"Lady Ruthven," Hill and
Adamson, 1912. Photogravure from a calotype negative. Friends
of the Davison Art Center funds, 2002.
Early Scots Photographs on View at Wesleyan
University
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. - In 1839 the invention of photography was
first announced in France by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, who
called his images daguerreotypes. Only a few weeks later, across
the Channel in England, William Henry Fox Talbot announced the
invention of calotype, a different photographic process.
On view at Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center through May
25, ": Photographs by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson from
the University of St Andrews" highlights a group of rarely seen
calotypes by the Scottish photographers Hill and Adamson.
Most of the exhibited works are on loan from the University of St
Andrews, located on the east coast of Scotland (about 50 miles by
road from Edinburgh).
Certain university leaders experimented with Talbot's process of
photo-sensitizing sheets of paper. A paper negative laid upon
another sensitized sheet and then exposed to sunlight yielded a
positive image, which Talbot called a calotype. The pictorial
nature of the calotype, its softness and tonal qualities,
captivated artists previously working in a variety of media.
The young St Andrews native, Robert Adamson (1821-1848),
demonstrated great proficiency in using the calotype process, and
in 1843 he moved to Edinburgh to establish a calotype studio.
There he met the painter David Octavius Hill (1802-1870), and the
two young Scots began a remarkable artistic partnership. Although
they worked together for only four and a half years, they were
extraordinarily prolific, having produced a total of some 3,000
calotypes.
Most of the calotypes on view are from Hill and Adamson's 1846
album A Series of Calotype Views of St Andrews.
Also on view in this exhibition are photogravures by Hill and
Adamson that were published in Alfred Stieglitz's magazine
Camera Work, as well as works by such later pictorialist
photographers as George Seeley, Alvin Landgon Coburn and Herbert
French.
There will be a free gallery talk by Norman Reid, keeper of
manuscripts, University of St Andrews Library, on Friday, April
4, at 5:15 pm. A reception will follow.
On April 16, at 8 pm, ": Early Photography in Scotland" will be
presented by Graham Smith, professor of art history, University
of St Andrews. The lecture will be at The Russell House, 350 High
Street. A reception will follows.
Davison Art Center, 301 High Street, is open to the public
free of charge. Hours are Tuesday to Sunday, noon to pm. For
information, call 860-685-2500 or visit www.wesleyan.edu/dac.
