SALT AND SILVER – EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY 1840 – 1860
2015-03-23This is the first exhibition in Britain devoted to salted paper prints, one of the earliest forms of photography. A uniquely British invention, unveiled by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1839, salt prints spread across the globe, creating a new visual language of the modern moment.
This revolutionary technique transformed subjects from still lifes, portraits, landscapes and scenes of daily life into images with their own specific aesthetic: a soft, luxurious effect particular to this photographic process.
The few salt prints that survive are seldom seen due to their fragility, and so this exhibition, a collaboration with the Wilson Centre for Photography, is a singular opportunity to see the rarest and best early photographs of this type in the world.
Opposite – William Henry Fox Talbot, Study of China, 1844
Exhibition runs through to June 7th, 2015
Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
