Three expeditioners with 'masks of ice'. A vintage gelatin silver photograph (207 × 156 mm), from the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Verso moderately marked by an old mount (now removed); tiny unobtrusive spot of glue on the surface, and a couple of tiny bruises; overall in excellent condition.
The image shows three unidentified members of the expedition inside the Winter Quarters, each with his snow hood encrusted with ice. Mawson wrote of this phenomenon: 'In thick drifts, one's face inside the funnel of the burberry helmet became rapidly packed with snow, which, by the warmth of the skin and breath, was changed into a mask of ice', after which, 'The mask became so complete that one had continually to break it away in order to breathe and to clear away obstructions from the eyes' ('The Home of the Blizzard'). Provenance: Sir Douglas Mawson; by descent.
Item #114973
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