in the making of his polar explorer-hero image. It considers portraits and Arctic and Antarctic photographs that Cook used in his own publications and illustrated lectures, and which he provided for press articles. The paper is underpinned by discourse analysis and the concept of the photograph as a representation of reality filtered through various lenses. The visual impact and discursive messages of the photographs were aimed at situating readers and audiences in responsive attitudes that would generate a public persona which he exploited to increase his fame and heroic reputation. In time, Cook's photography also played a critical part in the collapse of the hero image.

Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , July 2015 , pp. 432 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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