Albert Operti

This chapter examines the creation of a “popular sublime” focusing particularly on Albert Operti, who accompanied Robert Peary’s 1890s Arctic expeditions. Nineteenth-century images of the Arctic translated the sublime from aesthetic discourse to entertainment while also transforming explorers such as John Franklin, Elijah Kent Kane, or Robert Peary into household names. A self-dubbed “Arctic historical painter,” Operti crafted a visual corpus that presented the Arctic both in museum galleries and in popular media, ranging from magazine illustrations to dioramas to penny tobacco cards. Operti’s project, the chapter argues, bolstered the public imaginary of the Arctic as a sublime landscape even as the region became more mapped and more accessible.