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Object Timeline

1917

  • We acquired this object.

2015

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2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Floating Icebergs

This is a Drawing. It was created by Frederic Edwin Church. It is dated July 23, 1859 and we acquired it in 1917. Its medium is graphite and white gouache on light brown paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

In the far North, Church encountered a landscape of water and ice. His sketches reveal a fascination with the varied forms of icebergs, shaped by the elements. Waves, currents, sunshine, and storms acted on each iceberg to produce unique surface patterns. Some icebergs revealed fresh fractures, sharply cut like broken porcelain. Others were rounded and polished by the weather.

This object was donated by Louis P. Church. It is credited Gift of Louis P. Church.

Its dimensions are

11.4 × 21.1 cm (4 1/2 × 8 5/16 in.)

It has the following markings

Stamped: in black ink, lower left, L.457c; in black ink, verso lower left, L.457d

It is inscribed

Inscribed: in graphite, lower left: Off Greens Pond / 23d July 1859 / copied; in graphite, lower right: Blue / Iceberg -- Looking North East / sun sets N-N-West - sunset.

Cite this object as

Drawing, Floating Icebergs; Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900); USA; graphite and white gouache on light brown paper; 11.4 × 21.1 cm (4 1/2 × 8 5/16 in.); Gift of Louis P. Church; 1917-4-275-b

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition After Icebergs.

This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18196379/ |title=Drawing, Floating Icebergs |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 April 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>