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Pictures of East Anglian Life
Emerson, Peter Henry, born 1856 - died 1936 - Enlarge image
Pictures of East Anglian Life
- Object:
Photograph
- Place of origin:
East Anglia (photographed)
England (photographed) - Date:
1888 (made)
1890 (published) - Artist/Maker:
Emerson, Peter Henry, born 1856 - died 1936 (photographer)
- Museum number:
E.164-2015
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F, case X, shelf 418, box C
In 1889 Emerson published his controversial book Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art without images. Naturalistic Photography examined his purist approach to photography, derived from his fascination with Naturalism in art, and attacked the prevailing artificial aesthetic in art photography. After its publication Emerson felt that his opponents had misunderstood his ideas. So, in 1890 he selected 10 plates from his book Pictures of East Anglian Life (1888) that best illustrated his theories, and presented them loose in a portfolio dedicated to the ‘photographic student’, with the same title and cover of the book. He then donated copies of this portfolio to every photographic society in the country.
In the note ‘To the Student’, pasted to the inside cover of the Pictures of East Anglian Life portfolio, Emerson declares that, out of the 10 plates selected, the image Where Winds the Dike is the second most successful in portraying his theories on focussing. ‘The whole picture is [deliberately] out of focus’, Emerson writes. He also maintains that no lens yet made could give this effect, perhaps emphasizing his artistic eye.
