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Lace

A work made of salted paper print.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of salted paper print.

Date:

1844/45

Artist:

William Henry Fox Talbot
English, 1800–1877

About this artwork

William Henry Fox Talbot, one of the inventors of photography, was a polymath who felt as comfortable writing Greek verse as he did experimenting with botany and chemistry. His negative/positive process—and the reproductive possibilities it engendered—came to dominate photography until the digital age. Talbot held artistic aspirations, but he was also interested in the myriad scientific and commercial applications for photography. He hoped that his photographs of lace, for example, might make it easier to copy intricate patterns and thus facilitate manufacturing. The negative for this print was likely made by laying a fragment of lace upon a piece of photosensitized paper and exposing it to the sun, without the aid of a camera.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

William Henry Fox Talbot

Title

Lace

Place

England (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1844–1845

Medium

Salted paper print

Dimensions

Image: 18.6 × 22.8 cm (7 3/8 × 9 in.); Paper: 18.6 × 22.5 cm (7 3/8 × 8 7/8 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Everett Kovler

Reference Number

1967.152

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/27066/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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