The first in Russia exhibition of William Henry Fox Talbot, the inventor of photography, ends Automatic translate

In the Pushkin Museum to them. A. Pushkin ends the first exhibition in Russia of the work of one of the inventors of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot (William Henry Fox Talbot, 1800-1877). For two months, the exhibition was visited by more than 35 thousand people.

The exhibition presents rare photographs that have become textbooks for the history of visual culture - about 150 copyright prints and negatives from the collections of the National Museum of Science and Media in Bradford and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (Great Britain), as well as devices for creating images - a pinhole camera and camera lucida - from the collection of the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow.

Talbot’s scientific discovery was not only a breakthrough in the technology of creating images, but also determined the development of the art of photography. Unlike accurate and clear daguerreotypes, kalotypic photographs had a special picturesqueness. Thanks to this, photography ceased to be perceived solely as a process of fixing reality.

Within the framework of the exhibition, a scientific conference was held, as well as an extensive educational program - lectures by Alexey Loginov - one of the largest Russian researchers in the history of photography, Alexandra Zinovieva - a specialist in the history of European literature of the XIX – XX centuries, Irina Chmyreva - art critic, curator of photographic exhibitions, as well as meeting with famous French collectors Florence and Daniel Guerlain.

Exhibition curator Olga Averyanova:

The exhibition of photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, a pioneer of photography, has become, in my opinion, a unique project for our Museum. To see genuine early examples of light painting that still has not left England is a truly rare opportunity to get acquainted not only with the history of photography, but also to understand many aspects of modern visual culture. We received many reviews from colleagues, professional photographers and amateurs, as well as viewers who are far from photography.