William Henry Fox Talbot. At the source of photography

For the first time in Russia at an exhibition in the Pushkin Museum. A.S. Pushkin will be presented with unique photo prints made by William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877) in 1840–1846. The name Talbot in the history of photography is as significant as the name of Leonardo da Vinci in the history of painting. Talbot invented a negative-positive process called “Talbotipia” or “calotypy,” which allowed replicating images. The photographic experiments of an English scientist are interesting not only in terms of technology. Unlike detailed and clear daguerreotypes, his pictures were especially picturesque, due to which the photograph began to be perceived not only as a process of copying reality, but also as art.

Library. Sheet VIII from the “Pencil of Nature” album. 1841-1844. Calotypy. Paper; salt printing, with paper negativity. National Museum of Science and Media, Bradford (UK)

The exhibition will feature about 150 photographic paper prints and negatives from the collection of the National Museum of Science and Media in Bradford and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (UK), including photographs from the albums “Nature’s Pencil” and “Sunny Pictures of Scotland”.

Curator: Olga Averyanova, Head of the Department of Art of Photography.