James Nasmyth
Photograph
1843-1847 (photographed)
1843-1847 (photographed)
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Black and white portrait photograph of a man wearing a morning suit and holding a large album. His elbow leans on the album and his arm supports his head.
Object details
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| Materials and techniques | Carbon print |
| Brief description | Photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 'James Nasmyth', Engineer, carbon reprint, calotype negative taken 1843-1847 |
| Physical description | Black and white portrait photograph of a man wearing a morning suit and holding a large album. His elbow leans on the album and his arm supports his head. |
| Style | |
| Gallery label | Photography Centre 2018-20:
Collection in Focus: Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882–1966)
The British-American photographer Alvin Langdon Coburn enjoyed success on both sides of the Atlantic. Active in the early 20th century, he gained recognition from a young age as a talented photographer. His style ranged from the painterly softness of Pictorialism to the unusual vantage points and abstraction of Modernism. As well as being a practising photographer, Coburn was an avid collector. In 1930 he donated over 600 photographs to the Royal Photographic Society. The gift included examples of Coburn’s own work alongside that of his contemporaries, many of whom are now considered to be the most influential of their generation. Coburn also collected historic photographs, and was among the first in his time to rediscover and appreciate the work of 19th-century masters like Julia Margaret Cameron and Hill and Adamson.
5. David Octavius Hill (1802–70) and Robert Adamson (1821–48)
James Nasmyth
1843–47
Carbon print
Museum no. RPS.1213-2018
The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund |
| Credit line | The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund. |
| Historical context | The famous partnership and collaboration between the artist David Octavius Hill and the photographer Robert Adamson came into being originally in order to produce photographic portraits to assist Hill as a painter. The team produced a wide range of superb, valuable work and they were the first consistently and successfully employ calotype process in Great Britain. 1843 Hill was introduced to Adamson and they began to collaborate on the production of calotype portraits as reference images for the painting ‘The Signing of the Deed of Demission’ which represents 474 dignitaries. Essentially, Hill posed and arranged the individual sitters or groups while Adamson attended to the technical aspects of the exposure, processing, and printing. Some of their most powerful images, however, were made in Scottish seashore villages and depict fishermen and women. They also photographed the architecture and monument of Scotland and made calotypes of their friends posed in medieval armour or costumes. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Bibliographic reference | Stevenson, Sara. 'David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson: Catalogue of their Calotypes Taken Between 1843 and 1847 in the Collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery', (Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland, 1981). ISBN 0903148374 |
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| Accession number | RPS.1213-2018 |
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| Record created | February 23, 2018 |
| Record URL |
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