id: 154194 accession number: 1988.239 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.239 updated: 2019-11-18 11:45:09.664000 Scotch Firs, Hawkhurst, 1853. Benjamin Brecknell Turner (British, 1815-1894). Albumen print from calotype; image: 28.6 x 39.1 cm (11 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.); matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1988.239 title: Scotch Firs, Hawkhurst title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1853 creation date earliest: 1853 creation date latest: 1853 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: England, 19th century technique: albumen print from calotype department: Photography collection: Photography type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Benjamin Brecknell Turner (British, 1815-1894) - artist Benjamin Brecknell Turner British, 1815-1894 Benjamin Turner was considered one of Britain's finest calotypists. His principal subjects were architecture and landscape, but he also produced portraits. Turner took up photography in 1849, learning the new art form directly from William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the calotype process. He also worked with Sir Charles Wheatstone, an early experimenter in optics and photography. Turner practiced photography both in the field and in a glazed studio he had built above the family tallow chandling business, which he managed for more than 50 years after the death of his father in 1841. Like his photographs, his candles were said to be the best of their kind. He enjoyed photographing the countryside and would often transport his enormous camera and portable darkroom on a wheeled cart. Turner's work is distinguished by an interest in detail derived from earlier painting, as well as by conveyance of the strong feelings objectified in his images of buildings and land. His wife, Agnes Chamberlain, was a member of the Worcester china family, and many of his images are of the Worcester-Hereford area. Turner belonged to the Calotype Club and was a founder of both the Photographic Exchange Club (serving as treasurer and honorary secretary) and the Photographic Society of London (later serving as vice president). One of his works in the Great Exhibition in London (1851) was admired by and presented to Prince Albert. Turner's works were also included in the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris, where he won a bronze medal, and the 1862 International Exhibition in London. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 28.6 x 39.1 cm (11 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 61 cm (20 x 24 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). title: Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection opening date: 2000-08-12T00:00:00 Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 12, 2000-January 3, 2001). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, June 29 - August 26, 1990: "The World Seen Anew: English and French Photographs of the 1850's," Gallery D, no exhibition catalogue.
CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."
Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; August 12, 2000 - January 3, 2001. "Pioneers of Landscape Photography from the Museum's Collection." --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: Despite the Industrial Revolution, Benjamin Brecknell Turner portrayed the English countryside as stable, harmonious, and unchanging—a place where nature and humanity coexist in complete harmony. Here the artist captured a pastoral scene in Surrey, combining towering trees, houses, and farm buildings to create a skillful blend of rustic domesticity and charming landscape. Preferring to photograph at an angle, Turner's composition is enlivened by the strong diagonals found in the receding lines of trees, fence, and pathway, which lead the viewer in an orderly progression from foreground to background. According to family tradition, Scotch Firs, Hawkhurst was so admired by Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert that Turner presented him with a print of the photograph in 1853. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.239/1988.239_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.239/1988.239_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1988.239/1988.239_full.tif