DOCSLIB.ORG

Copyright by David Lawrence Coleman 2005

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Copyright by David Lawrence Coleman 2005 Copyright by David Lawrence Coleman 2005 The Dissertation Committee for David Lawrence Coleman certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Pleasant Fictions: Henry Peach Robinson’s Composition Photography Committee: Michael J. Charlesworth, Supervisor Linda D. Henderson Janice Leoshko Charles R. Rossman Richard A. Shiff PLEASANT FICTIONS: HENRY PEACH ROBINSON’S COMPOSITION PHOTOGRAPHY by David Lawrence Coleman, B.A., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2005 For Sally Acknowledgements I owe many thanks to dozens of professors, colleagues and friends who have aided me during the course of researching and writing this dissertation. I am most grateful to my advisor, Michael Charlesworth, for the wealth of intellectual insight and guidance he has offered to me. I also thank the rest of my dissertation committee Linda Henderson, Janice Leoshko, Charles Rossman and Richard Shiff, for their helpful feedback and suggestions. Over the past several years my colleagues at the Harry Ransom Center have offered me tremendous support. My deepest gratitude goes to Thomas Staley, who has been extremely generous with resources and who supported my position at the Center while I pursued my doctoral studies. I also wish to thank Roy Flukinger for his willingness to hear my thoughts and for his generous commentary. Linda Briscoe Myers has also been enormously helpful. Many staff at various European collections and institutions offered me access to their holdings and made suggestions for further research. These include: Pam Roberts and Samantha Johnson at the Royal Photographic Society (formerly in Bath), Michael Rowlands and Ian Beavis at the Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery, and Jane Fletcher and Brian Liddy at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. I would also like to thank the staff at the Albert I Royal Library (Brussels), the British v Library and the National Art Library—Victoria and Albert Museum for their generous service. I would also like to thank Roger Taylor and Stephen Joseph for their warm hospitality while I was researching in England and Belgium, and for sharing their knowledge of nineteenth-century photography. I also thank my parents, Jean and George Coleman, for their tremendous love and encouragement. None of this, however, would have been possible without the sustained support of my wife, Sally Whitman Coleman. She has devoted immeasurable energy and made countless sacrifices not only in support of this dissertation but also in the care of our children, Lydia and Robert. I dedicate this dissertation to her. vi Pleasant Fictions: Henry Peach Robinson’s Composition Photography Publication No. _________ David Lawrence Coleman, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2005 Supervisor: Michael J. Charlesworth Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901) was one of the most prolific and vocal advocates of photography’s possible status as a fine art in nineteenth-century Great Britain. While previous scholarship has asserted that Robinson applied painting theory to photographic practice and fostered a pictorial idealism, this dissertation looks at the strategies photographic techniques Robinson used to fulfill this artistic potential. It then examines the implications and limitations his theory of photographic imitation imposed upon his imagery. Robinson’s manual for artistic photography, Pictorial Effect in Photography (1869), blended elements from Sir Joshua Reynolds’ Discourses (1769-1790), picturesque theory vii and John Burnet’s Treatise on Painting (1837) to encourage photographers to create more aesthetic imagery by conforming to academic pictorial standards. Robinson advocated a hybrid of fact and artifice to achieve this goal, and he produced a variety of photographic compositions by combining multiple negatives and by using painted backgrounds, dressed models and artificial props. Robinson’s deliberate manipulations were significantly controversial for those within the photographic and artistic communities who viewed photography as an unmediated record of the visible world. Robinson’s strategies of pairing his images with poetry and employing genre subjects encouraged his audience to judge his photographs by their conformity to pictorial standards rather than by their fidelity to nature. Painters had used poetry to elevate the estimation of their works, and Robinson imitated this practice to promote photography as an expressive medium. Rustic genre subjects turned his photographs away from their temporal specificity and toward typologies of industry, frugality and piety. In examining these seemingly simple images of pretty maids and content cottagers, we find deeply imbedded social values regarding differences between levels of franchisement, wealth and property rights. Although poetic associations and genre subjects were common in British painting, this dissertation demonstrates that Robinson nonetheless had difficulty negotiating the balance between painting’s conventionality and photography’s link to external reality—evidence that he was unable to counteract completely photography’s intractable documentation of its time and place. viii Table of Contents List of Illustrations xi Introduction 1 State of Current Research and Methodology 4 Aesthetic theory – Joshua Reynolds 13 Aesthetic theory – John Burnet 19 Aesthetic theory – John Ruskin 21 The Picturesque 27 Chapter 1: Defining the Fictive Space 41 Introduction 41 Combination Printing 44 Theory of Photographic Imitation 87 Utility and Positivism 100 A Variety of Fakery 104 Chapter 2: Poetry and the Fictive Space 114 Introduction 114 Fading Away 118 The Lady of Shalott 136 Sleep 155 Chapter 3: Robinson’s Genre Subjects 164 Introduction 164 Genre Painting in Britain 173 Robinson’s Genre Photography 184 Tradition and Continuity 185 Frugality and Industriousness 195 Piety 201 Family / Cycle of Life 203 Class Stability 204 Sympathy 213 Analysis 217 Models 224 Illustrations 238 Appendix A: The Lady of Shalott (1842) by Alfred Tennyson 316 ix Appendix B: Tristram and Iseult (1852) by Matthew Arnold 319 Appendix C: Bibliography of Nineteenth-Century Journal Articles 328 Bibliography 378 Vita 385 x List of Illustrations 1. John Burnet, Plate I. Burnet, John. Practical Hints on Composition 238 in Painting, in A Practical Treatise on Painting in Three Parts: consisting of hints on composition, chiaroscuro, and colouring: the whole illustrated by examples from the Italian, Venetian, Flemish and Dutch schools. London: J. Carpenter, 1827. 2. George Grundy & Son, Old Manchester, undated. Harry Ransom 239 Center, University of Texas at Austin. [All subsequent images are found in the Harry Ransom Center, unless otherwise noted.] 3. Henry Peach Robinson, [Landscape with houses], undated. [All 240 subsequent images are by Henry Peach Robinson unless otherwise noted.] 4. [Landscape with houses], undated. RPS Collection, National 241 Museum of Photography, Film & Television, UK. 5. Oscar Rejlander, The Two Ways of Life, 1857. RPS Collection, 242 National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, UK. 6-11. [Photographic sketch for Carolling], c.1887. (Plates 7-11 digitally 243-8 altered by the author.) 12. Oscar Rejlander, St. John the Baptist, c.1858. 249 13. A Holiday in the Wood, 1860. George Eastman House. 250 14. Bringing Home the May, 1862. 251 15. William Frith, Derby Day, 1858. Tate Britain. 252 16. Autumn, 1863. RPS Collection, National Museum of Photography, 253 Film & Television. 17. Watching the Lark, 1868. 254 18. Sleep, 1867. RPS Collection, National Museum of Photography, 255 Film & Television. 19. When the Day’s Work is Done, 1877. 256 xi 20. Little Red Riding Hood, 1858. RPS Collection, National Museum of 257 Photography, Film & Television. 21. Down to the Well, 1864-66. 258 22. On the Hill-Top, c. 1868. Robinson, Henry Peach. Pictorial Effect in 259 Photography. London: Piper & Carter, 1869. 23. Dr. John Percy and John Spiller, The New Mill, Near Lynton, North 260 Devon, 1857. The Photographic Album for the Year 1857: Being Contributions from the Members of the Photographic Club. London: Charles Whittingham, 1857. 24. Lord Alfred Tennyson, The Miller’s Daughter. The Photographic 261 Album for the Year 1857: Being Contributions from the Members of the Photographic Club. London: Charles Whittingham, 1857. 25. Mark Anthony, Wild Flowers, 1856. The Photographic Album for 262 the Year 1857: Being Contributions from the Members of the Photographic Club. London: Charles Whittingham, 1857. 26. Mrs. Sigourney, Untitled poem. The Photographic Album for the 263 Year 1857: Being Contributions from the Members of the Photographic Club. London: Charles Whittingham, 1857. 27. William Lake Price, The Soldier’s Toast, c. 1856. Photographic Art 264 Treasures, or, Nature and art illustrated by art and nature: by this new and beautiful art of engraving, the uncertainty of colour and the liability to fade, so objectionable in photographs, is obviated, while the detail and touch of nature is faithfully preserved. London: Patent Photo-Galvano-Graphic Co., 1856. [The author has modified the scan of this image to increase readability of the text.] 28. Fading Away, 1858. RPS Collection, National Museum of 265 Photography, Film & Television. 29. Fading Away. Harper’s Weekly 2, no. 99 (November 20, 1858): 740. 266 30. Thomas Webster, Sickness and Health, 1843. Victoria
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The History of Photography: the Research Library of the Mack Lee
    THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY The Research Library of the Mack Lee Gallery 2,633 titles in circa 3,140 volumes Lee Gallery Photography Research Library Comprising over 3,100 volumes of monographs, exhibition catalogues and periodicals, the Lee Gallery Photography Research Library provides an overview of the history of photography, with a focus on the nineteenth century, in particular on the first three decades after the invention photography. Strengths of the Lee Library include American, British, and French photography and photographers. The publications on French 19th- century material (numbering well over 100), include many uncommon specialized catalogues from French regional museums and galleries, on the major photographers of the time, such as Eugène Atget, Daguerre, Gustave Le Gray, Charles Marville, Félix Nadar, Charles Nègre, and others. In addition, it is noteworthy that the library includes many small exhibition catalogues, which are often the only publication on specific photographers’ work, providing invaluable research material. The major developments and evolutions in the history of photography are covered, including numerous titles on the pioneers of photography and photographic processes such as daguerreotypes, calotypes, and the invention of negative-positive photography. The Lee Gallery Library has great depth in the Pictorialist Photography aesthetic movement, the Photo- Secession and the circle of Alfred Stieglitz, as evidenced by the numerous titles on American photography of the early 20th-century. This is supplemented by concentrations of books on the photography of the American Civil War and the exploration of the American West. Photojournalism is also well represented, from war documentary to Farm Security Administration and LIFE photography.
    [Show full text]
  • Australian Photography and Transnationalism
    Australian Photography and Transnationalism ANNE MAXWELL UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE Transnationalism is a theoretical concept which today is widely used to describe the relations that have formed, and continue to form, across state boundaries (Howard 3). Used initially by scholars in the early 2000s to refer to the flow of goods and scientific knowledge between nations that ‘has increased significantly in modern times beginning with trade and empires in 1500’ (Howard 4), it has in recent years come to include the category of culture, a development that has in turn sparked a flood of publications aimed at interrogating nationalist histories. Among the first of these publications in Australia was Ann Curthoys and Marilyn Lake’s ground-breaking work Connected Worlds (2005), which radically transformed our conception of Australia’s past by repositioning Australian history ‘on the outer rim of Pacific and Indian Ocean studies, as a nodal point in British imperial studies and connected, or cast in a comparative light, with other settler colonial nations’ (Simmonds, Rees and Clark 1). Less than two years later in 2007, David Carter invoked what has come to be called the ‘transnational turn’ when he challenged scholars of Australian literature to focus on ‘the circulation of cultures beneath and beyond the level of the nation’ (Carter 114–19). His call, like that of Curthoys and Lake, was in response to several decades of scholarship emphasising the cultural nationalism which as Robert Dixon, in his compelling study of the photographic and cinematographic works of Frank Hurley observes, ‘began in the 1960s’ and ‘peak[ed] probably in the decade from 1977 to 1987’ (Dixon xxv).
    [Show full text]
  • 08Keultjes Final
    Dagmar Keultjes Let’s Talk about the Weather! Negative Manipulation Techniques Used to Produce Atmosphere in Landscape Photography 1850–1900 Lecture on November 22, 2013 on the occasion of the symposium “Inspirations – Interactions: Pictorialism Reconsidered” Thank you for the invitation and for making pictures from the Museum of Photography’s Juhl Collection available, enabling me to include some landscape photographs in the presentation. Although the emphasis of the Juhl collection is on portrait photography, there are 32 landscape photographs with sky. Striking is that only two of these photographs don’t depict clouds, from which may already be understood that the representation of clouds is of particular interest to photography. A. Böhmer (photographer); Rudolph Dührkoop (printer), Sheep at Pasture, Platinum print, 1897, 15.6 x 21.4 cm, Ernst Juhl Collection, Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Id. Nr. 1910,150 William Boyd Post, Bermuda Clouds, Platinum print, 1893-1903, 13.7 x 21.3 cm, Ernst Juhl Collection, Kunstbibliothek Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Id.Nr. 1915,258 The two photographs from the collection shown here originated in the same period: the Sheep at Pasture in 1897, the Bermuda Clouds between 1893–1903. The first image shows a pastoral scene: On the left of the image, three sheep graze in front of a small shrub. In front of them a small path divides the image diagonally into two halves. The horizon line is high, set approximately on the line of the golden ratio. The focal depth decreases towards the horizon. The sky is completely cloudless, although it becomes gradually lighter towards the horizon, as if a light source were concealed there, which imparts depth to the firmament.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Photography Instructor: Professor Jaimie Gordon [email protected]
    Course: HUA202 Monday 5:45-9:05 pm LaGuardia Community College History of Photography Instructor: Professor Jaimie Gordon [email protected] HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY -MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE Will cover Sessions 1-6 Assigned readings 1-5 TOTAL POSSIBLE POINTS:118 Multiple Choice/FBlank: 40 point Image ID: 60 point ESSAY: 18 point KNOW THE FOLLOWING INFO FOR: MULTIPLE CHOICE/FILL IN THE BLANK-40 QUESTIONS, 1 POINT EACH The underlined sections will be one of the chioces, and you should retain these answers from the statements. -William Henry Fox Talbot called his images resulting from his early experiments from 1833-1839 photogenic drawings. - Talbot’s ingenious concept evident in his calotype process is a negative from which multiple positives might be made. -Frederick Archer, English sculptor is credited with the collodion process for negatives, referred to as Wet Plate. -Discovered in 1853 in France, and 1856 in England and the US, sensitized collodion used for direct positive images on sheet iron produced what was known as Tintypes. - Albumen is what the paper was called that Blanquart-Evrard, in 1850 developed, and was used with wet plate collodion negatives. -Sir John Herschel discovered sodium thiosulfate as fixer of silver halides in 1820’s, and to make images permanent in 1839, & invented the cyanotype process in 1842, -and also coined the terms, “photography”, “photograph”, “negative”, “positive”, “fixer”. -From 1844-1846, W.H. Fox Talbot created the first publication called The Pencil of Nature to explain & illustrate the scientific & practical applications of photography. -Anna Atkins, worked with cyanotypes and was one of the first woman photographers.
    [Show full text]
  • Photography and Early
    Photography and Early Art Is Photography Art ? • Photographers emulated themes of Painting • !emes included: Landscape, Allegorical costumed "gures, Still life, Nudes and Genre views. • Some photographers were content with the photographs graphic ability to render information and ideas. • Middle and other classes had the opportunity to experience images for the "rst time. Photography and Early Art – Photographers and Painters select themes and treatments that present situaons “naturalis)cally” – Images should have a posi)ve and upli7ing message. – Photographs should be truthful and inspira)onal – The teaching of Art History became popular using photographs of objects and pain)ng. NADAR (GASPARD Felix TOURNACHON). TWO cartoons. "Photography asking for Just a liKle place in the exhibi3on of fine arts.” Engraving from Pe3t Journal pour rire, 1855. "The ingratude of pain3ng refusing the smallest place in its exhibi3on to photography to whom it owes so much." Engravings from Le Journal amusant, 1857. Bibliotheque Naonale, Paris. !ree main positions on the use of photography • Photographs should not be considered “art” because they were made with a mechanical device and by physical and chemical instead of by human hand and spirit. (painters and public) • “Photographs would be useful to art but should not be considered equal in creaveness to drawing and pain3ng.” (Thomas Eakins, painters, some photographers and cri3cs) • As with etching and lithography, camera images were or could be as significant as handmade works of art and they may have beneficial influence on the arts and culture in general. G.P.A. Healy, Frederic Church and Jervis Unknown Photographer. Longfellow and Daughter McEntee, The Arch of Titus, 1871.
    [Show full text]
  • Photography at the National Gallery of Ireland Schools Resource Pack
    Medium, Materiality & Magic Photography at the National Gallery of Ireland Schools Resource Pack Brian Cregan nationalgallery.ie/schools Contents Introduction Photographs are a significant addition to the Gallery’s collection. This schools resource has been designed Contents as both an introduction to photography and an in-depth exploration of key works in the Gallery’s Introduction ..................................................................................3 photography collection. Primary and post-primary teachers can use it as a starting point for tailored lesson plans, and all activities are adaptable for different ages and abilities. Looking and responding questions enable students to develop visual literacy and critical thinking skills. Each photograph is accompanied A Brief History of Photography ...................................................4 by suggested activities that allow for creative practical exploration of the work and encourage students to further develop their understanding of different types of photography. The resource also includes a glossary of terms (in bold) and a checklist of photography skills that will help with some of the practical Photographs in Depth ....................................................................9 activities. Links to more in-depth resources and videos will facilitate further engagement with the subject. Daniel O’Connell ............................................................................................10 After the Manner of Perugino (Mary Ryan) .............................................12
    [Show full text]
  • The Origin of Photography: Great Britain
    Feb 16, 2019 The Origin of Photography: Great Britain March 5 [Tue.] – May 6, 2019 [Mon./public holiday] Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, which fills the role of Japan’s main photographic culture center, holds an exhibition every spring focusing on early photography and this year, 2019, it is proud to present ‘The Origin of Photography: Great Britain’. Research into methods of photography began in the latter part of the 18th century, and with the announcement of the invention of the first photographic technology in 1839, the curtain was raised on photographic culture. In Great Britain, research developed by the members of the Victorian aristocracy was to have a broad influence on culture. This exhibition will present numerous works previously unseen in Japan, in order to show the varied developments in photographic culture that took place in Great Britain but which remain largely unknown in Japan. In addition, it will also allow visitors a rare view of Great Britain during the 19th century, captured in photographs of the time. We hope that you will take this opportunity to come and see the broad range of Great Britain’s photographic culture and history that served as an inspiration to Japanese photographers during the latter half of the 19th century. Don Juan, Count of MONTIZON, Hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens, Regent’s Park, London, 1852, from The Ｐhotographic Album for the year 1855; being contributions from the members of the Photographic Club, 1852, Salted paper print, British Library © British Library Board (C.43.i.7) Outline of the Exhibition Explore the roots of photography with Japan’s first exhibition of early British photographs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Photography of Edward Chambré Hardman Peter
    The Continuity of Landscape Representation: The Photography of Edward Chambré Hardman (1898-1988) Peter Hagerty A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy This research programme was carried out in collaboration with the E.Chambré Hardman Trust, Liverpool. May 1999 Abstract The major source of material for the research was the archive of the E.Chambré Hardman’s Trust. This archive comprises Hardman’s bequest of photographs, negatives and associated ephemera. Prior to the present research the author had undertaken extensive ordering and conservation of this collection and the present work therefore builds upon this earlier research. The research divides Hardman’s oeuvre into portraiture and landscape, along lines that he had determined by ordering and concern. The thesis focuses exclusively on his landscape photography. The representation of landscape is a recognised genre within the history of art. The thesis locates the landscape photography of the British photographer Edward Chambré Hardman (1898-1988) within the histories of landscape photography and to the broader genre of landscape representation by British artists during the first half of the twentieth century. The research describes the representations of landscape made by painters prior to the invention of photography as providing the initial subject model for photographers. Subsequently photographers wrote their own history of landscape representation and it is to this tradition to which Hardman is heir. Using Hardman’s notebooks, diaries, letters and collected ephemera the research constructs an accurate chronology for Hardman’s life and the sequential production of his landscape photographs.
    [Show full text]
  • A Photographer Develops: Reading Robinson, Rejlander, and Cameron
    Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 9-5-2014 12:00 AM A Photographer Develops: Reading Robinson, Rejlander, and Cameron Jonathan R. Fardy The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Sharon Sliwinski The University of Western Ontario Joint Supervisor Helen Fielding The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Jonathan R. Fardy 2014 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Theory and Criticism Commons Recommended Citation Fardy, Jonathan R., "A Photographer Develops: Reading Robinson, Rejlander, and Cameron" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2486. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2486 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A PHOTOGRAPHER DEVELOPS: READING ROBINSON, REJLANDER, AND CAMERON (Thesis format: Monograph) by Jonathan R. Fardy Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada © Jonathan R. Fardy 2014 i Abstract This study examines the historical emergence of the photographer by turning to the writings of three important photographers of the nineteenth century: Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901), Oscar Gustave Rejlander (1813-1875), and Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879). The photographic works of each of these photographers has been the subject of much historical and interpretive analysis, but their writings have yet to receive significant scholarly attention.
    [Show full text]
  • You Should Become Aware of the Different Aspects of the Aesthetics of Photography, of Stylistic Trends, and of the Different Technical Approaches Possible
    file:///Users/mw/Desktop/photo/books.htm You should become aware of the different aspects of the aesthetics of photography, of stylistic trends, and of the different technical approaches possible. An understanding of the historical implications as well as the current photographic context is a necessary prerequisite to knowledgeable evaluation and a disciplined criticism. A list of photographers important to the medium and a bibliography of both technical and aesthetic source material follows: Photographers: This is far from a complete list; many other photographers will be covered in lectures. You should acquaint yourself with the work of the following: Ansel Adams Hannah Hoch John Pfahl Diane Arbus William Henry Jackson Man Ray Richard Avedon Francis Benjamin Johnson Oscar Rejlander Eugene Atget Gertrude Kasebier Henry Peach Robinson Anna Atkins Barbara Kasten Martha Rosler Margaret Bourke-White Andre Kertesz Thomas Ruff Matthew Brady Barbara Kruger Sebastiao Salgado Brassai David LaChapelle August Sander Harry Callahan Dorothea Lange Cindy Sherman Julia Margaret Cameron Henri Jacques Lartigue Stephen Shore Henri Cartier-Bresson Danny Lyon Lorna Simpson Imogen Cunningham Manual W. Eugene Smith Daguerre Mary Ellen Mark Frederick Sommer Judy Dater Pedro Meyer Edward Stiechen Bruce Davidson Duane Michaels Alfred Stieglitz William Eggleston Richard Misrach Paul Strand Walker Evans Laszlo Moholy-Nagy Thomas Struth Harold Edgerton Mariko Mori Sugimoto Robert Frank Yasusama Morimura Henry Fox Talbot Lee Friedlander Vik Muniz Jerry Uelsmann
    [Show full text]
  • Photographic Originsrev1
    Castle Studies and the Early Use of the Camera 1840-1914 1 Castle Studies and the Early Use of the Camera 1840-1914. This short paper examines the early use of photographs in the general literature, popular books, specialist journals and papers, relating to castle studies from the 1840s. It looks at the early pioneers, from W. H Fox Talbot onwards, involved in the development of photographic processes and how they were used to illustrate and enhance the more popular and commercially successful output of Francis Frith and many others. The Pioneers William Henry Fox Talbot (1800- 1877) was a British scientist, inventor and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype photographic processes, precursors to much improved photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th centuries. His work in the 1840s on Fig. 1. Fox Talbot. The Round Tower, Windsor, June 1841. Medium: Salted paper photomechanical reproduction led to print from paper negative Dimensions:Sheet: 6 3/4 × 8 1/8 in. (17.1 × 20.7 cm) the creation of the photoglyphic Image: 5 13/16 × 6 7/8 in. (14.8 × 17.5 cm). © Metropolitan Museum, New York. Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012 Accession Number: 2013.159.62. This is engraving process, the precursor to possibly the earliest photograph of a British Castle ever made. photogravure. In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer (1813-1857) developed and freely publicised the ‘wet collodion process’, which made it practical to use glass instead of paper as the support for making the camera negative. The lack of detail often criticised in prints made from calotype negatives was overcome, and sharper images, comparable in degree of detail to daguerreotypes, could at last be provided by convenient paper prints.
    [Show full text]
  • Staging Childhood: Lewis Carroll's Costumed Photographs of Children
    Staging Childhood: Lewis Carroll's Costumed Photographs of Children In the "Photographic Scrap Book Vol. II," oneoffourvolum.es of Lewis Carroll photographs in the Morris L. Parrish Collection at Princeton University, is the photograph titled "The Beggar-Maid."1 [slide #1] This has become one of the most famous and frequently reprinted images Carroll made of Alice Liddell, for whom he wrote Alice's Adventures w Wonderland (1865). According to Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, Carroll's nephew and first biographer, when Carroll presented a copy of this photograph to Alfred Lord Tennyson during one of his visits to the poet's summer home at Farringford, the Poet Laureate declared it to be "the most beautiful photograph he had ever seen."" Tennyson's praise of Carroll's "The Beggar-Maid" is a bit of a backhanded compliment in that Carroll may have based his image on Tennyson's poem "The Beggar Maid" that was published in Poems (1842): Her arms across her breast she laid; She was more fair than words can say: Bare-footed came the beggar maid Before king Cophetua. In robe and crown the king stept down, To meet and greet her on her way; *Jt is no wonder,' said the lords, 'She is more beautiful than day.' As shines the moon in clouded skies. Staging Childhood presentation 2 She in her poor attire was seen; One praised her ancles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. So sweet a face, such angel grace, In all that land had never been: Cophetua sware a royal oath; 'This beggar maid shall be my queen! '3 Alice Liddell as "The Beggar-Maid" was first published in half form in Collingwood's The Life andLetters of Lewis Carroll (1898) shortly after Carroll's death.
    [Show full text]