8 Original Frank Hurley large silver tone Photographs of New Guinea.
1920 -1923. Original publicity photographs by James Francis (Frank) Hurley (1885-1962) the Australian photographer, filmmaker and writer known for his Antarctic photographs, including the destruction of Ernest Shackleton's ship 'Endurance'. Hurley undertook two long expeditions to the Torres Strait and New Guinea between 1920 and 1923. From this, he developed a successful anthropological film, 'Pearls and Savages' and the book by the same title. He documented the people, their rites, houses, villages, artifacts, and mountain scenes. Although reviews in Australia were strong (one critic called it "probably the most beautifully photographed pictorial of the kind that has ever been screened"), the film release in America resulted in a financial loss for Hurley, retitled "The Lost Tribe". A typed sheet is attached to most photos, titled "Guinea Cannibals Look Like a Lost Tribe of Israel, Captain Frank Hurley, Explorer, Finds". Starting saying "A race of head hunters with Jewish features has been discovered by Capt. Frank Hurley, explorer, 280 miles up the Fly River... he said they might have been mistaken for a lost tribe of Israel." One of the images, not published in the book, titled "A view looking out of the entrance of the great kau ravi kaimabi" is reminiscent of Hurley's striking use of light and dark in his images of Australian troops in France and Flanders during WWI.
The eight b&w 8 x 10" Hurley prints are also stamped International Newsreel, 226 William Street New York City on the verso. Along with a printed, folded explanation sheet giving the expedition details and note to editors regarding the location of New Guinea!
The 8 photographs include:
The dubu daima of the Urama men and its initiated warriors; A view looking out of the entrance of the great kau ravi kaimabi (NOT illustrated in the book); A scene on the sand covered coral reef near the entrance to the Great Fly River, Papua; The Mountuan [sic] men wear the dazzling millinery creations made from parrots feathers surmounted with gorgeous plumes of the Baggian [sic] bird of paradise plumes; The main street of Mailu Village, south east Papua; Hamoji; the Great Chief of the Sambio Headhunters is shown here wearing his regal plumes of the Raggiana bird of paradise. (Frontispiece of 'Pearls and Savages".)
Photographs well handled, with some cracking and creasing at edges. Two photos have loss at corners. Otherwise bright, early impressions. A fascinating survival of Frank Hurley's publicity push for "Pearls and Savages" in the United States. Very good condition. Item #19944
Sold