Congratulations to all involved in the conception and building of the new Lishui International Handmade Photography Centre in Lishui, Zhejiang, China. I am honoured and excited to be an Advisor to the Centre to share knowledge and expertise in a range of historical and alternative photographic printing processes, in particular Chrysotype and Salted Paper.
The ‘Ingenious and Lively’ Elizabeth Fulhame – the forerunner of photography
Credit: Royal Irish Academy
Scientific papers don’t usually provide insight into an author’s personality, however, Elizabeth Fulhame’s 1794 published Essay on Combustion[1] not only illustrates her scientific brilliance, but her sass as she openly challenged the 18th century patriarchy.
Elizabeth Fulhame is credited as a forerunner of photography, courtesy of inventing photoreduction, and with having discovered catalysis – where a substance is used to speed up a chemical reaction without being consumed by it.
Fulhame’s achievements are the result of her experiments that investigated the reduction of metal salts, including gold, mercury, platinum, silver, copper and tin, using a number of reducing agents under the influence of water and sunlight. She exposed these on cloth in various states including in water, dry or with an ether or alcohol solution, and exposed the cloth to sunlight. In the context of photography, this became the first known example of photochemical imaging.[2]
Her work occurred at a time when female scientists were rare and the contribution of women to science not openly embraced. She was critical of the patriarchal profession and not shy about expressing her views on this:
“It may appear presuming to some, that I should engage in pursuit of this nature … But censure is perhaps inevitable; for some are so ignorant, that they grow sullen and silent, and are chilled with horror at the sight of any thing, that bears the semblance of learnings, in whatever shape it may appear; and should the spectre appear in the shape of woman, the pangs, which they suffer, are truly dismal.”
While some commentators did experience the predicted ‘pangs’, Fulhame’s research was influential and acknowledged in early 19th-century scientific and photographic texts. Her publication went on to be translated into German in 1798 and republished in the United States of America by the Chemical Society of Philadelphia in 1810.
Fulhame’s photochemical discoveries were also acknowledged by Sir John Herschel in his 1839 presentation to the Royal Society on gold as a possible image-making substance. Her research finding about the necessity of moisture to facilitate the reduction of gold to form an image informed Herschel’s photographic experiments and his invention of the chrysotype gold printing process in 1842.
Elizabeth Fulhame’s work continues to inspire the production of photographic works in contemporary setting. Her research can be found here.
[1] Fulhame, Mrs. (1794) An Essay on Combustion, with a view to a new art of dy[e]ing and painting: wherein the phlogistic and antiphlogistic hypotheses are proved erroneous. London: J. Cooper.
[2] Schaaf, Larry J. (1990). "The first fifty years of British photography, 1794-1844". In Pritchard, Michael (ed.). Technology and art: the birth and early years of photography : the proceedings of the Royal Photographic Historical Group conference 1-3 September 1989. Bath: RPS Historical Group. pp. 9–18
Drape exhibition
Alternative Photographic Processes Symposium
It was a pleasure to present the historical and contemporary use of the New Chrysotype process at the Australian Photographic Processes Symposium (APPS) in Victoria. Organised and hosted by Gold Street Studios the APPS brings together international and Australian practitioners to examine 19 century photographic practices and their use in contemporary work.
Conservation techniques, the merging of analogue and digital technologies, and ground breaking research (National Gallery of Art, Washington DC) regarding the stability of platinum and palladium prints were discussed. Christina Z Anderson, Associate Professor in Photography from Montana University, Dianne Longely (Agave Print Studio), Lynette Zeeng (Swinburne University) and Jane Wood (State Library of Victoria) were several of the presenters.
A few years ago I was fortunate to be introduced to the New Chrysotype printing process by the affable and generous Dr Mike Ware. A chemist and exhibiting photographer, Dr Ware has been successful in modifying Sir John Herschel's chryostype process of 1842 to overcome issues such as excessive contrast and uncontrollable colours.
New Chrysotype is a print out process that uses UV light (blue end of the spectrum) to produce images that have a delicate tonal gradation and a matt surface finish.
Fascinated by the prospect of achieving a range of monochromatic colours including pink and purple, I began working with this process to explore the colour variations and create images of pure gold. Some examples of the pink achievable with this process and the split tone effect can be found in the Drape series on this site.