The Evolution of Photography: With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, Etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty YearsWerge, John, active 1854-1890
History
The Evolution of Photography: With a Chronological Record of Discoveries, Inventions, Etc., Contributions to Photographic Literature, and Personal Reminescences Extending over Forty Years
Werge, John, active 1854-1890
Photography -- History
The most eminent English photographers also show up well. We saw the
well-known works of Mayall, Silvy, Claudet, Maull and Co., and others,
eminent in plain photography. Messrs. Lock and Whitfield exhibit a Royal
case of exquisitely coloured photographs of the Prince and Princess of
Wales, and Prince Albert Victor. Mr. G. Wharton Simpson also exhibits a
few specimens of his beautiful collodio-chloride of silver printing
process. There are some lovely specimens of that process with such a
frightfully ugly name, but which, in plain parlance, are pictures on
opal glass, though Mr. Helsby has christened them "Helioaristotypia
miniatures." As a set-off to this, the next dry process that is
discovered should be called "Hydrophobiatypia."
In amateur portraiture, Mr. H. Cooper, Jun., exhibits a large number of
his clever life studies, as well as those quiet and charming
representations of his friends in their habits as they live.
Solar camera enlargements are very numerously contributed. Mr. Claudet
sends some good pictures enlarged by solar camera, and developed with
gallic acid. Mr. Salomon also has some very good examples of enlarging.
Dr. D. Van Monckhoven is an exhibitor of the capabilities of his direct
printing camera. Mr. Mayall exhibits two series of very interesting
enlargements by the Monckhoven camera, printed direct on albumenized
paper; one is Tennyson, in eight different sizes, from a one-ninth to a
life-size head on a whole sheet of paper; of the other, Captain Grant,
there are seven similar pictures. These photographs are all bold and
vigorous and uniform in colour, and come nearer to our idea of what an
enlargement should be than anything we have yet seen. Of the two, that
of the Poet-Laureate is the best; the other is harsher, which is in all
probability due to the difference in the subjects themselves. We can
easily imagine that the face of Captain Grant, bronzed and
weather-beaten as it must be, will present more obstacles to the
obtaining of a soft negative than that of Tennyson. Specimens of
photo-sculpture are also to be seen at the Dublin Exhibition, many of
which are very pretty and life-like statuettes; but some of the figures
seem much too large in the _busts_, and the plinths on which the figures
of ladies stand are in very bad taste; being diminishing beads of a
circular form, they suggest the idea of a huge crinoline just dropped.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account