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Object Timeline

1917

  • We acquired this object.

2015

2018

2019

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Five Floating Icebergs, Canada

This is a Drawing. It was created by Frederic Edwin Church. It is dated July 5, 1859 and we acquired it in 1917. Its medium is graphite and white gouache on light brown wove 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

11.5 × 21 cm (4 1/2 × 8 1/4 in.)

It has the following markings

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

It is inscribed

Inscribed: in graphite, lower right: July 5th. /59

Cite this object as

Drawing, Five Floating Icebergs, Canada; Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900); USA; graphite and white gouache on light brown wove paper; 11.5 × 21 cm (4 1/2 × 8 1/4 in.); Gift of Louis P. Church; 1917-4-277-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/18196407/ |title=Drawing, Five Floating Icebergs, Canada |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=23 April 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>