Frank Hurley
Overview
James Francis (Frank) Hurley (1885 – 1962) is regarded as an extraordinary Australian photographer, adventurer, filmmaker and writer. His craving for exploration and adventure complemented his image-making to produce some of the most enduring achievements of Australian photography, and a profound impact on a young Australian film industry. Hurley’s most consequential work comes from his first two trips to Antarctica. Among his best-known images, are those of the destruction of the Endurance, during Ernest Shackleton’s legendary ill-fated Antarctic expedition of 1914-16.
Hurley was much more than an Antarctic photographer, however. In addition to his incredible image-making activity in Australia, he was an official correspondent during the First and Second World Wars. In the 1920s, he also ventured into the Torres Strait and Papua New Guinea at a time when few people of European descent had ever been there. Hurley was a self-confessed ‘showman’. He embellished images to maximise their visual impact, for example by using the technique of composite printing (combining the best elements of several shots into one). While such manipulation was common in pictorial photography, Hurley was criticised for using it to enhance documentary images. Years after his death, interest in Hurley’s work continues. His adventures, photographs and films are the subject of various publications and exhibitions, and his material is keenly sought for private and public collections, internationally and locally.
Featured Exhibitions

The Endurance Keeled Over by Pressure
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print


Endurance in Full Sail, in the Ice (side view)
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Endurance Beset by Pack Ice During the Polar Night
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Endurance Frozen in the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Frank Worsley and Lionel Greenstreet Looking Across South Georgia Harbour
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Returning Sun, August 1915
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Flashlight Taken During the Polar Night, “The Spectre Ship”
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Scientists Washing Down the “Ritz” (living quarters in the hold)
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

A Morning in the “Ritz”, On Board the Endurance in Midwinter
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Endurance in the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

On the Drifting Floe, ‘Ocean’ Camp
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Nightwatchman’s Story
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Kennels and Dogs on the Ice at Night
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

14th January, 74 Degrees 10 South- 27 Degrees 10 West
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Clark the Biologist
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Endurance Frozen in the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Endurance in the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Endurance Frozen in the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Ice Mounds and Rope Serve as Guidance to Crew in Darkness and Blizzards
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Dawn after Winter
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Entering the Polar Sea, 11 December 1914
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Mast of the Endurance and the Pylon Way on the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print


The Ice and the Endurance Behind
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Ocean Camp a Distant View
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Nightwatchman Returns
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Ernest Shackleton’s Cabin on the Endurance
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Crystal Ice Flowers on the Surface of the Newly Frozen Ice, with Endurance Frozen Behind
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Ernest Shackleton (right) and Frank Wild (left) sScouting for a Path to the Land Through the Hummocks
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Frank Worsley and Reginald James Observing Stars During Winter
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Skiing on the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The King’s Flag Flying from the Look-out Platform
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Bow of the Endurance
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Hussey and James Taking Observations
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

The Bow of the Endurance Enters the Ice
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print

Dr Leonard Hussey and Dog Team
© The Royal Geographical Society
Platinum print