PhotoHistorica, Landmarks in Photography: Rare Images from the Collection of the Royal Photographic Society [Hardcover]

Pam Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2000

For the first time, photographs from the Royal Photographic Society are gathered together in a fascinating, unique tribute to the art form. Highlights include one of the world's oldest photographic images; rare works by Stieglitz, Steichen, and Coburn; selections from the collections of Julia Margaret Cameron and Roger Fenton; extraordinary images from mid-nineteenth-century travelers who brought back "exotic" prints from the East; and eccentric and beautiful works from unknown professional and amateur photographers. Taken together, they represent an unbroken thread linking the development of genres, styles, and techniques.

From portraiture to journalism, landscape to fashion, PhotoHistorica juxtaposes work both familiar and unfamiliar, putting images into a provocative thematic context. Every page reveals the enduring power of photography.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Even the most jaded browser of photographic history collections will covet this handsomely produced volume of superb images from the 1840s to the 1950s. Organized loosely by subject matter (portraiture, social documentary, nature and science, travel), PhotoHistorica contains more than 300 images by the likes of Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Roger Fenton, and Edward Steichen. But the most intriguing aspect of this book, drawn from the collection of an organization founded by amateur photographers in mid-19th-century London, is its inclusion of unusual prints known only to specialists. A full page is devoted to an anonymous turn-of-the-century photographer's image of hairs on the wing of a house fly, a mesmerizing abstract pattern of tapering black shapes. German photographer Heinrich Kühn imbued a 1905 view of three women in peasant dress trudging up a sand dune in the midday sun with a timeless, iconic quality. The luminous effects possible in black-and-white photography of the era produced sensual depictions of nudes and moody landscape views, both rural and urban. During the same period, the Autochrome process--color transparencies on glass--yielded brilliant effects that look startlingly modern.

The "Art" and "Nudes and Fashion" sections contain some images we now view as kitsch, including Fred Holland Day's earnest photograph of himself as Jesus on the cross and Annie Brigman's outdoor shot of a nude boy with a wood sprite's antennae who ponders a symbolic glass globe. But the book, with helpful commentary by Pam Roberts, curator of the collection, chooses to embrace the spirit of wonder that suffused photography in its first century. And it's almost impossible to resist. --Cathy Curtis

From Library Journal

The oldest continually active photographic organization in the world, the Royal Photographic Society has become known as a repository and exhibition site for the work of talented amateurs as well as its many famous members. The strength of this book is that it gives readers the opportunity to learn more about the work of skilled practitioners, many of them women, whose names are rarely seen in the literature. From the huge collection, which has been growing for nearly 150 years, society curator Roberts has chosen photographs that fit into eight genres: portraiture, social documentary, domestic, nature and science, art, nudes and fashion, landscape and architecture, and travel. The reproductions are of the highest quality, early color processes are accurately reproduced, and the selection of images is amazingly varied and full of marvelous surprises. In addition to introductory essays, each caption provides substantial information about the photographer, the process, the composition, and the location as well as other perceptive and useful commentary. There are also technical specifications for each photograph and short biographies in the end matter. This is a superb book, worthy of inclusion in every photographic history collection. Highly recommended. Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Corporate Archives, San Francisco
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Artisan; First Edition edition (October 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579651690
• ISBN-13: 978-1579651695
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 11 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Finest Book of British Photography!, July 6, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: PhotoHistorica, Landmarks in Photography: Rare Images from the Collection of the Royal Photographic Society (Hardcover)

Review Summary: This book deserves more than five stars for ravishing reproductions of the finest British photographs drawn for the remarkable collection of The Royal Photographic Society. While more than 70 percent of the collection comes from its members, you will also find outstanding works by many American photographers whose works have been added to the collection. The quality of this book is superb from its essays about the history of photography to discussions of how various methods evolved. If you only plan to own one book of British photography, this is the one to have!

Viewer Caution: The book contains many nude images that would cause the material to exceed what would cause a motion picture to earn an R rating.

Review: The successor to The Royal Photographic Society was founded as The Photographic Society of London in 1853. The Society's collection now contains over 270,000 images dating from 1826 to the present day. This volume contains representative examples of the best of the collection, drawn both from the ranks of the famous and the little known. Some of these photographs are published for the first time in this volume. Although containing works that will delight the most sophisticated, the images are chosen to be appealing to those who know little about photography as well.

The book is organized around photography as portaiture, social documentary, domestic family uses, nature and science applications, artistic images, nudes, fashion, landscapes, architecture, and travel. Each section begins with a superb, easy-to-understand historical perspective on the subject matter that traces the developments and the roles of key photographers.

The pages are very large, and the book's design maximizes the opportunity to create either large images or use lots of white space to show each image at its best. Many of the effects are very subtle, and the reproductions capture these elements well.

Anyone who has always wanted to know the differences among Daguerrotypes, calotypes, albumen prints, wet collodion positives, and platinum prints will find both the introductory essay and the appendix on processes to be invaluable and easy to understand.

Contrary to my usual practice, I will not list my favorite images in the book. I was enthralled with almost all of them! If you are like me, you will find the faces, compositions, and moods of these works to be especially strong.

This is one of the five best photography books it has been my pleasure to read and view.

After you finish enjoying this wonderful look at the past world, imagine how you would want to photograph the future for us all. What images would be in it? Who would be in those images? What stories would they tell? How can you help make all this happen?

Create the illustrated story of your life by imaging it first in your mind!

5.0 out of 5 stars A collection of images selected for their visual impact, March 1, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PhotoHistorica, Landmarks in Photography: Rare Images from the Collection of the Royal Photographic Society (Hardcover)

Photohistorica packs in rare photographic images from the collection of the Royal Photographic Society, packing in over three hundred color and duotone photos in all subject areas in a history of the medium. Photohistorica isn't intended to be the usual photographic reference book, but a collection of images selected for their visual impact and long-standing importance. Rare works and unique images abound. Should be an art library's mainstay.