![[Arctic Exploration], Autographed Portrait of the famed Arctic Explorer Frederick Cook, inscribed to the Cook Arctic Club, c. 1909](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_2400,h_2400,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/dollc/images/view/0025037a8f7084ee3755d6db52b8c177/daniel-oliver-arctic-exploration-autographed-portrait-of-the-famed-arctic-explorer-frederick-cook-inscribed-to-the-cook-arctic-club-c.-1909.jpg)
[Arctic Exploration]
Autographed Portrait of the famed Arctic Explorer Frederick Cook, inscribed to the Cook Arctic Club, c. 1909
Silver print, autographed
10 x 8 inches
Sold
Frederick A. Cook was an American explorer who controversially contended to have led the expedition to the North Pole in 1908. This lesser-known portrait shows a fully outfitted Cook, adorned...
Frederick A. Cook was an American explorer who controversially contended to have led the expedition to the North Pole in 1908. This lesser-known portrait shows a fully outfitted Cook, adorned in explorer's garb, likely taken shortly after his return from the North Pole. This print is inscribed to the Cook Arctic Club, "with the joys of Zeros Lowest, [signed] Frederick A. Cook."
Frederick Albert Cook was born on June 10, 1865 in Sullivan County, New York. He studied at Columbia University and received his doctorate at New York University School of Medicine in 1890. He opened up his own practice in Manhattan that did not gain enough patients. After tragically losing both his first wife and child during delivery complications and later remarrying, he began his career in exploration. He joined as a surgeon on his first expedition to North Greenland in 1891 under the famed explorer, Robert E. Peary. He briefly returned to his medical practice in 1895 before departing again to a Belgian Antarctic Expedition from 1897 to 1899 and then doing ethnographic work in Tierra del Fuego in 1897. After the turn of the century and travel experience, Cook led an expedition to Denali in 1903 and 1906 and claimed to have made the first ascent of the peak. This was later proven false by several climbers (including the Mazama Club) and the small outcrop where he had taken an image as evidence is known today as “Fake Peak.”
Cook set off for his infamous trek to the North Pole in 1907 and declared he had touched down on April 21, 1908 with photographic evidence. While initially celebrated for his feat, his claims came into question when Peary concluded his North Pole expedition the following year. Without ample evidence of the North Pole’s geography, Cook’s expedition became invalidated by Peary’s detailed maps. Peary campaigned to claim the principal title of the North Pole and asserted that Cook’s photograph was likely hundreds of miles from the actual northernmost point of the earth. While his name remains attached to the first expiration of the North Pole, Cook became disgraced in the world of exploration and could no longer find funding for future expeditions. He was later sent to jail for financial fraud and was imprisoned from 1923 to 1930 where he was known to use his medical knowledge for good. He was given presidential pardon by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and died soon after on August 5th in New Rochelle, New York.
Frederick Albert Cook was born on June 10, 1865 in Sullivan County, New York. He studied at Columbia University and received his doctorate at New York University School of Medicine in 1890. He opened up his own practice in Manhattan that did not gain enough patients. After tragically losing both his first wife and child during delivery complications and later remarrying, he began his career in exploration. He joined as a surgeon on his first expedition to North Greenland in 1891 under the famed explorer, Robert E. Peary. He briefly returned to his medical practice in 1895 before departing again to a Belgian Antarctic Expedition from 1897 to 1899 and then doing ethnographic work in Tierra del Fuego in 1897. After the turn of the century and travel experience, Cook led an expedition to Denali in 1903 and 1906 and claimed to have made the first ascent of the peak. This was later proven false by several climbers (including the Mazama Club) and the small outcrop where he had taken an image as evidence is known today as “Fake Peak.”
Cook set off for his infamous trek to the North Pole in 1907 and declared he had touched down on April 21, 1908 with photographic evidence. While initially celebrated for his feat, his claims came into question when Peary concluded his North Pole expedition the following year. Without ample evidence of the North Pole’s geography, Cook’s expedition became invalidated by Peary’s detailed maps. Peary campaigned to claim the principal title of the North Pole and asserted that Cook’s photograph was likely hundreds of miles from the actual northernmost point of the earth. While his name remains attached to the first expiration of the North Pole, Cook became disgraced in the world of exploration and could no longer find funding for future expeditions. He was later sent to jail for financial fraud and was imprisoned from 1923 to 1930 where he was known to use his medical knowledge for good. He was given presidential pardon by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and died soon after on August 5th in New Rochelle, New York.