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George Meikle Kemp

Photograph
1843-1844 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 'George Meikle Kemp', Architect of the Scott Monument, calotype negative taken ca. 1843-1844, carbon reprint from the Alvin Langdon Coburn gift to the RPS collection, 1930

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleGeorge Meikle Kemp (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Brief description
Photograph by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, 'George Meikle Kemp', Architect of the Scott Monument, calotype negative taken ca. 1843-1844, carbon reprint from the Alvin Langdon Coburn gift to the RPS collection, 1930
Dimensions
  • Mount width: 275mm
  • Mount height: 367mm
Style
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.
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
Other number
pg. 77 (a) - National Galleries of Scotland, Hill & Adamson 1981 Catalogue, page and classification
Collection
Accession number
RPS.1806-2018

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Record createdMay 8, 2018
Record URL
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