Anna Atkins (English, 1799-1871)
"Gleichenia flabellata (Australia)," 1851-1854
Cyanotype
34.6 x 24.8 cm
Anna Atkins (1799-1871) is one of the earliest of women photographers. Her “Gleichenia flabellata (Australia),” circa 1851-1854, shows a fanlike, forked frond of this large Australasian fern. Atkins’s cyanotype photograms of the 1850s are distinctive precursors of the expressive photography of twentieth century and contemporary artists.
Mary Wyatt (English, 1789–1871)
From Algæ Danmonienses…, Torquay, 1834-1840
Specimen pasted onto 29.2 x 24.0 cm sheet
The extent to which artistically inclined Victorian women engaged in gathering specimens from nature has yet to be fully appreciated. Based on William Hooker’s British Flora of 1830, Algæ Danmonienses was compiled by Mary Wyatt 1789-1871), a former servant of the algae collector Amelia Griffiths. The high price of the book upon its publication in five volumes between 1834 and 1840, and its scarcity today speak to the limitations of working with seaweed specimens and the challenges of preserving them. Remarkably, William Harvey wrote that he intended his 1841 Manual of the British Algæ to be a companion volume to Wyatt's work and suggested to his readers that they acquire her book in lieu of illustrations.
Anna Atkins (English, 1799-1871)
"Aspidium Trifoliatum (Jamaica)," circa 1851-1854
Cyanotype photogram
24.9 x 19.5 cm
Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
My Ewen's Bride (Annie Chinery Cameron), 1869
Albumen print
31.6 x 25.8 cm
Annie Chinery, daughter of a prominent doctor on the Isle of Wight, married Cameron's second son, Ewen Cameron, in November 1869. Julia Margaret Cameron adored Annie and boasted of her beauty and charm in letters to friends and relatives. Her first daughter-in-law, Annie was photographed by Cameron in various guises as the mother of the next generation of Camerons. Cameron sent prints to friends and family, sometimes inscribing them, "God's gift to us." Paradoxically, the closeness Cameron felt with Annie was broken off by Annie's recalcitrance over the frequent demands Cameron made of her son.
Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
"Hypatia, Marie Spartali," 1867 or 1868
Albumen print from a wet collodion negative
31.9 x 24.8 cm
The model here presents a very different appearance from many of Cameron's other milkmaids and daughters of friends, perhaps because she herself was an artists' model and an accomplished watercolorist. Marie Euphrosyne Spartali was the daughter of the Greek consul in London. A pupil of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Ford Madox Brown, she first exhibited at the Dudley Gallery and in 1867, about the time of this photograph, she was admitted into the Royal Academy. Spartali married the American painter and photographer William James Stillman (1828-1901) in 1871. Before posing for Cameron, she had modeled for Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown and for Edward Burne-Jones.
Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
"J. F. W. Herschel," April 1867
Albumen print from a collodion negative
32.2 x 25.7 cm
Of all the preeminent figures Mrs. Cameron knew and photographed, she remained deeply indebted and loyal to Herschel, whom she had known since her childhood days at the Cape of Good Hope in 1836. Between 1864 and 1867 she made him an elaborate presentation album that included the best examples of her work. Her choice to have this portrait as the very first image pays affectionate homage to the role Herschel played in her life.
Julia Margaret Cameron (English, born in India, 1815-1879)
"Circe" Kate Keown, 1865
Albumen print
25.2 x 20.2 cm
Cameron sought to record through the faces of her family and friends the qualities of innocence, wisdom, piety, or passion ascribed to great biblical, historical, and legendary figures. Cameron used a long exposure and shallow depth of field to give that slight sense of animation which merges the young girl, Kate Keown, with the mythic character Circe, seemingly bringing her into the viewer's presence in this fine print. In Greek mythology, Circe is a goddess of magic, the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and Perse, an Oceanid nymph. Renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs, Circe is exiled to the solitary island of Aeaea by her father Helios for killing her husband. Once there she lures sailors to the island, including the crew of Odysseus, transforming them into swine.
Blanche Shelley (English, 1841-1898)
Daffodil and ferns, "April 18th 1854"
Photogenic drawing negative
17.1 x 20.4 cm
The extent to which photography was practiced by artistically inclined Victorian women has yet to be fully appreciated. One young practitioner was Blanche Shelley. She was very distantly related to William Henry Fox Talbot through his half-sister, Caroline Feilding. Shelley’s family was drawn into this circle in 1834, so Blanche’s childhood years were ripe with the possibility of exposure to the new art. At age thirteen Blanche made her one known surviving photograph, “Daffodil and fern,” which is unusual for its having combined comparatively flat ferns with the three-dimensional daffodil.
Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (German, 1815-1901)
"Dr. Reichel," 1868
Salt print from a collodion negative
28.3 x 22.5 cm
Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann was introduced to photography by her husband, the Leipzig daguerreotypist Eduard Wehnert who died in 1847. Bertha then emigrated in 1849 to New York City with her brother where she opened two studios. It was about this time she began making photographs on paper in addition to daguerreotypes. Upon receiving the American Institute in New York's award for services to portrait photography, Wehnert-Beckmann returned to Germany in 1851 after making over her NY studios to her brother. Her work was represented at the first major photographic exhibition in Germany, the General German Industrial Exhibition held in Munich in 1854. Bertha's innovative portraits, her use of modern advertising methods and her sound business sense won her great acclaim.
Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (German, 1815-1901)
Portrait of woman holding a framed photograph, circa 1850s-1860s
Salt print from a collodion negative
22.6 x 16.9 cm
Bertha E. Jaques (American, 1863-1941)
"Ground Pine, Northern Michigan," 1905-1915
Cyanotype photogram
24.2 x 19.0 cm
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Fisherman, South Carolina, circa 1925
Platinum print
20.3 x 15.6 cm
For a brief time in the early 1920s, the family of Julia Peterkin (co-author, with Doris Ulmann, of Roll, Jordan, Roll) owned Brookgreen Plantation on the South Carolina coast, near Murrells Inlet. On at least one occasion Ulmann traveled from New York to Myrtle Beach. From there the two artists went in search of photographic material for Roll, Jordan, Roll. As she had done when she first began photographing, Ulmann sought out the working men of the area. The fishermen of the coastal community were apparently a favorite subject. Having been influenced by the work of Hill & Adamson, Ulmann's picture was perhaps inspired by their famous portraits of the Newhaven fishing comunity.
Adapted from Judith Keller, Doris Ulmann: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: In Focus Series, Getty Pulbications, 1996)
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Seated couple on a porch, Berea, Kentucky, circa 1920s
Platinum print
20.0 x 15.5 cm
Doris Ulmann (American, 1882-1934)
Field worker with two mules, circa 1920s
Platinum print
20.4 x 15.5 cm