Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860

The first exhibition to highlight British photographs made from paper negatives, this show features approximately 120 works by leading artists such as Roger Fenton, Linnaeus Tripe, and B. B. Turner, as well as many now unfamiliar practitioners. Contrary to accounts provided in standard histories,... Read more

The first exhibition to highlight British photographs made from paper negatives, this show features approximately 120 works by leading artists such as Roger Fenton, Linnaeus Tripe, and B. B. Turner, as well as many now unfamiliar practitioners. Contrary to accounts provided in standard histories, this exhibition demonstrates that "calotypes"—photographs made from paper negatives—flourished during the 1840s and 1850s. The exhibition follows the progress of the movement from the invention of the process by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839 to the Great Exhibition of 1851, where the aesthetic possibilities of the calotype were amply illustrated, to its flowering in the years immediately thereafter. It also features the work of British gentlemen-amateurs who traveled throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. During the 15 years of the calotype’s brief existence an unrivaled body of work was created that significantly expands the understanding of photographic history. Most of the works in the show have never before been exhibited in the United States.