Colts on a Norfolk Marsh
Photograph
1888 (made), 1890 (published)
1888 (made), 1890 (published)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
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.
Emerson considered this plate as ‘focussed absolutely correctly’. He wrote in Naturalistic Photography that ‘Nothing in nature has a hard outline but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into something else, often so subtly that you cannot quite distinguish where one ends and the other begins. In this mingled decision and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the charm and mystery of nature’.
Emerson considered this plate as ‘focussed absolutely correctly’. He wrote in Naturalistic Photography that ‘Nothing in nature has a hard outline but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into something else, often so subtly that you cannot quite distinguish where one ends and the other begins. In this mingled decision and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the charm and mystery of nature’.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Titles |
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| Materials and techniques | photogravure |
| Brief description | Photograph, 'Colts on a Norfolk Marsh', by Peter Henry Emerson,photogravure, Plate 4, from the 'Pictures of East Anglian Life' portfolio, 1890 |
| Physical description | A mounted black and white photograph showing horses in landscape, |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Found In Department |
| Object history | A portfolio containing 10 India proofs taken from the eponymous book (1888, 32 photogravures), published as a companion to his other book 'Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art' (1889). With preface and Notes to the Student in the inside cover of the portfolio folder. Gift of the photographer 1890, transferred from the Print Collection, 1896 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | 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. Emerson considered this plate as ‘focussed absolutely correctly’. He wrote in Naturalistic Photography that ‘Nothing in nature has a hard outline but everything is seen against something else, and its outlines fade gently into something else, often so subtly that you cannot quite distinguish where one ends and the other begins. In this mingled decision and indecision, this lost and found, lies all the charm and mystery of nature’. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic reference | John Taylor The old order and the new: P H Emerson and photography, 1885-1895 Munich; New York; London: Prestel, 2006. 160p.: ill (some col). ISBN: 3791336991 / 9783791336992. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.1960-1990 |
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| Record created | February 23, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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