Background information
"The English illustrator Anna ATKINS was a modern woman in every sense of the word. For the publication of her plant collections she used the latest technique, the just invented cyanotype. With it, in 1843, she created the first photobook in history, with images of breathtaking beauty and originality that often look like modern art. At first Anna ATKINS worked with and for her father, the zoologist John George Children, later she chose the objects of her scientific compilations herself: Algae and ferns. Anna ATKINS placed them on light-sensitive paper, which turned deep blue after developing in water, except for the areas covered by the plants. First alone, then together with her friend Anne Dixon, she produced well over 10,000 copies of her photograms and compiled them in a few books like albums. Today, these rare copies are guarded as treasures in museums and libraries. Anna ATKINS, for whom the love of botany meant much more than a recreational pleasure, has been forgotten again and again in the course of time and thus remained rather unknown to the general public. Content
With a selection of the most beautiful and original illustrations from her publications and illuminating texts by Rolf Sachsse, this bibliophile volume, 'Blue Prints,' pays tribute to Anna ATKINS as a pioneer of photography and a great artist." (freely translated, © Verlag Klinkhardt & Biermann, 2021)About the book designer, Marion BLOMEYER
Deutsch
English
