KABLOONAS

KABLOONAS
Burial of John Franklin. Author: me

KABLOONAS

Kabloonas is the way in which the Inuit who live in the north part of Canada call those who haven´t their same ascendency.

The first time i read this word was in the book "Fatal Passage" by Ken McGoogan, when, as the result of the conversations between John Rae and some inuit, and trying to find any evidence of the ill-fated Sir John Franklin Expedition, some of then mentioned that they watched how some kabloonas walked to die in the proximities of the river Great Fish.

I wish to publish this blog to order and share all those anecdotes that I´ve been finding in the arctic literature about arctic expeditions. My interest began more than 15 years ago reading a little book of my brother about north and south pole expeditions. I began reading almost all the bibliography about Antarctic expeditions and the superknown expeditions of Scott, Amundsen, Shackleton, etc. After I was captured by the Nansen, Nobile and Engineer Andree. But the most disturbing thing in that little book, full of pictures, was the two pages dedicated to the last Franklin expedition of the S.XIX, on that moment I thought that given the time on which this and others expeditions happened, few or any additional information could be obtained about it. I couldn´t imagine that after those two pages It would be a huge iceberg full of stories, unresolved misteries, anecdotes, etc. I believe that this iceberg, on the contrary than others, would continue growing instead melting.



jueves, 5 de julio de 2012

PETER RINDISBACHER EL RELEVO DE GEORGE BACK Y ROBERT HOOD/PETER RINDISBACHER RELIEVES GEORGE BACK AND ROBERT HOOD

Peter Rindisbacher_from The Lord Selkirk Association.

Peter Rindisbacher es otro artista ártico no muy conocido, a pesar de que sus pinturas son de las primeras que retrataron a las tribus indias del norte de Canadá e hizo increibles cuadros sobre la caza del búfalo. Hay 40 pinturas conservadas en los archivos de Canada. Las pinturas de Peter representan escenas desde el estrecho de Hudson hasta el asentamiento de Red River, en las proximidades del lago Winipeg.

Peter nació en Suiza y no fue el único artista Suizo que aterrizó en la bahía de Hudson a principios del siglo XIX . Peter, con solo 15 años llegó a York Factory el 17 de agosto de 1821 junto con su familia, apenas un mes después de que Franklin, George Back el Dr. Richardson y John Hepburn llegaran también a York Factory después de terminar su funesta expedición a la costa norte de Canada por la desembocadura del rio Coppermine . En el camino de hecho se cruzó con el Prince of Wales (el barco que llevó a Franklin a York Factory y donde posiblemente se encontrara de vuelta ese mismo agosto) y también con el Eddystone.

Izquierda Red River Settlement_Right barcos de la HBC atrapados en la bahía de Hudson _from wikipedia_by Peter Rindisbacher 1821.
Nada más desembarcar Peter comenzó su labor pictórica y representó imágenes como la de los esquimales remando en la bahía de Hudson en sus piráguas, los buques atrapados en el hielo en la bahía, etc.




Aquel primer invierno de 1821trabajó como clérigo y acompañó a varias partidas de caza que fueron a cazar búfalos. Estas imágenes tuvieron mucho éxito por la novedad que suponían en cuanto a lo creado hasta la fecha, por la exactitud de los temas que dibujaba y por el nivel técnico y el estilo.




La obra de Peter pasó después desapercibida  cuando hasta 1940 fue redescubierta y se considera el primer artista con residencia permanente en Canadá al oeste de los grandes lagos.La sensibilidad con la describía las cosas que veia han convertido su obra en material de estudio para historiadores, antropólogos, etc.

Parece que hay un alma de artista vagando por aquellas tierras desde que George Back y RObert Hood la pisaran en 1819 por primera vez, que ha ido sucediéndose en la forma de diferentes personas y que de hecho sigue allí vagando actualmente.  Quizás el alma de Robert Hood aunque no creo en espíritus.

Peter Rindisbacher is another arctic artist, not very well known, despite that his pictures are the first on retrait the Indian tribus of the north part of Canada and he did incredible pictures about the  hunting of the buffalo. There are 40 pictures conserved in the Canadian archives. The pictures of Peter are drawn from Hudson Strait to the Red River Settlement, near the WInieg Lake.

Peter was born in Swisstzerland but he wasn´t the only Swiss artist that landed in the Hudson Bay in the beginning of S.XIX. Peter, with only 15 years old came to York Factory the 17 of august of 1821 altogether with his family, almost a month after Franklin, George Back el Dr. Richardson and John Hepburn would come to York Factory  from their expedition to the north Canada by the mouth of the Coppermine rivero. On the way, in fact, he cross his way with the ship "Prince of Wales" (the ship which takes Franklin to York Factory and on where he likely was present in his way to come back in that moment) and with the ship Eddystone also.

Just landing there, Peter began his work and painted pictures as that of the Esquimoux paddling in their kayaks and the HBC ships trapped by the ice in the Hudson Bay. That winter of 1821 he worked as a clerk and accompanied several hunting parties to hunt buffalo. These drawings had a lot of success because their novelty compared with previous work done till then, for the accurateness of the images, and for the high skill and his style.

The Peter work pass without being known till 1940 was rediscovered and now it´s considered the first artist  with permanent residence in the west side of the great lakes in Canada. The sensitivity with whih he descrive the things he saw have become his work in subject of study to historians, antropographers, etc.

It seems that there is a spirit wandering in that land since George Back and Robert Hood  walked there for first time in 1819, and that has been changing into different people since then, and that it´s still wandering there now. Perhaps the Robert Hood soul though i don´t believe in spirits.

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario