Lewis Lindsay Dyche

Davis Garber, artist

Lewis Lindsay Dyche, 1895

Where object was made: New York, New York, United States

Material/technique: albumen print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 20.7 x 16.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 8 1/8 x 6 9/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: Gift of Lewis Lindsay Dyche

Accession number: 2007.0576

Not on display

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Label texts

Collection Cards: People

This portrait of Lewis Lindsey Dyche shows him wearing a fur suit from his expeditions to Greenland. The photograph was taken to promote a series of lectures Dyche gave about his travels. His unusual clothing and hunting pose sparked people’s curiosity, encouraging them to attend his lecture. The building for the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas is named Dyche Hall after Lewis Lindsey Dyche, who created many of the displays of natural environments at the Museum.

What kinds of interesting things have you done that you might share with other people?

If you created a promotional photograph what would you wear and what would you be doing?

Spencer Museum of Art Highlights

Lewis Lindsey Dyche, a naturalist from the University of Kansas, joined expeditions to Arctic Greenland with explorer Frederick Cook and later with Robert Peary in 1894 and 1895. Dyche’s wool clothing that he wore to Greenland proved to be grossly insufficient for the cold and he paid an Inuit woman to make him a suit from polar bear fur. Dyche and Peary’s party received a great deal of media attention upon their return. This photo of Dyche wearing his fur suit was used in promotional materials for the many lectures he would give on his experiences in the Arctic.

Google Art Project

Exhibition Label:
“Climate Change at the Poles,” Jan-2009, Kate Meyer, Jennifer Talbott, and Angela Watts
Dyche and Peary’s party received a great deal of media attention upon their return. This photo of Dyche wearing his fur suit was used in promotional materials for the many lectures he would give on his experiences in the Arctic.