[Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914]. HURLEY, Frank

'A Snow Cornice' [with Xavier Mertz]

A very large sepia-toned gelatin silver photograph (415 × 562 mm, flush-cut on the original thick card mount), recently matted (visible image size 402 × 530 mm) using archival materials, ready for framing (or long-term storage in its custom-made Mylar sleeve).

A few spots of foxing; some light surface marks visible in a raking light; a short (10 mm) crack to the emulsion in the top left-hand corner; in very good condition.

Significantly, this dramatic image of an expeditioner on skis, silhouetted against gigantic ice cliffs, features Xavier Mertz, one of the two men to lose their lives on the expedition. This photograph is reproduced in 'The Home of the Blizzard' with the caption 'Adelie Land. The cliffs at Land's End, Cape Denison, on the brow of the cliff in front of the figure (Mertz), is a good example of a snow cornice' (Volume 1, opposite page 178). Mertz was one of the ill-fated Far Eastern Party, the three-man sledging team which set out from Cape Denison in November 1912. After the death of Lieutenant Belgrave Edward Ninnis, Mertz and Mawson turned back, but Mertz sickened and died on the return journey, with Mawson left to carry on alone.

This vintage print comes from the original 1915 Australian exhibition of Hurley photographs; this was a slightly larger version of the London exhibition held earlier in the same year. The label of the Fine Art Society, New Bond Street, London is on the verso of this print, with the title (as above) and the catalogue reference number 97 added in ink.

The full title of the Australian exhibition catalogue is 'Exhibition of Unique Photographic Pictures taken during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Also other Photographic Studies by Frank Hurley' (small octavo, 16 pages plus 8 full-page plates and the title wrappers; printed in Adelaide by G. Hassell & Son). A small advertisement appeared in the Adelaide 'Advertiser' on Saturday 25 September 1915, announcing a 'South Polar Exhibit.... until October 6. This Exhibition is your only opportunity of viewing Historical Relics of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, and Frank Hurley's Unexcelled Photographic Reproductions'.

Provenance: Ainslie Roberts AM (1911-1993, surrealist painter, illustrator and photographer; president of the Adelaide Camera Club, 1944-45, and life member from 1945); by descent.