Despite polar cold and the prospect of whiteouts or gale force winds, landscape painter Leland Curtis (1897-1989) could not resist the allure of Antarctica, and in 1939 he became an artist for the United States Antarctic Service Expedition under the command of Rear Admiral Richard Byrd. Curtis’ paintings of the continent conveyed the stark beauty of this stunning and fearsome land with a sense of intensity. Selections of his work were published in a 1940 Life article featuring Byrd’s exploration of the region. Expedition mandates included mapping a section of the continent’s seacoast, and paintings by Curtis augmented this effort with a more pictorial description. (Expedition to the Antarctic: under Admiral Byrd, it finds 900 miles of new coastline. Life. July 8, 1940:27-33.) Born in Denver, Colorado, Curtis spent childhood years in Seattle and then moved to Los Angeles in 1914, where he received instruction at the Manual Arts High School from artist Rob Wagner. After serving his country in World War I, Curtis found success as an illustrator, and he also painted scenes of his beloved Sierra Nevada and Teton mountain ranges. Curtis showed his paintings at exhibitions that on occasion also featured the work of plein air artist Robert Clunie, noted painter of the Sierras. Curtis was a member of the Sierra Club and its Ski Mountaineers Section, and his renderings of the western crags would in retrospect serve as a rehearsal for painting the landforms of Antarctica. Curtis also documented American desert landscapes, again perhaps a run-through for his later work in illustrating arid Antarctica. (Fox WL. Terra Antarctica: Looking Into the Emptiest Continent. Berkeley, CA:Shoemaker & Hoard; 2007:xiii-276.) In the late 1930s,while skiing, Curtismet individuals from anearlierByrdexpedition, leading toan introduction to theadmiral himself and eventually a spot on the 1939 voyage to Antarctica. In the months leading up to his departure, Curtis was engaged in experimental analysis of paint at California InstituteofTechnology laboratories,duringwhichhepreparedaformulation that could withstand the Antarctic cold (Life, p 30). Therewasprecedent formaking theAntarcticunderstandable through art. In the late 1700s, the British explorer James Cookwas accompaniedbyartistWilliamHodges. Paintings by Hodges from the region are noteworthy in their depiction of human interaction with the elements such as showing ships finding their way along the pack ice (Fox, pp 103-104). Another earlynotable exampleof artistic effort includes thework of physician and artist EdwardWilson,who accompanied explorer Robert Scott in the early 1900s. In Fogbound Shores, Antarctica, the ice along the shoreline and the still water in the foreground are improbably brilliant in a spectrum of blue tones. As indicated in Life, Curtis took many Kodachromes as evidence that the colors were as bright as in his paintings. A glacier winds around the bend between the rocky peaks, its icebergs breaking off into the water. The darkening clouds may portend the approach of a “herbie” (hurricane and blizzard). On the far horizon, a coppery glow hints of a distant world where people bask in the sun on tropical beaches instead of trudging across inhospitable terrain with rimy faces framed by anoraks. It may be of interest to consider how the continent could appear in years hence. Researchers have studied the effect of increasing temperature of ocean water in melting Antarctica’s ice shelves with implications for sea levels (http://news .nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141204-antarctic -ice-melt-sea-level-climate-environment-science/). In 1955, Curtis accompanied Byrd in Operation Deepfreeze I as part of the International Geographical Year effort (a scientific collaboration),withexpeditiongoals to include the gathering of data on glacier activity, marine life, weather patterns, and hydrography (http://www.history.navy.mil/ac /exploration/deepfreeze/deepfreeze1.html). Curtis and other artists are said tohaveportrayedsubjects suchaspenguinsand seals, scienceprograms,andmilitary life. Sponsoredby theNational Science Foundation, Curtis returned in 1957 in Operation Deep Freeze III. With this third trip, Curtis was dubbed the “Dean of Ice Art.” (Fox, pp 201-202.) Much is owed to these pioneers in advancing an understanding of the earth. In similar spirit, the work of medical researchers may be well represented in the words of Robert Clunie in contemplating nature: “Stand I before this great masterpiece seeking truth. In as much as I may be worthy may I find this truth, and so record it.” (Coons R. Robert Clunie: Plein-air Painter of the Sierra. Bishop, CA: Coons Gallery; 1998:182.)