Hookey Alf
Photograph
1877-8 (photographed)
1877-8 (photographed)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The photographer John Thompson (1837-1921) used the Woodburytype process patented in 1864 for the images in Street Life in London, including this photograph. Woodburytype was a photomechanical method of reproduction involving a sheet of light-sensitized pigmented gelatine, usually of a rich purple-brown colour, exposed to light through a negative. The gelatine hardens in proportion to the amount of light to which it is exposed and when soaked in warm water the unhardened gelatine is washed away. This was the first mechanical process that could successfully reproduce a photograph. The resultant image is in slight relief when seen through a magnifier. The process was complicated but remained popular until about 1900 because of the high quality and permanence of the finished images.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Hookey Alf (assigned by artist) |
Materials and techniques | Woodburytype |
Brief description | Woodburytype. Thomson John Thomson. Hookey Alf, plate from Street life in London, 1877-8. |
Physical description | Tableau photographed in a Whitechapel tavern. |
Dimensions |
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Object history | NB. While the term ‘an epileptic’ has been used in this record, it has since fallen from usage and is now considered offensive. The term is repeated in this record in its original historical context. |
Summary | The photographer John Thompson (1837-1921) used the Woodburytype process patented in 1864 for the images in Street Life in London, including this photograph. Woodburytype was a photomechanical method of reproduction involving a sheet of light-sensitized pigmented gelatine, usually of a rich purple-brown colour, exposed to light through a negative. The gelatine hardens in proportion to the amount of light to which it is exposed and when soaked in warm water the unhardened gelatine is washed away. This was the first mechanical process that could successfully reproduce a photograph. The resultant image is in slight relief when seen through a magnifier. The process was complicated but remained popular until about 1900 because of the high quality and permanence of the finished images. |
Bibliographic reference | Hoozee, Robert (ed.), British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007
30 |
Collection | |
Accession number | PH.344-1982 |
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Record created | November 1, 2006 |
Record URL |
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