Terms and conditions of use
An episode after the Battle of Zonnebeke
(1918); printed (c. 1919)
Medium
gelatin silver photograph
Measurements
35.8 × 48.5 cm irreg. (image) 36.0 × 48.8 cm irreg. (sheet)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased NGV Foundation, 2008
Public domain
Gallery location
Gallery 8
Level 2, NGV Australia
About this work
In 1916, following two years in Antarctica with Sir Ernest Shackleton, Frank Hurley was appointed as Official War Photographer to the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and sent to the battlefields of France. In comparison to the pristine wilderness of Antarctica, the horror of the war in Europe was devastating. Reflecting on this experience, Hurley wrote in his 1916 diary: ‘We were transported from the white fields of peace to the grim red mud of Flanders.’
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Belgium
Inscription
inscribed (inverted) in pencil on support reverse u.l.: 83
inscribed in pencil on support reverse u.r.: (...illeg.)988 / 1B (in a circle)
inscribed in pencil on support reverse c.l.: (...illeg.) (underlined)
stamped (diagonally) in ink and inscribed in pencil on support reverse c.: AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTO No. E5988 (... under E5988) E5988 / Purchased from / AUSTRALIAN WAR MUSEUM / WOOL EXCHANGE, KING ST. MELBOURNE / COPYRIGHT / Prosecution will follow / Infringement
inscribed in pencil on support reverse c.l.: A919
printed (vertically) in ink on paper label on support reverse c.: (...illeg.) 5988 (5988 underlined)
inscribed (inverted) in pencil on support reverse l.c.: E05988B
Accession Number
2008.366
Department
Australian Photography
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Daryl and Anne Whinney
Physical description
Composite image of battle scene, with soldiers emerging from trenches, planes in the sky, and explosions of smoke.