An original print from Herbert Ponting’s exhibitions at The Fine Arts Society, held in the years after his return from the ill-fated British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-13. Considered at the time of the expedition to be the finest outdoor cameraman in the world, Ponting’s photographs from the Antarctic continent are an enduring record of the Heroic Age. The Fine Art Society exhibited 146 prints at their New Bond Street gallery, and in a touring exhibition around the country, where they could be purchased in four different sizes - this example being the largest.
“A Cavern in an Iceberg”, here in a particularly nice example, is what Herbert Ponting believed was one of the best images he took during the expedition and it’s hardly a surprise that he retained it for his own account of the expedition, The Great White South (London, 1921), rather than including it in the 1913 official account. The picture was taken on 5 January, 1911, and Ponting described the moment thus: “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 the outside, the interior appeared quite white and colourless, but, once inside, it was a lovely symphony of blue and green.”
Ponting wasn’t alone in believing the image to be one of his finest. David Hempleman-Adams, writing in his celebratory volume on the work of Pointing and Frank Hurley noted: “This iconic photograph shows Ponting at his best. It is one of the best photographs from any polar expedition. The ship is in the bay and the picture is taken from inside of an ice grotto. The photograph is beautifully composed, opening in the shape of a wave curling around the surfer… The first time I saw this image I thought it was stunning. It is as significant an image as Neil Armstrong standing on the moon for the first time.”
Hempleman-Adams, D., The Heart of the Great Alone (London, 2009) p.99; Ponting, H.G., The Great White South (London, 1921), p.67.
