id: 153667 accession number: 1987.19 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1987.19 updated: 2023-08-23 22:59:27.631000 James Nasmyth (1808-1890), 1843–1847. David Octavius Hill (British, 1802–1870), and Robert Adamson (British, 1821–1848). Salted paper print from calotype negative; image: 19.7 x 14.6 cm (7 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1987.19 title: James Nasmyth (1808-1890) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1843–1847 creation date earliest: 1843 creation date latest: 1847 current location: creditline: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: salted paper print from calotype negative department: Photography collection: PH - British 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * David Octavius Hill (British, 1802–1870) - artist David Octavius Hill British, b. Scotland, 1802-1870; and Robert Adamson British, b. Scotland, 1821-1848 Brought together out of necessity, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson proved to be collaborators whose work was as inspired as its impact has been long lasting. Hill was born in Perth to a family in the printing and publishing business. Trained as a painter, an occupation pursued throughout his life, Hill also was an illustrator and lithographer. His earliest work, Sketches of Scenery in Perthshire Drawn from Nature and on Stone (1821), published before he was 20, was one of the first in Britain to employ the new medium of lithography. In 1829 he helped found the Royal Scottish Academy, serving as secretary from 1830-70. Hill turned to photography as an aid for a large group portrait of the 474 ministers who formed the new Free Church of Scotland. Noting the difficulties of such a monumental task, photographic pioneer Sir David Brewster, an associate of William Henry Fox Talbot, introduced Hill to Robert Adamson (born in Brunswick). Trained as an engineer, Adamson had learned the technique of photography from his brother John, whom Brewster had taught. The portraits necessary for Hill's work were the beginning of their collaboration, the two working in Adamson's Edinburgh studio in 1843. Hill is generally thought to be the artistic mind behind their images, while Adamson served as the technician responsible for the camera. This opinion among scholars, however, is shifting toward greater recognition of Adamson's artistic skill. After Adamson's early death in 1848, Hill stopped working entirely for 10 years before continuing in collaboration with A. McGlashan of Glasgow at a considerably diminished level. The portraits by Hill and Adamson are known for their painterly, Old Master quality and exceptional use of light and shadow. Other images include architecture, landscape, and a series on the small fishing village of Newhaven. T.W.F. * Robert Adamson (British, 1821–1848) - artist David Octavius Hill British, b. Scotland, 1802-1870; and Robert Adamson British, b. Scotland, 1821-1848 Brought together out of necessity, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson proved to be collaborators whose work was as inspired as its impact has been long lasting. Hill was born in Perth to a family in the printing and publishing business. Trained as a painter, an occupation pursued throughout his life, Hill also was an illustrator and lithographer. His earliest work, Sketches of Scenery in Perthshire Drawn from Nature and on Stone (1821), published before he was 20, was one of the first in Britain to employ the new medium of lithography. In 1829 he helped found the Royal Scottish Academy, serving as secretary from 1830-70. Hill turned to photography as an aid for a large group portrait of the 474 ministers who formed the new Free Church of Scotland. Noting the difficulties of such a monumental task, photographic pioneer Sir David Brewster, an associate of William Henry Fox Talbot, introduced Hill to Robert Adamson (born in Brunswick). Trained as an engineer, Adamson had learned the technique of photography from his brother John, whom Brewster had taught. The portraits necessary for Hill's work were the beginning of their collaboration, the two working in Adamson's Edinburgh studio in 1843. Hill is generally thought to be the artistic mind behind their images, while Adamson served as the technician responsible for the camera. This opinion among scholars, however, is shifting toward greater recognition of Adamson's artistic skill. After Adamson's early death in 1848, Hill stopped working entirely for 10 years before continuing in collaboration with A. McGlashan of Glasgow at a considerably diminished level. The portraits by Hill and Adamson are known for their painterly, Old Master quality and exceptional use of light and shadow. Other images include architecture, landscape, and a series on the small fishing village of Newhaven. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 19.7 x 14.6 cm (7 3/4 x 5 3/4 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on recto: "H / 1140"; "James Nasmyth (Steam Hammer)" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1987 opening date: 1988-02-24T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988). title: Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century opening date: 2016-10-22T04:00:00 Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Mendel Art Gallery, Sasaktoon, Canada, May 15 - June 21, 1987: "The Photographs of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson." Bell, Keith. The Photographs of David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson (Saskatoon, Canada: Mendel Art Gallery, 1987), p. 50, no. 18, repr. p. 33. (Exhibition also held at Edmonton Art Gallery, Aug. 29-Oct. 15, 1987; Art Gallery of Ontario, Mar. 23-May 8, 1988) --- PROVENANCE David Octavius Hill date: footnotes: citations: Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh date: footnotes: citations: David Octavius Hill; Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Among the earliest photographers to explore both the artistic and societal possibilities of the portrait were the painter David Octavius Hill and engineer Robert Adamson, partners for just three years before Adamson’s death. Elizabeth Rigby,seen here at age 35, went on to marry Sir Charles Eastlake and, in 1857, to write one of the first histories of photography as a fine art. James Nasmyth, an engineer who developed the steam hammer, holds a compass. Hill and Adamson often shot outdoors because bright sunlight allowed shorter exposure times. They subordinated the background in shadow and bathed the important details of the face and finery in areas of light. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1987." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (1988): 30-71. page number: p. 67, no. 61, repr. p. 57 url: www.jstor.org/stable/25160017 Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 195 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.19/1987.19_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.19/1987.19_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1987.19/1987.19_full.tif