Harry Burton and His Camera

Hot Shots

The discovery and investigation of the tomb of Tutankhamun by Howard Carter is possibly the most famous episode in the history of archaeology – and Harry Burton was the man who shot it.

Between 1922 and 1930, the English Egyptologist and snapper – a pioneer in his field – took 1,400 pictures of the boy king’s final resting place and the many treasures within. His dramatic and artistic black and white images tangibly evoke the excitement and tension of the work in the sweltering heat of the Egyptian desert, and many of the photos have gone on to become almost as famous as some of the finds made there themselves.

How did Burton get involved with the project? What was his specific role? What kind of techniques did he specialise in? And where are the famous photographs today?

Why Burton?

Burton was born in Lincolnshire, England, to journeyman cabinet maker William Burton and Ann Hufton. He trained in Florence, Italy and worked in Egypt first in the Valley of the Kings from 1910 with American lawyer and archaeologist Theodore M. Davis. In 1914 he joined the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Egyptian Expedition, and worked often with Herbert E. Winlock, who was central to the great era of American museum-sponsored Egyptian excavations.

Such was Burton’s growing reputation, as soon as his water boy found the steps to Tut’s tomb in November 1922, Carter promptly made a request to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the “loan” of the photographer’s services. The archaeologist’s diary entry of November 24, mentioning Burton’s arrival at camp, is characteristically pithy. “Engelbach came with some friends. Brunton, daughter of Lady A’s sister, Mr Burton and someone else.” Yet it says enough to suggest the pair didn’t waste any time getting to work. “Slept night at tomb,” Carter adds, “took photos and notes.”

“Wonderful Things”

Once Carter made his famous “tiny breach in the top left hand corner” of the doorway to Tut’s burial chamber, Burton’s job immediately became a complex and fascinating one. The tomb was a clutter of, as Carter put it, “wonderful things” – gold-covered chariots, elaborately carved alabaster vessels, inlaid furniture, a vast array of jewelry, and the legendary golden mask. No wonder it took them the best part of the following decade to examine, clear and document it all.

Burton worked with a bulky large format camera. The tomb’s interior was dark and cramped – a big challenge considering the cumbersome design of his instrument, plus the fact that flashes and lighting were still primitive in those days. He tried to do most of his shooting outside in the bright sunshine. When that wasn’t possible, he ingeniously used mirrors to direct sunlight into the tomb, a technique that had the added bonus of bringing a spookily natural quality to his images.

Pioneering Techniques

Burton was the outstanding archeological photographer of his time, and an absolute pioneer. His specific mission was a documentary one, to preserve for purposes of posterity the sights and process of investigating the richest and most intact tomb ever discovered. He did just that, creating the most comprehensive record of a large-scale excavation ever complied, laying down principals in the process that are still employed today to some extent. Yet, there was more to the job in his eyes.

By setting up his camera and lights with a sense of artistry as well as practicality, Burton created pictures that also conveyed the beauty, the excitement and the mystery of the experience. A publicity campaign in Britain and America – with Burton’s photo’s at its centre – sparked immense public excitement over the dig. The haunting quality of many of the images spawned the myth of the curse of Tutankhamun – the belief that all who disturbed the boy king’s tomb would meet an early death.

Perhaps even more revolutionary than his stills photography was Burton’s experimentation with documentary filming. Motion-picture technology was still in its infancy in the 1920s, and when a hand-cranked movie camera arrived for the Egyptian Expedition in Luxor in 1921, he hoped a professional might have be on hand to teach him how to use it. Since none was available, he taught himself, becoming absorbed with the technique to the point of taking a trip to Hollywood in 1924 to learn how the big studios dealt with lighting problems. He shot many hours worth of grainy but ground-breaking and invaluable footage over the years.

Where Can We See Burton’s Pictures Today?

Harry Burton died in Egypt in 1940, aged 61 – a grand enough age to suggest that Tut’s curse wasn’t so vengeful after all. He was buried in the American cemetery in Asyut.

His photos, of course, live on. Many of them remain the preserve of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (who also hold a large quantity of Burton’s motion-picture footage), and the Griffin Institute at the University of Oxford (many of them can be viewed on the institute’s website). Current exhibitions of Burton’s work include a small showing at The Michael C. Carlos Museum in Atlanta,  and AEI King Tut exhibitions in Atlanta and Dallas (which will also travel to Indianapolis and San Francisco) plus the Semmel replicas exhibition in Munich (which will also visit Barcelona, Budapest and Warsaw).

Until another discovery of the magnitude of Tutankhamun’s final, spectacular resting place is made, we can safely say that the work of Harry Burton and his camera will remain unparalleled.

Exhibition photographs (top and bottom) by Ted Forbes, camera photograph (middle) by Axel. All rights reserved.

Read or leave comments

About The Author

Malcolm Jack (follow me: e-mail or )

Last three pieces by this author:

10 Reasons Why Socrates is Still Relevant Today | Top 10 Ancient Greek Philosophers | Interview: Bettany Hughes on The Hemlock Cup and Bringing Ancient History Into the 21st Century

Malcolm Jack is a freelance arts and entertainment journalist based in Glasgow, Scotland. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2004 with an MA Honours Degree in History.