Jane Martha St. John (English, 1803–1882), The Colosseum, 1856, Albumen silver print, 19.5 × 25 cm (7 5/8 × 9 7/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation

NEW YORK.- Opening September 25 at the Metropolitan Museum, Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860 is the first major exhibition to survey British calotypes — works of exceptional beauty and rarity which are made from paper negatives and are among the earliest forays into the medium of photography. During the first two decades of photography, British photographers turned their lenses on family, nature, and the landscape at home, and on historic architecture, ruins of past civilizations, and exotica abroad. Impressed by Light will present works by 40 artists, including such masters as William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Roger Fenton, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, and Linnaeus Tripe, as well as many talented but unrecognized artists. The majority of the works to be featured have never before been exhibited or published in the U.S. and are unfamiliar to scholars and the public alike. The exhibition is made possible by The Hite Foundation. It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Lire la suite http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=21088

Unknown photographer, Spreading Oak with Seated Figure (detail), 1850s, Paper negative, 17.7 × 20.7 cm (7 × 8 1/8 in.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Hans P. Kraus, Jr., 2007