William Henry Fox Talbot: The Big Daddy of Modern Photography
A review of an innovative exhibition at the Bodleian Library
During a session of Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution in January 1839, polymath William Henry Fox Talbot displayed his paper-based photographic images to the assembly. This was a challenge to Louis Daguerre's assertion that Daguerre had created the first method of capturing images, which he named the Daguerreotype. Talbot claimed to have been experimenting and refining his processes since 1834, though did not reveal any proof until two weeks later. What became clear was that Talbot’s and Daguerre’s processes were very different, Daguerre using sensitised sheets of silver-plated copper as his medium of choice, whilst Talbot used sensitised fine writing paper. Now, more than 180 years later, photographs are still printed on paper, and Talbot is known as the inventor of modern photography.
The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford acquired Talbot's archive in 2014. Bright Sparks... was the first display of just a fraction of this immense archive. The exhibition, at the Treasury in Weston Library, placed Talbot "in conversation" with contemporary artists, some of whom provide audio commentary on the influence Talbot has on their own work. The subdued lighting in the intimate space, crucial to prevent over-exposure of some of the work on display, creates an almost reverential air, fitting given the importance of Talbot’s contribution to photography.
In 1834, Talbot invented a variation on photographic contact printing that came to be called cliché verre. A friend made some drawings on sheets of smoked varnished glass by using an engraver's needle to scratch through the darkened surface. As Talbot later recalled, 'when this is placed over a sheet of prepared [photogenic drawing paper (and exposed to the sun], a very perfect copy is obtained. He also used existing images, such as a piece of stained glass, as his cliché verre matrix and then printed photographic copies from it. For this exhibition, artist Jo Gane made a contemporary example by using both Talbot's piece of stained glass and his photographic chemistry.
The work of contemporary photographers was displayed thematically alongside Talbot's original works, which allows the breadth of Talbot’s innovation to shine through. In Talbotised 016, 017, 018, Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto used Talbot's own Electrostatic Discharge Wand to create photographs from electrical static, the white sparks against a black background reminiscent of the fronds in Talbot's Three plants. Garry Fabian Miller’s interpretation of photography went beyond the accepted thinking of image capture by mechanical means. Miller used the common element in botany and photography - light - to produce botanical prints by projecting light through suspended leaves that never make contact with photographic paper, instead, likening his process to that of light passing through a stained-glass window. Martin Parr talked of the importance of the photobook and how photographers could have complete control over an often overlooked part of the photographic process. Talbot also knew the relevance of photobooks, and created what is considered the first photobook, The Pencil of Nature in 1844-1845, a collection of calotypes of street scenes, portraits and household objects.
Talbot’s legacy and his contribution to modern photographic practices cannot be overstated. He approached photographing vernacular objects and documenting street scenes with the same care and attention as making portraits of family and friends. He made the first photograph of an existing work of art, the Mona Lisa; look around the Grand Gallery of the Louvre and you can see swarms of visitors doing the same thing today he began in the 1860s. His most important invention, the creation of the negative-positive process which is still used today, is a testament to his innovation. Pairing his work with contemporary photographers is proof that Talbot and his processes exert a great influence on the work of modern photographers who have a vast amount of digital technologies available to them. As long as artists like Martin Parr, Cornelia Parker and Justine Varga continue to create inventive, boundary-pushing work, William Henry Fox Talbot’s legacy is assured in the canon of great inventors.
Bright Sparks… and the Archive of Fox Talbot and the Talbot Family was an excellent way for a photographic history fan like me to see how twenty-first century photographers paid homage to the godfather of photography whilst advocating for traditional processes in modern work.
Thanks for reading.
More information
https://archives.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repositories/2/resources/2715