From its inception in the 19th century to the innovations of the present, photography has a rich history. Taking A New Power: Photography in Britain 1800 – 1850 (ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library, Oxford, UK, 1st Feb – 7th May) as a starting point, HH Volunteer writer Emery charts the trajectory of its incredible story.
19th-century Europe stood on the precipice of an invention that would fundamentally shift how we capture the world. After an announcement from Paris on the 7th of January 1839, daguerreotypes were brought into the public consciousness, fuelling the birth of what is now known as photography.
These remarkable beginnings were revealed in the temporary exhibition A New Power: Photography in Britain 1800–1850 (ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library, Oxford, Feb – May 2023). The exhibition followed photography’s evolution throughout the 19th century, the impact it had on British society, and – via the British Empire – the world. Photographers such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Richard Beard and Anna Atkins entered the spotlight for their works of the time.
Photography’s modernity, revealing nature, and ability to capture the world fascinated Victorian Britain. Photography became instrumental for the British Empire in communicating its colonialism back home, while also revealing the life of working-class Britain to the upper and middle classes who largely lay ignorant of the poverty and suffering within their own borders – and even more so outside. While 19th century Britain saw these images as an intriguing view into a world outside their own, today they act as a reminder of Britain’s colonial past and the scars it has left on the world.
British colonialism permeated early photography, and examples of the pain it caused – and erasure of the history of marginalised communities – abound. However, many of these communities also utilised this technology. Black Britons of the time used photography to dispel the white ruling class’s narratives of black history; across the Atlantic, Black photographers in America used the medium to bring about social change.
Anna Atkins is a notable name from photography’s genesis. She is considered the first woman photographer, acclaimed for her use of cyanotypes, and the first person to publish a book solely consisting of photographic images. Sadly, Anna was the only woman photographer to be featured in A New Power. Nevertheless, other women of the time, such as Ada Lovelace, had a brief spotlight.
A mathematician, Ada is widely considered to have written the first computer program and foresaw the capabilities and implications of computing 100 years prior to its birth. She is often overlooked for her work and its contribution to arguably humanity’s most groundbreaking invention: the computer. Ada was fond of daguerreotypes, with A New Power exhibiting one of her last portraits before her death to cancer in 1852.
It was a pleasure to have seen Anna and Ada featured. However, there are more women who should be highlighted for their extensive work in the field at the time. Photographers such as Ann Cooke, who, after her husband died in 1843, took to photography to support her children, going on to become the first woman photographer in Britain to establish a professional photographic portrait studio; and Julia Margaret Cameron, who produced over 900 photographs, despite her short career of only 12 years, and was offered two rooms in the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) for a portrait studio. Constance Fox Talbot also deserves a mention; a photographer, considered the first woman to take a photograph, and the wife of William Henry Fox Talbot, Constance is intrinsically linked to the medium.
Want to learn more about early photography pioneers? Click here to dig into our Historical Heroine archives and meet the women who are part of photographic legend…
