Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grasses)
Photograph
1854 (made)
1854 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Anna Atkins is credited with being the first woman photographer and the first person to produce a photographically illustrated book. She was already a skilled botanical illustrator when she took up the cyanotype photographic process, invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. As part of the process, after exposing an object in contact with paper in sunlight for a few minutes, she washed the paper in water, producing a white image on a brilliant cyan (blue) background.
Object details
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| Materials and techniques | Cyanotype on paper |
| Brief description | Photograph by Anna Atkins, 'Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grass)', 1854, cyanotype |
| Physical description | Cyanotype print showing Festuca Ovina (Fescue Grasses). The white detailed outline of the grasses stand out in stark contrast to the bright prussian blue of the background. The title 'Festuca Ovina' is also in white in the bottom left hand of the image. |
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| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Anna Atkins is credited with being the first woman photographer and the first person to produce a photographically illustrated book. She was already a skilled botanical illustrator when she took up the cyanotype photographic process, invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. As part of the process, after exposing an object in contact with paper in sunlight for a few minutes, she washed the paper in water, producing a white image on a brilliant cyan (blue) background. |
| Bibliographic reference | Coe, Brian & Haworth-Booth, Mark. A Guide to Early Photographic Printing Processes. London: The Victoria and Albert Museum in association with Hurtwood Press, 1983. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | PH.380-1981 |
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| Record created | November 4, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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