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A grotto in an iceberg
Details
Herbert George Ponting (1871-1935)
A grotto in an iceberg
large green-toned carbon print, issued by the Fine Art Society with Ponting's embossed signature lower right, in contemporary oak frame, glazed.
29 x 21in. (75 x 55.3cm.)
ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL PONTING'S PHOTOGRAPHS, taken on January 8, 1911, shortly after the arrival of the Terra Nova at McMurdo Sound. 'In one of these bergs there was a grotto,' Ponting related in The Great White South (London, 1926, 6th edition, p. 67). 'This I decided, should be the object of my first excursions. It was about a mile from the ship, and though a lot of rough and broken ice surrounded it, I was able to get right up to it. A fringe of long icicles hung at the entrance of the grotto, and passing under these I was in the most wonderful place imaginable. From outside, the interior appeared quite white and colourless, but once inside, it was a lovely symphony of blue and green. I made many photographs in this remarkable place -- than which I secured none more beautiful the entire time I was in the South. By almost incredible good luck the entrance to the cavern framed a fine view of the Terra Nova lying at the ice-foot, a mile away.' See F. A. S. Exhibition Catalogue of 1913, no. 118.
A grotto in an iceberg
large green-toned carbon print, issued by the Fine Art Society with Ponting's embossed signature lower right, in contemporary oak frame, glazed.
29 x 21in. (75 x 55.3cm.)
ONE OF THE GREATEST OF ALL PONTING'S PHOTOGRAPHS, taken on January 8, 1911, shortly after the arrival of the Terra Nova at McMurdo Sound. 'In one of these bergs there was a grotto,' Ponting related in The Great White South (London, 1926, 6th edition, p. 67). 'This I decided, should be the object of my first excursions. It was about a mile from the ship, and though a lot of rough and broken ice surrounded it, I was able to get right up to it. A fringe of long icicles hung at the entrance of the grotto, and passing under these I was in the most wonderful place imaginable. From outside, the interior appeared quite white and colourless, but once inside, it was a lovely symphony of blue and green. I made many photographs in this remarkable place -- than which I secured none more beautiful the entire time I was in the South. By almost incredible good luck the entrance to the cavern framed a fine view of the Terra Nova lying at the ice-foot, a mile away.' See F. A. S. Exhibition Catalogue of 1913, no. 118.
Sale room notice
Please note that the measurements of this image are 29 x 21in. This is one of a very small number of the original 'mammoth' prints specially issued for the first exhibition of Ponting photographs at the Fine Arts Society in 1913-14 (only two examples have appeared at auction in the past 15 years).