A rare 5.5x3.5" type 2 photo from a unique collection of prints from Frank Hurley’s original glass negatives.
Frank Hurley · Shackleton's Endurance Expedition (1914–1917) Silver Gelatin Photograph from the Studio Archive of Michael Gray
A silver gelatin photograph of Frank Hurley's legendary imagery from Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, printed by Michael and Barbara Gray at their studio near Bath, England, in c1999 from Hurley's original 1914–15 glass plate negatives held by the Royal Geographical Society.
Michael Gray - former Curator of Photography at the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey, and one of the foremost authorities on early photographic processes - produced the photographic prints for Caroline Alexander's The Endurance (Alfred A. Knopf / American Museum of Natural History, 1998), the definitive modern account of the expedition, and authored the chapter on Hurley's cameras, equipment and materials in South with Endurance (Penguin / Royal Geographical Society / Scott Polar Research Institute, 2001). His specialist printing from historic negatives is held in institutional collections including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the National Galleries of Scotland, the British Library and the Wellcome Collection.
This impression comes directly from Gray's own studio archive — the working holdings of the printer entrusted with Hurley's original plates — rather than from any commercial edition. Printed on photographic paper in the silver gelatin medium in which Hurley himself worked.
No commercial edition markings are present. No other examples from this estate collection have surfaced in dealer circulation or public auction records to date. Most of the working archive prints we have are unique (only a single image of that scene), or 1-3 variations from exposure work.
Outer dimensions of black bordered print from darkroom work is 8x10 inches.
Provenance: from the estate archive of Michael Gray, via Dominic Winter Auctioneers, London. Professionally packaged in a rigid mailer for safe delivery.
Photo Overview
A haunting glimpse of daily life at Ocean Camp, the makeshift settlement Sir Ernest Shackleton's men established on a drifting Weddell Sea ice floe after their ship Endurance was crushed by pack ice in 1915. Frank Hurley's camera captures a crew member seated on a packing crate outside a dome tent, laundry strung on lines between oars and poles, a sledge dog resting beside the tent, and sledges and figures scattered across the endless white expanse of the frozen sea. Washing day on the ice - an extraordinary record of human routine maintained under some of the most desperate conditions in the history of exploration.
The reversed negative number 13.143 visible along the top edge confirms this print was made in direct contact with historic negative material, a hallmark of Michael Gray's archival darkroom work from Hurley's original glass plates held by the Royal Geographical Society.
Historical Notes
Ocean Camp was established on 30 October 1915, three days after Shackleton gave the order to abandon Endurance as the ice ground her hull to splinters. For two months the 28 men lived here on a floe roughly a mile from the wreck, salvaging timber, food, and the three lifeboats that would ultimately save their lives. Hurley famously dove into the flooding ship to rescue his glass plate negatives, and he and Shackleton then sat on the ice and selected about 120 plates to keep, smashing the rest so there would be no temptation to carry extra weight.
When the floe drifted north and began to break up, the party shifted to Patience Camp, and in April 1916 took to the boats, reaching the barren shore of Elephant Island. From there Shackleton and five men sailed the 22-foot James Caird 800 miles across the Southern Ocean to South Georgia, crossed its unmapped mountains on foot, and organized the rescue. Every one of the 28 men survived - an outcome so improbable that the Endurance story has become the defining epic of leadership under adversity. Hurley's photographs, including this Ocean Camp image, are the reason the world can still see it. The wreck of Endurance itself was finally located on the Weddell Sea floor in March 2022, nearly intact, reigniting worldwide fascination with the expedition.
Front, upper left of image area (reversed negative inscription): "13.143"
Back, upper right corner in blue ink: "143"
Print analysis
This is a Type 2 silver gelatin photograph, printed c1999 by Michael Gray at his studio near Bath, England, directly from Frank Hurley's original 1914-15 glass plate negatives held by the Royal Geographical Society. While not a lifetime print, it is a darkroom photographic print made from the original camera negatives by one of the foremost authorities on early photographic processes, on fiber-based paper in the same silver gelatin medium Hurley himself used. The full-frame presentation with black borders and visible reversed plate numbering demonstrates direct contact printing from the historic negative material. Provenance from Gray's own studio archive via Dominic Winter Auctioneers.
Condition
In excellent condition. Note that this silver gelatin image was sourced from the original glass negatives and the image itself has not been altered or processed in any way. Any "cracks" visible are from actual cracks in the glass negative. Hurley's actual fingerprints from the original negatives are visible in a few of the prints from this series. Note that these were working images and may contain written notes from Mr. Gray's process in the margins.