Squall. Greenland

1926–1930

Illustrations for "Moby-Dick"

The publisher R. R. Donnelley offered Kent Dana's Two Years Before the Mast to illustrate, but the artist chose Melville's Moby-Dick instead. The three-volume limited edition of 1930 with his pen drawings (1,000 copies) sold out instantly; Random House issued a trade edition.

summer 1929

First Voyage to Greenland

In the summer of 1929 he set out on a painting expedition to Greenland (including a shipwreck off its coast), recounted in the bestseller N by E (1930). After meeting the Danish polar explorers Peter Freuchen and Knud Rasmussen, he resolved to return to Greenland to paint and draw.

1931–1932

Wintering at Igdlorssuit

He lived above the Arctic Circle in the tiny fishing settlement of Igdlorssuit (Illorsuit), where he conceived some of the largest and most celebrated paintings of his career; his book Salamina (1935) is devoted to this first Arctic winter.

1934–1935

Third Stay in Greenland

He visited Greenland for the third time and lived there at length, closely studying the everyday culture and traditions of the local Eskimos.

1936

Role in Founding the American Artists' Congress

He took part in the American Artists' Congress from its founding, and later served as an officer of the Artists Union of America and the Artists League of America.

1937

Washington Post Office Murals with a Hidden Message

Commissioned by the U.S. Treasury, he painted two murals for the new Post Office Department building in Washington. Into one of them, in tiny letters in an Alaska Native language, he inserted a message to Puerto Ricans in support of decolonization, which caused a scandal.