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Jul

Exhibition: ‘In Focus: Sound’ at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Categories: American, american photographers, beauty, black and white photography, colour photography, Diane Arbus, digital photography, documentary photography, exhibition, existence, gallery website, light, Man Ray, memory, photographic series, photography, portrait, psychological, quotation, reality, Robert Frank, space, time and works on paper
Tags: 'Life' magazine photographer Larry Burrows (far left) struggles through elephant grass and the rotor wash of an American evacuation helicopter, A child crying, Abbot Rousselot's Collection of Tuning Forks, Albert Harlingue, Albert Harlingue Abbot Rousselot's Collection of Tuning Forks, Alfred Stieglitz, Alfred Stieglitz Songs of the Sky, André Kertész Cellist, André Kertész Traveling violinist, André Kertész Violoniste ambulant, Andre Kertesz, Andre Kertesz Eiffel Tower Summer Storm, Ansel Adams Nevada Fall Profile, Ansel Adams Upper Yosemite Fall, Arnold Newman, Arnold Newman Igor Stravinsky, Bar Las Vegas, Blast #0608, Boy With Cello Balaton, Carrie Mae Weems, Carrie Mae Weems From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, Carrie Mae Weems Musical Score of "God Bless the Child", Carrie Mae Weems Untitled 1995, Christian Marclay, Christian Marclay Untitled (Death), Church Organ and Pews, Columbia Records, Diane Arbus, Diane Arbus A child crying, Diane Arbus The House of Horrors, dorothea lange, Dorothea Lange Man Stepping from Cable Car, E. K. Nyame the legendary Ghanaian musician, Eiffel Tower Summer Storm, Eugène Atget Street diversions (or B organ), Eugene Atget, Eva Besnyö Boy With Cello Balaton, FATAL BULLET HITS OSWALD, Florence Henri, Florence Henri Columbia Records, From Here I Saw What Happened And I Cried, Ghost train, Gjon Mili, Gjon Mili Tap Dancer, Gjon Mili Tap Dancer September 29 1949, Gordon Parks, Gordon Parks Shooting Victim in Cook County Morgue, Henri Huet, Henri Huet 'Life' magazine photographer Larry Burrows (far left) struggles through elephant grass and the rotor wash of an American evacuation helicopter, Henri Huet The body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border, i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces, Igor Stravinsky, In Focus: Sound, Infinitesimal Residual Vibration of An Unknown Sound, j. paul getty museum, Jack Ruby (52) shoots Lee Harvey Oswald (24), Jack Ruby fires bullet point blank into the body of Lee Harvey Oswald at Dallas Police Station, James Barnor, James Barnor E. K. Nyame the legendary Ghanaian musician, John Cage chez Dorothea Tanning, John Williams, John Williams Open Air Shower Bronte Beach, Julia Margaret Cameron, Julia Margaret Cameron The Echo, Kaho Yu, Kaho Yu Infinitesimal Residual Vibration of An Unknown Sound, Larry Fink Studio 54 New York City, Lisette Model, Lisette Model Singer Sammy's Bar New York, Lisette Model Tillie, Lookout Hotel Ogunquit, Man Ray, Man Ray Record, Man Stepping from Cable Car, Marion Kalter, Marion Kalter John Cage chez Dorothea Tanning, Milton Rogovin, Milton Rogovin Storefront Churches, minor white, Minor White The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Motion-Sound Landscape, music in vernacular photographs, Musical Score of "God Bless the Child", Naoya Hatakeyama, Naoya Hatakeyama Blast #0608, Nevada Fall Profile, niagara falls, Niagara Falls from the American side, Open Air Shower Bronte Beach, Opening Song Hand Clapping and Bells, Phonograph Demonstration, photography and sound, Platt D Babbitt Niagara Falls from the American side, Platt D. Babbitt, Platt D. Babbitt Niagara Falls, Platt D. Babbitt Scene at Niagara Falls, Political Rally Chicago, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Ralph Eugene Meatyard Motion-Sound Landscape, Ralph Eugene Meatyard Untitled 1969, Robert Frank, Robert Frank Bar Las Vegas, Robert Frank Political Rally Chicago, Robert H. Jackson, Robert H. Jackson FATAL BULLET HITS OSWALD, Robert H. Jackson Jack Ruby (52) shoots Lee Harvey Oswald (24), Roger Scott, Roger Scott Ghost train, Santu Mofokeng, Santu Mofokeng Opening Song Hand Clapping and Bells, Scene at Niagara Falls, Shooting Victim in Cook County Morgue, Singer Sammy's Bar New York, Songs of the Sky, sound, sound and photography, stephen shore, Stephen Shore Lookout Hotel Ogunquit, Steve Roden i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces, Storefront Churches, Street diversions (or B organ), Studio 54 New York City, Surf Sequence #3 San Mateo County Coast, Survivors of the atomic bomb attack of Nagasaki walk through the destruction, Tap Dancer, Tap Dancer September 29 1949, The body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border, The Echo, The House of Horrors, The Movie Star (David Gulpilil), the photograph and the phonograph, The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Tracey Moffatt, Tracey Moffatt The Movie Star (David Gulpilil), Traveling violinist, Untitled (Death), Upper Yosemite Fall, Violoniste ambulant, Walker Evans, Walker Evans Church Organ and Pews, Will Connell, Will Connell Sound

Exhibition dates: 28th June – 2nd October 2022

Curator: Karen Hellman, assistant curator in the Department of Photographs.

Maker unknown (American)
Phonograph Demonstration
about 1900-1905
Gelatin silver print
27 × 37.1cm (10 5/8 × 14 5/8 in)
Getty Museum

“Sometimes theory leads to an over determination. Something is gained but at a price. Finding images that evoke a sound can only be saved by paying the higher price of remembering how images look when their sound is removed.”

~ Ian Lobb

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From my knowledge of photography, I have added further images that I can hear … but not in the exhibition that I know of. You may like to recall other photographs that you could include in the exhibition.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

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Many thankx to the J. Paul Getty Museum for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Though photographs are silent, photographers have long conjured sound in their images. Whether depicting crowded urban spaces, musicians performing, people engaged in conversations, or even more abstract depictions of sound, the pictures in this exhibition show photography’s power to communicate beyond the visual. The images date from the 19th century to the recent past, and in each, the audible plays as much of a role as the visual. As you look at these photographs, you are invited to imagine what you might “hear” as well.

Text from the J. Paul Getty Museum website

Florence Henri (American, 1893-1982)
Columbia Records
1931
Gelatin silver print
24.8 × 39.1cm (9 3/4 × 15 3/8 in)
Getty Museum
© Martini & Ronchetti, courtesy Archives Florence Henri

Gjon Mili (American born Albania, 1904-1984)
Tap Dancer, September 29, 1949
1949
Gelatin silver print
33.8 × 26cm (13 5/16 × 10 1/4 in)
Getty Museum
© Gjon Mili / The LIFE Picture Collection / Shutterstock

Photographs may be silent, but photographers have long conjured sound in their images.

Whether depicting crowded urban spaces, musicians performing, or people engaged in conversation, the pictures in this exhibition prove photography’s power to communicate beyond the visual.

Drawn from Getty’s permanent collection, In Focus: Sound, on view June 28 through September 2, 2022, unites two sensory perceptions – sight and sound – in photographs that record the visual while also imitating the audible.

“Photography and sound have more in common than one might expect,” says Karen Hellman, curator of the exhibition. “Photographs can evoke a sensory perception that they cannot actually depict. Looking at photographs while thinking about sound could provide a new way of viewing and appreciating photography.”

The 19th century saw a keen scientific and philosophical interest in reproducing ephemeral phenomena. This led to the development of the photograph as well as the phonograph. This interlinked history perhaps explains photography’s connection to sound and why photographers, even subconsciously, have endeavoured to picture it. In each image in this exhibition, which date from the 19th century to the recent past, the audible plays as much of a role as the visual.

This exhibition includes works by known and lesser-known makers from the 19th century to the recent past, including Julia Margaret Cameron, Walker Evans, Man Ray, Graciela Iturbide, Marco Breuer, Naoya Hatakeyama, and Christian Marclay.

In Focus: Sound will be on view June 28 through September 2, 2022, at the Getty Center.

Text from the J. Paul Getty Museum website

Naoya Hatakeyama (Japanese, b. 1958)
Blast #0608
1995
Chromogenic print
Getty Museum
Gift of James N. and Susan A. Phillips
© Naoya Hatakeyama

Man Ray (American, 1890-1976)
Record
1933
Gelatin silver print
28.9 × 22.5cm (11 3/8 × 8 7/8 in)
Getty Museum
© Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP

Albert Harlingue (French,1879-1963)
Abbot Rousselot’s Collection of Tuning Forks
about 1924
Gelatin silver print
17.9 × 12.7cm (7 1/16 × 5 in)
Getty Museum

Julia Margaret Cameron (British born India,1815-1879)
The Echo
1868
Albumen silver print
27.1 × 22.7cm (10 11/16 × 8 15/16 in)
Getty Museum

Milton Rogovin (American,1909-2011)
Storefront Churches
1958-1961
Gelatin silver print
12.5 × 12cm (4 15/16 × 4 3/4 in.)
Getty Museum
Gift of Dr. John V. and Laura M. Knaus
© Milton Rogovin

Carrie Mae Weems (American, b. 1953)
Untitled (Musical Score of “God Bless the Child”)
1995
From the series From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried
Chromogenic print with sandblasted musical notations on frame glass
45.6 × 45.6cm (17 15/16 × 17 15/16 in)
Getty Museum
Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon in honour of Weston Naef
© Carrie Mae Weems

Will Connell (American, 1898-1961)
Sound
1936
Gelatin silver print
34.2 × 26.7cm (13 7/16 × 10 1/2 in)
Getty Museum
Gift of Trish and Jan de Bont
© Will Connell

Lisette Model (American born Austria, 1901-1983)
[Singer, Sammy’s Bar, New York]
about 1940-1944
Gelatin silver print
Getty Museum
© Estate of Lisette Model, courtesy of Baudoin Lebon/Keitelman

“Bowery old-timers claim her voice has had no match for power and ferocity since Maggie Cline used to stun with “Knock ‘Em Down McCloskey”.”

The uncredited text, referring to this photograph of the bar singer known as “Tillie,” accompanied a group of Lisette Model’s photographs made at Sammy’s Bar that were reproduced in the September 1994 Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Taken from below and at a slight diagonal angle, the image captures the vitality and vibrancy of the performer belting it out on the stage at Sammy’s, a local favourite in the Bowery district of New York, also visited by photographers Weegee and Diane Arbus. The angle from which the photograph was made also emphasises the gleaming microphone, which seem to rise up to meet the challenge of projecting Tillie’s already powerful voice.

Text from the J. Paul Getty app

Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925-1972)
Untitled (“Motion-Sound” Landscape)
Negative 1969, printed 1974
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Weston J. and Mary M. Naef
© Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Christian Marclay (American-Swiss, b. 1955)
Untitled (Death)
2020
Chromogenic print
Courtesy of the artist, and Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
© Christian Marclay

Further images that I can hear … but not in the exhibition that I know of

Tracey Moffatt (Australian, b. 1960)
The Movie Star (David Gulpilil)
1985
Type C photograph on paper
Image: 50.7 x 77.3cm
Frame: 74.5 x 99.0cm
Gift of the artist 1998. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
Courtesy of the artist and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
© Tracey Moffatt

Marion Kalter (Austrian, b. 1951)
John Cage chez Dorothea Tanning, Paris
Paris 1979
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy of the artist
© Bildrecht, Vienna, 2022

Larry Fink (American, b. 1941)
Studio 54, New York City
May 1977
Silver gelatin print

Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1946)
Songs of the Sky
1924
Gelatin silver print

Eva Besnyö (Dutch, 1910-2003)
Boy With Cello, Balaton, Hungary
1931
Gelatin silver print
42.5 x 39.2cm (16.7 x 15.4 in)

Arnold Newman (American, 1918-2006)
Igor Stravinsky
1945
Gelatin silver contact sheet

Santu Mofokeng (South African, b. 1956)
Opening Song, Hand Clapping and Bells
1986
From the series Train Church
Gelatin silver print
Image: 19 x 28.5cm

Minor White (American, 1908-1976)
The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Pultneyville, New York
1957
Gelatin silver print
24.4 x 25.1cm (9 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
Purchased in part with funds provided by Daniel Greenberg, Susan Steinhauser, and the Greenberg Foundation
Reproduced with permission of the Minor White Archive, Princeton University Art Museum
© Trustees of Princeton University

Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927)
Street diversions (or B organ)
1898-1899
Albumen print

Walker Evans (Walker Evans, 1903-1975)
Church Organ and Pews
1936
Gelatin silver print

Robert Frank (Swiss-American, 1924-2019)
Bar, Las Vegas
1955-1956
Gelatin silver print

Robert Frank (Swiss-American, 1924-2019)
Political Rally, Chicago
1956
Gelatin silver print
35.1 x 23.7cm (13 13/16 x 9 5/16 in)

André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)
Cellist
1916
Gelatin silver print

André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)
Violoniste ambulant, Abony
Traveling violinist, Abony
1921
Gelatin silver print

André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)
Eiffel Tower, Summer Storm
1927
Gelatin silver print

Platt D Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
Niagara Falls from the American side
c. 1855
Whole plate daguerreotype

Platt D Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
[Scene at Niagara Falls]
c. 1855
Daguerreotype

Platt D Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
Niagara Falls
c. 1860
Daguerreotype

Henri Huet (French, 1927-1971)/AP
‘Life’ magazine photographer Larry Burrows (far left) struggles through elephant grass and the rotor wash of an American evacuation helicopter as he helps GIs carry a wounded soldier on a stretcher from the jungle to the chopper in Mimot, Cambodia
4 May 1970
Gelatin silver print

Henri Huet (French, 1927-1971)
The body of an American paratrooper killed in action in the jungle near the Cambodian border is raised up to an evacuation helicopter, Vietnam
1966
Gelatin silver print

James Barnor (Ghanian, b. 1929)
E. K. Nyame, the legendary Ghanaian musician, photographed for a record cover, Accra
c. 1975
Gelatin silver print

Roger Scott (Australian, b. 1944)
Ghost train
1972
Gelatin silver print

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971)
The House of Horrors
1961
Gelatin silver print

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971)
A child crying, N.J.
1967
Gelatin silver print

Stephen Shore (American, b. 1947)
Lookout Hotel, Ogunquit, Maine, July 16, 1974
1974
Chromogenic colour print, printed 2013
17 × 21 3/4 in. (43.2 × 55.2cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Acquired through the generosity of an anonymous donor
© 2017 Stephen Shore

Gordon Parks (American, 1912-2006)
Shooting Victim in Cook County Morgue, Chicago, Illinois
1957
Pigmented inkjet print, printed 2019
11 7/8 × 17 15/16″ (30.1 × 45.6cm)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Family of Man Fund
© 2021 Gordon Parks Foundation

Robert H. Jackson (American, born 1934)
FATAL BULLET HITS OSWALD. Jack Ruby fires bullet point blank into the body of Lee Harvey Oswald at Dallas Police Station. Oswald grimaces in agony
November 24, 1963

Robert H. Jackson (American, b. 1934)
Jack Ruby (52) shoots Lee Harvey Oswald (24)
24 November 1963

Originally published in the Dallas Times Herald, November 25, 1963. Cropped from the source image to the portion that was published in 1963. Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

Unknown photographer
Survivors of the atomic bomb attack of Nagasaki walk through the destruction as fire rages in the background Aug. 9 1945
1945

John Williams (Australian, 1933-2016)
Open Air Shower, Bronte Beach
1964
Gelatin silver print

Dorothea Lange (American, 1895-1965)
Man Stepping from Cable Car, San Francisco
1956
Gelatin silver print

Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984)
Upper Yosemite Fall
1946
Gelatin silver print

Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984)
Nevada Fall Profile
1946
Gelatin silver print

Kaho Yu (Australian)
Untitled from the series Infinitesimal Residual Vibration of An Unknown Sound
2009-2011

The photographs in this series were taken during a period when I was feeling existentially bored. Instead of distracting myself with activities and accumulating new sensations, I decided to “look” at boredom, to study, and perhaps to understand it. The most natural strategy was to observe the immediate environments where my daily activities take place – train stations, cubicles, copy machines room, etc. I carried a medium format camera on a tripod and spent the odd hours wandering alone through those familiar spaces.

My “study” did not lead me to any revelation or answer. Instead, I found myself spending a lot of time waiting in a long silence, between the opening and the closing of the camera shutter.

Charles Babbage, a scientist in 1837, postulated that every voice and sound, once imparted on the air particles, does not dissipate but remains in the diffused movements of all the particles in the atmosphere. Thus, there might one day come a person equipped with the right mathematical knowledge of these motions who will be able to capture the infinitesimal vibrations and to trace back to their ultimate source.

Taking a long exposure, letting the light slowly accumulate an image on the celluloid surface, to me, is not unlike a sound seeker searching in the air particles, for the tiny residual movements that have been conveyed through the history of mankind, from the beginning of time.

Kaho Yu artist statement

… i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces

… i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces brings together a collection of early photographs related to music, a group of 78rpm recordings, and short excerpts from various literary sources that are contemporary with the sound and images. It is a somewhat intuitive gathering, culled from artist Steve Roden’s collection of thousands of vernacular photographs related to music, sound, and listening. The subjects range from the PT Barnum-esque Professor McRea – “Ontario’s Musical Wonder” (pictured with his complex sculptural one man band contraption) – to anonymous African-American guitar players and images of early phonographs. The images range from professional portraits to ethereal, accidental, double exposures – and include a range of photographic print processes, such as tintypes, ambrotypes, cdvs, cabinet cards, real photo postcards, albumen prints, and turn-of-the-century snapshots.

The two CDs display a variety of recordings, including one-off amateur recordings, regular commercial releases, and early sound effects records. there is no narrative structure to the book, but the collision of literary quotes (Hamsun, Lagarkvist, Wordsworth, Nabokov, etc.). Recordings and images conspire towards a consistent mood that is anchored by the book’s title, which binds such disparate things as an early recording of an American cowboy ballad, a poem by a Swedish Nobel laureate, a recording of crickets created artificially, and an image of an itinerant anonymous woman sitting in a field, playing a guitar. The book also contains an essay by Roden.

Text from the Dust to Digital website Nd [Online] Cited 23/07/2022. Published by Dust-to-Digital, 2011. The book is out of stock but available on Abe.com website.

… i listen to the wind that obliterates my traces book cover (2011)

The J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, California 90049

Opening hours:
Daily 10am – 5pm

The J. Paul Getty Museum website

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Nov

Exhibition: ‘Photography – A Victorian Sensation’ at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: American, american photographers, beauty, black and white photography, documentary photography, English artist, exhibition, existence, gallery website, Henry Fox Talbot, intimacy, landscape, light, London, photographic series, photography, portrait, psychological, quotation, reality, space, time and works on paper
Tags: 1851 Great Exhibition, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Amateur photographers: Julia Margaret Cameron, Balmoral Castle, Balmoral Castle from the N.W., British art, British photography, British stereoscopes, Calotype, Calotype images, calotype photography equipment, Cramb Brothers, Cramb Brothers Dr E W Pritchard, D.O. Hill and Robert Adamson, daguerreotype, Daguerreotype camera, daguerreotype portraits in Scotland, Dr E W Pritchard, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dr John Adamson, early cameras, early photographic processes, early photography, Edinburgh, Elliot & Fry, Elliot & Fry Alfred Lord Tennyson, Francis Bedford, Francis Bedford Lydstep - the Natural Arch, Gathering Water Lilies, George Washington Wilson, George Washington Wilson Balmoral Castle from the N.W., Giroux et Cie, Giroux et Cie Daguerreotype camera, Great Eastern, Henry Frederick Van Der Weyde, Henry Frederick Van Der Weyde Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Hill and Adamson, Hill and Adamson Mrs Elizabeth (Johnstone) Hall, Idylls of the King, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, Julia Margaret Cameron, Julia Margaret Cameron Alfred Tennyson, London School of Photography, London School of Photography Portrait of a horse held by a groom, London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company, London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company The Armstrong Trophy and Naval Court, Lydstep - the Natural Arch, Marcus Guttenberg, Marcus Guttenberg Portrait group of four unidentified children, Mayall, Mayall The Queen gazing at a bust of Prince Albert, Mrs Elizabeth (Johnstone) Hall, National Museum of Scotland, niagara falls, Niagara Falls from the American side, Pencil of Nature, Peter Henry Emerson, Peter Henry Emerson Gathering Water Lilies, Photography - A Victorian Sensation, Platt D Babbitt Niagara Falls from the American side, Platt D. Babbitt, Poet Laureate, Portrait group of four unidentified children, Portrait of a horse held by a groom, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, Richard Mansfield, Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Howlett, Robert Howlett Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Robert Howlett Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, Ross and Thomson, Ross and Thomson Unknown little girl sitting on a striped cushion, Salt print, Scottish daguerreotypes, Scottish photographer, Scottish photographers, Scottish photography, Scottish portrait photography, Scottish stereoscopes, Talbot The Pencil of Nature, Talbot's calotype photography equipment, Talbot's home-made camera, The Armstrong Trophy and Naval Court, The Ladder, The Open Door, The Pencil of Nature, The Queen gazing at a bust of Prince Albert, Thomas Davidson, TR Williams, Unknown little girl sitting on a striped cushion, William England, William Henry Fox Talbot, William Henry Fox Talbot The Ladder, William Henry Fox Talbot The Open Door

Exhibition dates: 19th June – 22nd November 2015

William Henry Fox Talbot (English, 1800-1877)
The Open Door
1844-1846
Salt print from a calotype negative
Plate VI from the Pencil of Nature, the first book to be illustrated with photographs
© National Museums Scotland

In our contemporary image-saturated, comprehensively mediated way of life it is difficult for us to understand how “sensational” photography would have been in the Victorian era. Imagine never having seen a photograph of a landscape, city or person before. To then be suddenly presented with a image written in light, fixed before the eye of the beholder, would have been a profoundly magical experience for the viewer. Here was a new, progressive reality imaged for all to see. The society of the spectacle as photograph had arrived.

Here was the expansion of scopophilic society, our desire to derive pleasure from looking. That fetishistic desire can never be completely fulfilled, so we have to keep looking again and again, constantly reinforcing the ocular gratification of images. Photographs became shrines to memory. They also became shrines to the memory of desire itself.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

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Many thankx to the National Museum of Scotland for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Hill and Adamson

Dr Sara Stevenson, photo historian, talks about the origins of Hill and Adamson’s partnership and their photography skills.

Scottish daguerreotypes

Dr Alison Morrison Low, Principal Curator of Science, National Museums Scotland, talks about daguerreotype portraits in Scotland and the work of Thomas Davidson.

Amateur photographers: Julia Margaret Cameron

Anne Lyden, International Photography Curator, National Galleries of Scotland, talks about photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

George Washington Wilson

Emeritus Professor Roger Taylor talks about George Washington Wilson’s life and work.

TR Williams

Dr Brian May, CBE, musician and collector of stereo-photography talks about the photography of TR Williams.

William Henry Fox Talbot (English, 1800-1877)
The Ladder
1844-1846
Salt print from a calotype negative
Plate XIV from the Pencil of Nature, the first book to be illustrated with photographs
© National Museums Scotland

Calotype images are not as pin-sharp as daguerreotypes, but they had one great advantage: more than one image could be produced from a single negative. Yet both processes were cumbersome and very expensive. What was needed was a faster, cheaper method to really fuel the fire of Victorian photomania.

Giroux et Cie
Daguerreotype camera
1839
© National Museums Scotland

This camera was bought by WHF Talbot in October 1839.

William Henry Fox Talbot (English, 1800-1877)
Talbot’s home-made camera
1840s
© National Museums Scotland

Some of his early equipment appears to have been constructed to his design by the estate carpenter.

William Henry Fox Talbot (English, 1800-1877)
Talbot’s calotype photography equipment
c. 1840
© National Museums Scotland

Camera, printing frame, small domestic iron and chemical balance.

Platt D Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
Niagara Falls from the American side
c. 1855
Whole plate daguerreotype
Platt D Babbitt ensconced himself at a leading tourist spot beside Niagara Falls, from 1853
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Platt D Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
Niagara Falls from the American side (detail)
c. 1855
Whole plate daguerreotype
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Platt D Babbitt ensconced himself at a leading tourist spot beside Niagara Falls, from 1853.

Ross and Thomson of Edinburgh
Unknown little girl sitting on a striped cushion holding a framed portrait of a man, possibly her dead father
1847-1860
Ninth-plate daguerreotype
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

D.O. Hill (Scottish, 1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (Scottish, 1821-1848)
Mrs Elizabeth (Johnstone) Hall, a Newhaven fishwife, famous for her beauty and self-confidence
1843-1848
From an album presented by Hill to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1850
Salt print from a calotype negative,
© National Museums Scotland

Robert Howlett (British, 1831-1858)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern]
November 1857
Carte-de-visite
Sold by the London Stereoscopic Company
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Calotype photographs from an album compiled by Dr John Adamson, among the earliest in Scotland

Photograph burnt in on glass, a group of workmen, Paris 1858

A major exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland explores the Victorian craze for photography and examine how it has influenced the way we capture and share images today, when more photographs are taken in two minutes than were taken in the whole of the 19th century. Photography: A Victorian Sensation takes visitors back to the very beginnings of photography in 1839, tracing its evolution from a scientific art practised by a few wealthy individuals to a widely available global phenomenon, practised on an industrial scale.

The exhibition showcases National Museums Scotland’s extensive early photographic collections, including Hill and Adamson’s iconic images of Victorian Edinburgh, and the Howarth-Loomes collection, much of which has never been publicly displayed. Highlights include an early daguerreotype camera once owned by William Henry Fox Talbot; an 1869 photograph of Alfred, Lord Tennyson by Julia Margaret Cameron; a carte-de-visite depicting Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a middle-class couple and an early daguerreotype of the Niagara Falls. The exhibition covers the period from 1839 to 1900, by which point photography had permeated the whole of society, becoming a global sensation. Images and apparatus illustrate the changing techniques used by photographers and studios during the 19th century, and the ways in which photography became an increasingly accessible part of everyday life.

From the pin-sharp daguerreotype and the more textured calotype process of the early years, to the wet collodion method pioneered in 1851, photography developed as both a science and an art form. Visitors can follow the cross-channel competition between photographic trailblazers Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot, enter the world of the 1851 Great Exhibition and snap their own pictures inside the photographer’s studio. They can also discover the fascinating stories of some of the people behind hundreds of Victorian photographs. These range from poignant mementos of loved ones to comical shots and early attempts at image manipulation. Photographs of family members were important mementos for Victorians and on display is jewellery incorporating both images of deceased loved ones and elaborately woven locks of their hair.

Sharing images of loved ones drove the craze for collecting cartes-de-visite. The average middle class Victorian home would have had an album full of images of friends and family members as well as never-before-seen famous faces ranging from royalty to well-known authors and infamous criminals. Such images sold in their hundreds of thousands. Also hugely popular were stereoscopes, relatively affordable devices which allowed people to view 3D photographs of scenes from around the world from the comfort of their own homes. On display are a range of ornate stereoscopes as well as early photographs showing views from countries ranging from Egypt to Australia. The increasing affordability of photographs fuelled the demand for the services of photographic studios, and visitors have the opportunity to get a taste of a Victorian studio by posing for their own pictures. They also have the chance to see typical objects from the photographer’s studio, including a cast iron head rest, used to keep subjects still for a sufficient period of time to capture their image.

Alison Morrison Low, Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland commented: “Just as today we love to document the world around us photographically, so too were the Victorians obsessed with taking and sharing photographs. Photography: A Victorian Sensation will transport visitors back to the 19th century, linking the Victorian craze for photography with the role it plays in everyday life today. The period we’re examining may be beyond living memory, but the people featured in these early images are not so different from us.”

A book, Scottish Photography: The First 30 Years by Sara Stevenson and Alison Morrison-Low has been published by NMSEnterprises Publishing to accompany Photography: A Victorian Sensation.

Text from the National Museum of Scotland website

Taken by a photographer of the London School of Photography, based at Newgate Street and Regent Circus, London
Portrait of a horse held by a groom
1858-1860
Quarter- plate ambrotype
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

George Washington Wilson (Scottish, 1823-1893)
Balmoral Castle from the N.W.
1863
Stereo albumen prints from a wet collodion negative
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Staff photographer of the London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company (probably William England)
The Armstrong Trophy and Naval Court
1862
Stereo albumen prints from a wet collodion negative
From the series of International Exhibition of 1862, No. 133
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

It shows material lent to the exhibition by the Northern Lighthouse Board, Edinburgh, now in the collections of National Museums Scotland.

Mayall, London & Brighton
The Queen, gazing at a bust of Prince Albert, together with the Prince and Princess of Wales, married 10 March 1863
1863
Carte-de-visite
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Cramb Brothers, of Glasgow
Dr E W Pritchard, His Wife, Mother-in-Law and Family
1865
Carte-de-visite
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Edward William Pritchard (1825-65) was notorious for poisoning with antimony his wife and mother-in-law, both seen in this family portrait in happier days. He was the last person to be publicly executed in Glasgow.

Cramb Brothers, of Glasgow
Dr E W Pritchard
1865
Carte-de-visite
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Cramb Brothers advertised this image, Price 1 shilling each. They stated: These Portraits are all Copyright, and bear the Publishers’ Names. Legal Proceedings will be taken against any one offering Pirated Copies for Sale.

Marcus Guttenberg (British born Poland, 1828-1891)
Portrait group of four unidentified children
1860s-1870s
Carte-de-visite
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Elliot & Fry, 55 Baker Street, Portman Square, London
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
1865-1886
Carte-de-visite
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Tennyson (1809-1892) became Poet Laureate in 1850, after the death of William Wordsworth; his poems In Memoriam (1850) and Idylls of the King (1859) were hugely popular during Victorian times, but less so today.

Julia Margaret Cameron (British born India, 1815-1879)
Alfred Tennyson
3 June 1870
Albumen print from a wet collodion negative
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Henry Frederick Van Der Weyde, 182 Regent Street, London (English born Holland, 1838-1924)
Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
c. 1888
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Mansfield made his name in the title role of R.L. Stevenson’s novella, made into a play and shown in London in 1888.

Henry Frederick Van Der Weyde, 182 Regent Street, London (English born Holland, 1838-1924)
Richard Mansfield as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (detail)
c. 1888
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Francis Bedford (English, 1815-1894)
Lydstep – the Natural Arch
1860s
Half of a stereoscopic albumen print
From his series South Wales Illustrated
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Peter Henry Emerson (British, 1856-1936)
Gathering Water Lilies
1886
Platinum print
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

Peter Henry Emerson (British, 1856-1936)
Gathering Water Lilies (detail)
1886
Platinum print
© Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland

National Museum of Scotland
Chambers Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1JF
Phone: 0300 123 6789

Opening hours:
Daily: 10.00 – 17.00
Christmas Day: Closed
Boxing Day: 12.00 – 17.00
New Year’s Day: 12.00 – 17.00

National Museum of Scotland website

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Mar

Exhibition: ‘In Focus: Play’ at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center, Los Angeles

By Dr Marcus Bunyan Leave a Comment

Categories: American, american photographers, beauty, black and white photography, documentary photography, English artist, exhibition, existence, gallery website, intimacy, Japanese artist, landscape, light, memory, New York, photographic series, photography, portrait, reality, space, street photography, time and works on paper
Tags: "Free Sex" Party Crew Party, American art, American photography, Americans at play, André Kertész Underwater Swimmer, Andre Kertesz, Arthur Fellig, Barnum and Bailey Circus, Barnum and Bailey Circus Tent in Paris, Bill Owens, Bill Owens Swimming Pool, Brassaï Kiss on the Swing, Brassai, Camille Silvy, Camille Silvy Group of their Royal Highnesses, Card Players Los Angeles, Counting Grains of Sand, early skateboarding, East L.A. Skateboarders, English artist, English photography, French photographer, Getty Center, Group of their Royal Highnesses, Herman F. Nielson, Herman F. Nielson View of Niagara Falls in Winter, Hiromi Tsuchida, Hiromi Tsuchida Counting Grains of Sand, human play, humans at play, Imogen Cunningham, Imogen Cunningham Self-Portrait with Grandchildren in Funhouse, In Focus: Play, j. paul getty museum, Japanese artist, japanese photographer, Joe Schwartz, Joe Schwartz East L.A. Skateboarders, Kiss on the Swing, Lauren Greenfield, Lauren Greenfield "Free Sex" Party Crew Party, Man Ray, Man Ray Marcel Duchamp and Raoul de Roussy de Sales Playing Chess, Marcel Duchamp, Marcel Duchamp and Raoul de Roussy de Sales Playing Chess, Masato Seto, Masato Seto picnic #32, Max Yavno, Max Yavno Card Players Los Angeles, niagara falls, photographs of humans at play, photography and play, photojournalism, Platt D. Babbitt, Platt D. Babbitt Scene at Niagara Falls, play and photography, playing, playing with photography, Prospect Point, Raoul de Roussy de Sales, Roger Fenton, Roger Fenton The Billiard Room, Roger Minick, Roger Minick Woman with Scarf at Inspiration Point, Scene at Niagara Falls, Self-Portrait with Grandchildren in Funhouse, Summer The Lower East Side, T. Lux Feininger, T. Lux Feininger Am Strand, T. Lux Feininger On the Beach, The Billiard Room Mentmore, Underwater Swimmer, View of Niagara Falls in Winter, Weegee, Weegee Summer The Lower East Side, Woman with Scarf at Inspiration Point, Yosemite National Park

Exhibition dates: 23rd December 2014 – 10th May 2015

Curator: organised by assistant curator Arpad Kovacs in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum

Herman F. Nielson (American, active Niagara Falls, New York 1883 – early 1900s)
View of Niagara Falls in Winter
c. 1885
Gelatin silver print
19.1 x 24.3cm (7 1/2 x 9 9/16 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

The J. Paul Getty Museum always puts on the most interesting photography exhibitions. This looks to be no exception.

Marcus

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Many thankx to the J. Paul Getty Museum for allowing me to publish some of the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Platt D. Babbitt (American, 1823-1879, active Niagara Falls, New York 1853-1870)
[Scene at Niagara Falls]
c. 1855
Whole plate daguerreotype
The J. Paul Getty Museum
CC This work is in the public domain

In the 1800s Prospect Point at Niagara Falls was a popular destination for travellers in search of a transcendent encounter with nature. The falls were revered as a sacred place that was recognised by the Catholic Church in 1861 as a “pilgrim shrine,” where the faithful could contemplate the landscape as an example of divine majesty. Two well-dressed couples are seen from behind as they stand on the shore downstream from the falls, gazing at its majestic splendour. The silhouetted forms – women wearing full skirts and bonnets and carrying umbrellas and men in stovepipe hats – are sharply outlined against the patch of shore and expansive, white foam. Platt D. Babbitt would customarily set up his camera in an open-sided pavilion and photograph groups of tourists admiring the falls without their knowledge, as he appears to have done here. Later he would sell the unsuspecting subjects their daguerreotype likenesses alongside the natural wonder.

Roger Fenton (English, 1819-1869)
The Billiard Room, Mentmore
c. 1858
Albumen silver print
Height: 303mm (11.93 in). Width: 306mm (12.05 in).
The J. Paul Getty Museum
CC This work is in the public domain

A group of fashionable men and women enjoy a game of billiards in a richly furnished salon. The recently completed billiards room, which was designed as a conservatory, is flooded with sunlight, illuminating the lavish interior and creating a dramatic pattern of light and shadows. Indoor photography was rare in the mid-1800s, but the abundance of light and Fenton’s skill with the wet-collodion process created a remarkably detailed portrait of the space and its inhabitants. Behind the woman standing in the doorway at the very far end of the salon, a marble bust, mantelpiece, and mirror can be seen in an adjacent room.

Mentmore House was a country residence of the wealthy Rothschild family, but little is known as to how Fenton came to photograph its interior or who the depicted individuals might be. Fenton accepted commissions to document several other country homes, and his surviving photographs of Mentmore House – both interior and exterior views – may have formed part of a commissioned album. Like Fenton’s Orientalist scenes, this image reveals a high degree of staging. Only one figure actually holds a cue stick, and several of the women wear hats that seem unusual for the indoor setting.

Camille Silvy (French, 1834-1910, active in London)
Group of their Royal Highnesses the Princess Clementine de Saxe Cobourg Gotha, her Sons and Daughter, the Duke d’Aumale, the Count d’Eu, the Duke d’Alencon, and the Duke de Penthievre [in England]
1864
Albumen silver print
10.2 x 17cm (4 x 6 11/16 in.)

Camille Silvy (French, 1834-1910, active in London)
Group of their Royal Highnesses the Princess Clementine de Saxe Cobourg Gotha, her Sons and Daughter, the Duke d’Aumale, the Count d’Eu, the Duke d’Alencon, and the Duke de Penthievre [in England] (detail)
1864
Albumen silver print
10.2 x 17cm (4 x 6 11/16 in.)

Man Ray (American, 1890-1976)
[Marcel Duchamp and Raoul de Roussy de Sales Playing Chess]
1925
Gelatin silver print
16.7 x 22.5cm (6 9/16 x 8 7/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Man Ray Trust ARS-ADAGP

Weegee (Arthur Fellig) (American, born Austria, 1899-1968)
[Summer, The Lower East Side, New York City]
Summer 1937
Gelatin silver print 26.5 x 33.3cm (10 7/16 x 13 1/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© International Center of Photography

André Kertész (American, born Hungary, 1894-1985)
[Underwater Swimmer]
Negative 1917; print 1970s
Gelatin silver print 17 x 24.7cm (6 11/16 x 9 3/4 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Estate of André Kertész

In Focus: Play, on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from December 23, 2014 through May 10, 2015, presents photographs that explore how notions of leisure and play have been represented over the course of the medium’s history. The nearly thirty works from the Museum’s permanent collection highlight a wide range of amusing activities, from quiet games like chess to more boisterous forms of recreation like skateboarding and visits to amusement parks and circuses. All of the photographs included in the exhibition illustrate the many ways people have chosen to spend their free time. The images also demonstrate inventive and improvised approaches, like unusual vantage points and jarring juxtapositions that photographers have employed to help capture the spontaneity of playfulness.

Organised by assistant curator Arpad Kovacs in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum, this exhibition spans almost 175 years of the medium’s history and features the work of a variety of well-known and lesser-known photographers, including Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Imogene Cunningham, Larry Fink, T. Lux Feininger, Roger Fenton, Andre Kertész, Man Ray, Alexander Rodchenko, Masato Seto, Camille Silvy, and Weegee, among others.

“Capturing our everyday lives has been one of photography’s central themes ever since its invention in the mid-nineteenth century,” says Timothy Potts, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “So it is no surprise that images of people playing games and having fun is a rich seam within the history of photography that this exhibition and accompanying book bring to life brilliantly. This is photography at its entertaining and uplifting best.”

The introduction of photography in 1839 coincided with a bourgeoning culture of leisure. Changes in working and living conditions brought on by the Industrial Revolution created an unprecedented amount of free time for large numbers of people in Europe and the United States. In the 1850s, photographic studios began to capitalize on the development and growth of the tourism industry, promoting recreation as a photographic subject. Technological advancements in film and camera equipment during the early twentieth century facilitated the recording of dynamic activities such as sports and visits to amusement parks. Domestic and public spaces alike became sites where people performed for the camera and documented a break from daily routines.

During the nineteenth century, the eminent photographer Roger Fenton, who was widely recognised for visually documenting the Crimean War (1853-1856), also photographed intimate scenes that reflected casual pastimes. Included in the exhibition is his photograph from 1858 entitled, The Billiard Room, Mentmore House, in which a group of six people act out a scene of domestic amusement in a billiard room lined with a row of large windows.

The desire for pictures of everyday life flourished during the early twentieth-century. The illustrated press, which had grown in popularity in the United States and Europe since the 1920s, was especially interested in photographs of recreation and leisure. Photojournalists often searched for high-impact images that could tell compelling or amusing stories. Weegee (Arthur Fellig), a well-known tabloid photographer, kept his camera focused on New York City’s neighbourhoods. In the photograph Summer, Lower East Side, New York City, 1937, he recorded the ecstatic faces of boys and girls cooling off in the water from an open fire hydrant as they briefly co-opted a street for their own delight.

Tourist destinations with sweeping vistas, like Niagara Falls and Yosemite Valley, had been attracting photographers continuously since the 1850s. In a 1980 photograph from his Sightseer series, Roger Minick comments on the phenomenon of taking in the sights through visual juxtaposition. A tourist, seen from behind, obstructs the famous view of Yosemite Valley from Inspiration Point, a spot that is practically synonymous with photography. The woman wears a souvenir headscarf illustrated with views of the valley, underscoring the commodification of nature that pervades modern life.

In the 1990s, the photographer Lauren Greenfield began an ambitious project documenting various subcultures in Los Angeles. These works examine the social pecking order and rites of passage associated with youth culture. In her photograph “Free Sex” Party Crew Party, East Los Angeles, 1993, one gets a glimpse into the potential dangers associated with these wild demonstrations of unrestricted freedom and machismo.

“The photographs chosen for this exhibition demonstrate the wide range of approaches photographers have employed to capture people at play, along with a variety of sites that have traditionally signalled leisure and entertainment,” said Kovacs. “Visiting a museum would be included on that list of leisure-time activities. I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.”

In Focus: Play is on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center beginning December 23, 2014, through May 10, 2015.

Press release from the J. Paul Getty Museum

Unknown photographer
[Barnum and Bailey Circus Tent in Paris, France]
1901-1902
Gelatin silver print
22.2 x 58.1cm (8 3/4 x 22 7/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Max Yavno (American, 1911-1985)
Card Players, Los Angeles, California
1949
Gelatin silver print
26.5 x 27.9cm
© 1988 Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona Foundation

Joe Schwartz (American, 1913-2013)
East L.A. Skateboarders
1950s
Toned gelatin silver print
30.2 x 39cm (11 7/8 x 15 3/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Joe Schwartz

Bill Owens (American, born 1938)
Untitled (Swimming Pool)
1973 or before
Gelatin silver print
17.1 x 21.5cm (6 3/4 x 8 7/16 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Robert Harshorn Shimshak and Marion Brenner
© Bill Owens

Hiromi Tsuchida (Japanese, born 1939)
Counting Grains of Sand, Tsuruga
Negative 1985; print May 15, 1990
Gelatin silver print
28.1 x 42.5cm (11 1/16 x 16 3/4 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Hiromi Tsuchida

Roger Minick (American, b. 1944)
Woman with Scarf at Inspiration Point, Yosemite National Park
1980
Chromogenic print
38.1 x 43.5cm (15 x 17 1/8 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Roger Minick

Lauren Greenfield (American, born 1966)
“Free Sex” Party Crew Party, East Los Angeles
1993
Dye destruction print
32.4 x 48.9cm (12 3/4 x 19 1/4 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Allison Amon & Lisa Mehling
© Lauren Greenfield/INSTITUTE

Masato Seto (Japanese, born Thailand, 1953)
picnic #32
2005
From the series picnic
Silver-dye bleach print
43.2 x 55cm
© Masato Seto

Photographer Masato Seto’s series picnic, produced between 1996 and 2005, takes a particularly intimate approach. Seto’s photographs get inside Tokyo’s private pockets of outdoor space, a highly coveted respite from the busy thrum of the Japanese urban lifestyle. They give us a glimpse of the hard-won leisure of local couples escaping the cramped quarters of high-rise living for the scarce green space of public parks.

The couples’ reactions to the camera’s intrusion range from shielding their faces to outright defiance, to simple staring curiosity. We feel like we’ve caught them in the act of doing something that we shouldn’t see. Representing one family, couple, or individual at a time, Seto situates his subjects in a detached reality of their own. He creates what critic Hiro Koike referred to as “invisible rooms” – plots of grass often defined by the customary plastic sheet – in which intimate moments have been openly displayed and captured.

Melissa Abraham, “An Intimate View of Tokyo,” on The Getty Iris blog, August 5, 2014 [Online] Cited 03/03/2015

T. Lux Feininger (American born Germany, 1910-2011)
Am Strand (On the Beach)
c. 1929
Gelatin silver print 23.8 x 17.8cm (9 3/8 x 7 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Estate of T. Lux Feininger

Brassaï (French born Hungary, 1899-1984)
Kiss on the Swing
1935-1937
Gelatin silver print
29.7 x 23.3cm
© Estate Brassaï-RMN

Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883-1976)
Self-Portrait with Grandchildren in Funhouse
1955
Gelatin silver print
22.2 x 18.5cm (8 3/4 x 7 5/16 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
© Imogen Cunningham Trust

The J. Paul Getty Museum
1200 Getty Center Drive
Los Angeles, California 90049

Opening hours:
Daily 10am – 5pm

The J. Paul Getty Museum website

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Feb

Exhibition: ‘In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes before the Digital Age’ at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

By Dr Marcus Bunyan 3 Comments

Categories: American, american photographers, black and white photography, colour photography, documentary photography, English artist, exhibition, gallery website, landscape, light, photographic series, photography, portrait and works on paper
Tags: Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes, Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes The Letter, albumen silver print from glass negative, ambrotype, American art, american artist, american photographer, American photography, Anna Atkins, Anna Atkins Ferns Specimen of Cyanotype, British art, British artist, British photographer, British photography, Cavalry Maneuvers behind barrier, Clarence White, Clarence White Mrs. White - In the Studio, cyanotype, daguerreotype, dye imbibition print, dye transfer print, early photographic processes, Ferns Specimen of Cyanotype, French photographer, French photography, gelatin silver print, Ghost Rock, Ghost Rock Colorado Springs, Gustave Le Gray, Gustave Le Gray 'Cavalry Maneuvers behind barrier Camp de Châlons' 1857, Gustave Le Gray Cavalry Maneuvers, Gustave Le Gray Cavalry Maneuvers behind barrier, Harry Callahan Providence, In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes before the Digital Age, Laura Gilpin, Laura Gilpin Ghost Rock, Laura Gilpin Ghost Rock Colorado Springs, László Moholy-Nagy, László Moholy-Nagy Untitled (Positive), Mrs. White - In the Studio, National Gallery of Art Washington, niagara falls, photogram, platinum print, Platt D. Babbitt, Platt D. Babbitt Niagara Falls, Platt D. Babbitt Niagara Falls c. 1860, Robert Adams, Robert Adams Summer Nights #2, Robert Adams Summer Nights #2 (Longmont Colorado) 1979, Roger Fenton, Roger Fenton The Cloisters Tintern Abbey, Roger Fenton The Cloisters Tintern Abbey 1854, salted paper print from a collodion negative, San Gennaro Festival, Sid Grossman, Sid Grossman San Gennaro Festival, Sid Grossman San Gennaro Festival New York City, Southworth and Hawes, Summer Nights #2, Summer Nights #2 (Longmont Colorado), The Cloisters, The Cloisters Tintern Abbey, The Letter, The Letter c.1850, Tintern Abbey, Untitled (Car in Parking Lot), washington d c, William Eggleston, William Eggleston Car in Parking Lot, William Eggleston Untitled (Car in Parking Lot) 1973

Exhibition dates: 25th October, 2009 – 14th March 2010

Anna Atkins (British, 1799-1871)
Ferns, Specimen of Cyanotype
1840s
cyanotype
National Gallery of Art, Washington R.K. Mellon Family Foundation Fund

Many thankx to Kate Afanasyeva and the National Gallery of Art for allowing me to reproduce the photographs from the exhibition below. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.

Dr Marcus Bunyan

Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes
The Letter
c. 1850
daguerreotype
National Gallery of Art, Washington Patrons’ Permanent Fund

Clarence White (American, 1871-1925)
Mrs. White – In the Studio
1907
platinum print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation through Robert and Joyce Menschel and R.K. Mellon Family Foundation Fund

Laura Gilpin (American, 1891-1979)
Ghost Rock, Colorado Springs
1919
platinum print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Marvin Breckinridge Patterson Fund
© 1979 Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Sid Grossman (American, 1913-1955)
San Gennaro Festival, New York City
1948
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Anonymous Gift

László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian, 1895-1946)
Untitled (Positive)
c. 1922-1924
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Gift of The Circle of the National Gallery of Art

László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian, 1895-1946)
Untitled
c. 1922-1924
gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Art, Washington New Century Fund

The extraordinary range and complexity of the photographic process is explored, from the origins of the medium in the 1840s up to the advent of digital photography at the end of the 20th century, in a comprehensive exhibition and its accompanying guidebook at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. On view in the West Building, from October 25, 2009 through March 14, 2010, In the Darkroom: Photographic Processes Before the Digital Age chronicles the major technological developments in the 170-year history of photography and presents the virtuosity of the medium’s practitioners. Drawn from the Gallery’s permanent collection are some 90 photographs – ranging from William Henry Fox Talbot’s images of the 1840s to Andy Warhol’s Polaroid prints of the 1980s.

“In the Darkroom and the accompanying guidebook provide a valuable overview of the medium as well as an introduction to the most commonly used photographic processes from its earliest days,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art.

In the Darkroom

Organised chronologically, the exhibition opens with Lace (1839-1844), a photogenic drawing by William Henry Fox Talbot. Made without the aid of a camera, the image was produced by placing a swath of lace onto a sheet of sensitised paper and then exposing it to light to yield a tonally reversed image.

Talbot’s greatest achievement – the invention of the first negative-positive photographic process – is also celebrated in this section with paper negatives by Charles Nègre and Baron Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard as well as salted paper prints made from paper negatives by Nègre, partners David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, and others.

The daguerreotype, the first publicly introduced photographic process and the most popular form of photography during the medium’s first decade, is represented by a selection of British and American works, including an exquisite large-plate work by the American photographers Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes (see photograph above). By the mid-1850s, the daguerreotype’s popularity was eclipsed by two new processes, the ambrotype and the tintype. These portable photographs on glass or metal were relatively inexpensive to produce and were especially popular for portraiture.

The year 1851 marked a turning point in photographic history with the introduction of the collodion negative on glass and the albumen print process. Most often paired together, this negative-print combination yielded lustrous prints with a subtle gradation of tones from dark to light and became the most common form of photography in the 19th century, seen here in works by Julia Margaret Cameron, Roger Fenton, and Gustave Le Gray.

Near the turn of the 20th century, a number of new, complex print processes emerged, such as platinum and palladium, gum dichromate, and bromoil. Often requiring significant manipulation by the hand of the artist, these processes were favoured by photographers such as Gertrude Käsebier, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston.

One of the most significant developments of the late 19th century was the introduction of gelatin into photographic processes, which led to the invention of the film negative and the gelatin silver print. These became the standard for 20th-century black-and-white photography. A chronological selection of gelatin silver prints, including a contact print made by André Kertész in 1912; a grainy, blurred image of Little Italy’s San Gennaro festival at night by Sid Grossman from 1948 (see photograph above); and a coolly precise industrial landscape by Frank Gohlke from 1975, reveals how the introduction of the film negative and changes in the gelatin silver print process profoundly shaped the direction of modern photography. This section also explores the development of ink-based, photomechanical processes such as photogravure, Woodburytype, and halftone that enabled the large-scale, high-quality reproduction of photographs in books and magazines.

The final section of the exhibition explores the rise of colour photography in the 20th century. Although the introduction of chromogenic colour processes made colour photography commercially viable by the 1930s, it was not widely employed by artists until the 1970s. The exhibition celebrates the pioneers of colour photography, including Harry Callahan and William Eggleston, who made exceptional work using the complicated dye transfer process. The exhibition also explores the range of processes developed by the Polaroid Corporation that provided instant gratification to the user, from Andy Warhol’s small SX-70 prints to the large-scale Polaroid prints represented by the work of contemporary photographer David Levinthal.

Press release from the National Gallery of Art website [Online] Cited 15/02/2010 no longer available online

Roger Fenton (British, 1819-1869)
The Cloisters, Tintern Abbey
1854
salted paper print from a collodion negative
National Gallery of Art, Washington Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation through Robert and Joyce Menschel

Gustave Le Gray (French, 1820-1884)
Cavalry Maneuvers behind barrier, Camp de Châlons
1857
albumen silver print from glass negative

Platt D. Babbitt (American, 1822-1879)
Niagara Falls
c. 1860
Ambrotype
National Gallery of Art, Washington Vital Projects Fund

William Eggleston (American, b. 1939)
Untitled (Car in Parking Lot)
1973
Dye imbibition print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Anonymous Gift

Harry Callahan (American, 1912-1999)
Providence
1977
Dye transfer print

Robert Adams (American, b. 1937)
Summer Nights #2 (Longmont, Colorado)
1979
Gelatin silver print
National Gallery of Art, Washington Gift of Mary and David Robinson

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The National Gallery of Art, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 7th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW.

Opening hours:
Daily 10.00am – 5.00pm

National Gallery of Art website

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Dr Marcus Bunyan

Dr Marcus Bunyan is an Australian artist and writer. His art work explores the boundaries of identity and place. He writes Art Blart, an art and cultural memory archive, which posts mainly photography exhibitions from around the world. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from RMIT University, Melbourne, a Master of Arts (Fine Art Photography) from RMIT University, and a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.