Color and Victorian Photography

Lindsay Smith

Jul 2020 · Routledge

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Nineteenth-century photography is usually thought of in terms of ‘black and white’ images, but intense experimentation with generating and fixing colors pre-dated the public announcement of the daguerreotype in 1839. Introducing readers to the long, frequently overlooked story of the relationship of color to photography, this short anthology of primary sources includes: accounts of the scientific search for color by Elizabeth Fulhame and Sir John Herschel;photographers' views on color; extracts from the photographic press and from manuals on handcoloring; and accounts by critics such as John Ruskin. The volume provides a fresh perspective on the culture, history and theory of early photography, demonstrating why scientists, philosophers, photographers, literary writers and artists were so fascinated by the potential for polychrome in photographs. With an introductory essay arguing that from the earliest days of photography the prospect of color loomed large in the imagination of its creators, users and critics, this reader is an essential resource for students and scholars wanting to gain a full understanding of nineteenth-century photography and its relationship to art history, literature and culture.

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Lindsay Smith is Professor in the School of English, and Co-Director of the Centre for Photography and the Visual, at the University of Sussex. With an interest in photography dating back to her training in Fine Art, she specializes in the interrelationships between nineteenth-century photography, literature and painting. She has published widely in the field and her books include: Victorian Photography, Painting and Poetry (1995), The Politics of Focus: Women, Children and Nineteenth Century Photography (1998), Pre-Raphaelitism: Poetry and Painting (2013) and Lewis Carroll: Photography on the Move (2015).