Harry Burton: Tutankhamons photographer We owe the best shots of Egyptology to him. He is the official photographer of Tutankhamun! But, I am anticipating the story ... Harry Burton was born in Stamford (England) September 13, 1879. The son of a cabinetmaker. The fifth of eleven children, Burton went to live with Robert Cust, a local gentleman of independent means who saw to his education. Cust was a scholar of Italian Renaissance art and eventually moved to Florence, taking Burton along as his secretary. It was in Florence, in 1910, after Harold Ernest Jones death, that Burton developed his skill with a camera, becoming known as a talented photographer of paintings; it was also there that he met Theodore M. Davis, a wealthy American who held the concession to excavate in the Valley of the Kings. Eventually Davis hired Burton as his photographer and later as the director of his excavations. The house he lived in, of and on , was in Luxor West Bank, West branch of the valley of the kings. A rather pleasant place to stay. He used to order his dresses from the best British tailors and the groceries from Europe! He worked in KV3 (son of Ramesses III), in KV47 (Siptah) and, in 1913, in KV7 (Ramses II).When Davis gave up his concession in 1914, he pronounced the following words, remained famous for their lack of premonition: I fear that the Valley of the Kings is now exhausted. Harry Burton recalls: if Mr. Theodore Davis, of Boston, for whom I was excavating in 1914, had not stopped his last `dig too soon I am convinced he would have discovered the the tomb of Tutankhamun. We came within six feet of it. Just then Mr. Davis feared that further digging would undermine the adjacent roadway and ordered me to cease work. When Davis gave up his concession in 1914, Burton was hired as photographer for the Metropolitans Egyptian Expedition, remaining in the post until his death in 1940. Burton rapidly gained a reputation as the finest archaeological photographer of his time. Thus, when Howard Carter discovered Tutankhamuns tomb in 1922, he promptly asked the Metropolitan for the loan of Burtons services The scholar recognized his need for a skilled photographer to record the 5398 separate finds that awaited him. Seeking expert assistance, in early december Carter sent an urgent cable from Cairo to New Yorks Albert M. Lythgoe, the Mets first Curator of Egyptian Art: Colossal discovery Need any help possible Do you think you can ask for the loan of Burtons services to take photographs now..? And the answer that will seal a beautiful part of the destiny of Burton came quickly: Only too delighted to assist in any possible way. Please call on Burton and any other members of our staff cabling Burton to that effect. For the next eight years, Burton divided his time between Tutankhamun and the Egyptian Expedition. Thus, for the enormous task that is at hand, Carnarvon and Carter were surrounded by eminent specialists.In addition to Harry Burton, they recruited Alfred Lucas, Arthur Mace, James Henry Breasted, Alan Gardiner, Arthur Callender, Percy Newberry. Some of them for months, other for years they have been taking out, listing, describing, nurturing and protecting the treasures that KV 62 continued to deliver. To photograph the tomb of Tutankhamun, Burton used a large format “view camera” It was a square wooden box placed on an adjustable tripod. The bellows controlled the backward and forward movement of the lens in order to focus the image on the glass plate inside. Great care had to be taken by the photographer to time the exposure correctly. This was a time consuming and difficult process, yet Burton was able to produce remarkable images with what would now be considered very primitive equipment. He illuminated the tomb with electric bulbs, which allowed more control than using only a flash, and he positioned mirrors and reflectors to create special lighting effects. Burton traveled to Hollywood in 1924 to see how the major film studios dealt with problems of lighting; in fact, conditions in Egypt were so different from those in Hollywood that studio methods were hardly applicable. On Burtons recommendation, the Museum did purchase two arc lamps, which proved useful for shooting tomb interiors when a reliable source of electricity could be found, but for the most part he filmed outside in bright desert sunlight. Far more than dry scientific records, Burtons photographs also inspire a sense of wonder because of his ability to tell a story—to convey the atmosphere of a tomb unopened for more than three millennia, the poignancy of a floral offering left at the foot of a coffin, or the anticipation of an excavator confronted by a sealed door. Burton was a superb archaeological photographer with a knack for producing clear and informative photographs under the most difficult circumstances. In carrying out his documentary mission, he often set up his camera and lights with a sense of artistry as well as practicality and created pictures we find beautiful, exciting, or mysterious. The modern viewer may also find unintended associations in his work. Just as we might admire an ancient alabaster vase in part because its design seems so modern, some of Burtons pictures remind us of photographs made in the seventy or eighty years that followed. That connection is not altogether accidental. Many artists from the 1920s to the present have tried to apprehend the world by using their cameras to gather and classify an archive of faces, natural forms, or manmade constructions—to examine our own civilization as a future archaeologist might, borrowing from photographers like Burton the strategies of exhaustive documentation and deadpan presentation. The Times publishes 21 February 1923, 142 of these pictures. They allow us, for his keen eye, to witness these incredible moments of being in the heart of the pharaonic discovery. Between 1914 and his death in 1940, Burton produced and printed more than 14,000 glass negatives; the majority of those negatives and prints are in the archives of the Department of Egyptian He remained in Egypt after the tombs excavations, dying there in 1940. He is buried in the American Cemetery in Asyut. The Davis house in 1971. almost in ruins, before it was rebuilt by John Romers team. (tawy.nl/EN_dh_Davis_House_Luxor.html) LINKS tawy.nl/EN_dh_Davis_House_Luxor.html metmuseum.org/toah/hd/harr/hd_harr.htm griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/carter/gallery/
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:39:00 +0000
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