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Lot Essay
Wright's own camera (the camera is not listed in Terra Nova's manifest) acquired ahead of the expedition (probably second-hand given the initials 'C.B.' on the case) and capable of taking both acetate and glass-plate negatives. The company name 'W. Watson & Sons' was in use from c.1883 until 1908, when it became 'Watson & Sons Ltd.', dating the present camera. On the voyage out he wrote home that while it 'has really quite a good lens' he had 'not yet quite mastered the technique of the thing.' Wright's difficulties persisted in the Antarctic, Griffith Taylor commenting 'CSW made the skis curl with his language on trying to set up his camera on the ice'. Wright took lessons in the art of photography from Ponting at Cape Evans and the camera was used extensively on the expedition on his various sledging journeys.
Trained by Ponting at Cape Evans (along with Scott, Bowers, Debenham, Levick, Priestley, Taylor and Gran) he would take photographs on the trip to the Western Mountains (Today (Tuesday) [9 May 1911] Debenham has been showing me his photographs taken west. With Wright's and Taylor's these will make an extremely interesting series; the ice forms especially in the region of the Koettlitz glacier are unique. (M. Jones (ed.), Robert Falcon Scott, Journals, Captain Scotts Last Expedition, Oxford, 2003, p.189.), at Cape Evans, and on the southern journey and Search Party. His photographs feature in Scott's Last Expedition and the profusely illustrated Glaciology and Physiography of the Beardmore Glacier Region. Indeed Wright's photographs of the southern journey, to the top of the Beardmore, if taken primarily with a view to illustrating the Physiography, have greater resonance now as historic documents, along with the hitherto little known photographs taken by Scott and Bowers on the Barrier, glacier and plateau, recording this tragic journey. Wright's First Supporting Party would bring back the first of Scott and Bowers' photographs taken on the journey, which Ponting then developed at the hut, as well as his own ("Developed some of film packs; not very satisfactory"). Along with Gran, he took the poignant photographs of the tent and cairn on the Search Party in November 1912. Wright's important archive of photographs (which includes substantial groups of the photographs by his colleagues Debenham and Levick) is included in the sale (lot 132) along with his large collection of glass plate and celluloid negatives (lot 133). There is, in addition, a rare group vintage prints of Scott and Bowers southern journey photographs (lot 135), as well as his own lecture slides and a large selection of Ponting's work on the expedition (lots 134, 136-41).
Trained by Ponting at Cape Evans (along with Scott, Bowers, Debenham, Levick, Priestley, Taylor and Gran) he would take photographs on the trip to the Western Mountains (Today (Tuesday) [9 May 1911] Debenham has been showing me his photographs taken west. With Wright's and Taylor's these will make an extremely interesting series; the ice forms especially in the region of the Koettlitz glacier are unique. (M. Jones (ed.), Robert Falcon Scott, Journals, Captain Scotts Last Expedition, Oxford, 2003, p.189.), at Cape Evans, and on the southern journey and Search Party. His photographs feature in Scott's Last Expedition and the profusely illustrated Glaciology and Physiography of the Beardmore Glacier Region. Indeed Wright's photographs of the southern journey, to the top of the Beardmore, if taken primarily with a view to illustrating the Physiography, have greater resonance now as historic documents, along with the hitherto little known photographs taken by Scott and Bowers on the Barrier, glacier and plateau, recording this tragic journey. Wright's First Supporting Party would bring back the first of Scott and Bowers' photographs taken on the journey, which Ponting then developed at the hut, as well as his own ("Developed some of film packs; not very satisfactory"). Along with Gran, he took the poignant photographs of the tent and cairn on the Search Party in November 1912. Wright's important archive of photographs (which includes substantial groups of the photographs by his colleagues Debenham and Levick) is included in the sale (lot 132) along with his large collection of glass plate and celluloid negatives (lot 133). There is, in addition, a rare group vintage prints of Scott and Bowers southern journey photographs (lot 135), as well as his own lecture slides and a large selection of Ponting's work on the expedition (lots 134, 136-41).