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Background information
"At the dawn of the Victorian age, Anna ATKINS made a radical attempt to document plant species using an entirely new artistic medium in her open-air laboratory in Halstead, Kent. The inimitable cyanotype photograms of algae and ferns she made constitute the first books of photographs. Her albums are the perfect synthesis of art and science, striking yet gossamer. Although this printing technique was discovered by her friend John Herschel, the pioneer of photography in the 19th century was the first to recognize its practical use for the classification of species within botany and its fascinating artistic potential. In , the cyanotype involves fixing the subject on sensitized paper and exposing it to direct sunlight. This produces the Prussian blue pigment that forms the distinctive background of these works of art.
Content
This volume, 'Cyanotpes', presents for the first time in their entirety the works 'British Algae' and 'Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns' by Anna ATKINS, showcasing her pioneering technique of photographically documenting botanical species around 1850. Her album 'British Algae', produced from 1843 to 1853, and the book 'Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Ferns' (1853), made with her friend Anne Dixon, are works of exceptional rarity.
Reprinted here in their entirety for the first time, they show that Anna ATKINS was a master of several disciplines: While cyanotype enabled her to meet the challenges of accurate representation, the graceful contours of the specimens against the intense blue background lent the images a timeless aesthetic appeal. In this edition, cyanotypes from a variety of sources have been carefully assembled to print the progressive works in their entirety. They are largely drawn from the New York Public Library and J. Paul Getty Museum specimens.
In his introductory essays, author Peter Walther places the more than 550 cyanotypes in their scholarly and art historical context to honor the groundbreaking contributions of a true pioneer.
In press
"Against a backdrop of luminous Prussian blue, Anna Atkins' subjects beguile like a botanical dance - alabaster ballet dancers filled with sun and light, frozen in mid-motion." (The Washington Post)