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Exhibition of Recent Specimens of Photography

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The Exhibition of Recent Specimens of Photography was an 1852 exhibition organised by the Society of Arts. It was the first exhibition in the world dedicated solely to photography. Earlier exhibitions had been done as part of a larger general exhibition, e.g. at the 1851 Great Exhibition of London. It was held at the House of the Society of Arts in London from 22 December 1852 until 29 January 1853 and featured the work of 76 photographers, for many of whom this was their first public exhibition. It led directly to the creation of the Photographic Society.

Details

The exhibition was proposed by Joseph Cundall and agreed upon by the Society of Arts on 17 November 1852. Organised mainly by Cundall and Philip Henry Delamotte, it opened on 22 December 1852 at the House of the Society of Arts in London. Roger Fenton gave at the night of the opening a lecture titled "On the Present Position and Future of the Art of Photography", which was also included in the catalogue.[1] Some 400 photographs were initially on display. Originally intended to only stay open for a week, it was extended until 29 January 1853 due to the greater than expected success, including visits from well-known painters like Dante Gabriel Rossetti. This also lead to the addition of 400 further photographs and a reprint of the catalogue. In total, 76 photographers had their work shown at the exhibition, many of them British but with a large representation of Continental, mainly French artists as well.[2]

The exhibition wanted to focus on the artistic aspect of photography, not the commercial side, and excluded daguerreotypes. Technology was still fast developing at the time, and the exhibition came at the moment that the older calotype process, with paper negatives, was being replaced by the new collodion process, first described in 1850 and 1851 and already getting very popular. Some 460 exhibited photographs were made with the calotype process, against some 300 for the other processes, mainly the collodion process and albumen prints.[2]

The exhibition lead directly to the creation of the Photographic Society on 20 January 1853. One of its first endeavours was a follow-up exhibition of 83 works that would travel around the United Kingdom, starting in September 1853 and lasting until April 1854. Further similar touring exhibitions were organised in 1854 and 1855.[2]

Participants

References

  1. ^ All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852-1860. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2004. p. 215. ISBN 9781588391285.
  2. ^ a b c Taylor, Roger (2007). Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840-1860. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 50. ISBN 9781588392251.
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