Impressed by light : British photographs from paper negatives, 1840-1860 / Roger Taylor ; biographical dictionary by Larry J. Schaaf in collaboration with Roger Taylor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taylor, Roger, 1940-

Contributor:

Schaaf, Larry J. (Larry John), 1947-

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Calotype--Great Britain--History--19th century--Exhibitions.

Calotype.

History.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

xiv, 438 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 x 30 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Washington : National Gallery of Art ; New Haven : Yale University Press, [2007]

Summary:

When photography appeared shortly before 1840, the metal-plate daguerreotype, invented in France, was first to achieve popularity. But the process simultaneously developed in England for capturing an image on a paper negative- from which many positives could be printed- provided the foundation on which photography would build for the next 150 years. This beautiful book presents more than 120 photographs printed from paper negatives, or calotypes, most never before published. The entire course of the paper negative' s " golden age" is described, from its laborious invention by William Henry Fox Talbot to competition with French photographers and commercial practitioners. Aesthetically ambitious, these richly textured calotypes were created by photographers both eminent and virtually unknown. Also included is an invaluable biographical dictionary of more than 500 British calotypists.

Contents:

Photography and an age of paradox

The formative years : the calotype in the 1840s

The great exhibition of 1851

Battling patents and gaining legitimacy

The calotype finds its place

Subjects fit for the camera

British sensibilities 1855-1857

Echoes of the grand tour

Under an Indian sky

Commercialism advances, the calotype declines.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 414-426) and index.

ISBN:

9781588392251

1588392252

9780300124057

0300124058

OCLC:

153554420