Citizendia

Roger Fenton, self-portrait
Roger Fenton, self-portrait

Roger Fenton (March 20, 1819 - August 8, 1869) was a pioneering British photographer, one of the first war photographers. Events 1600 - The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden. Year 1819 ( MDCCCXIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar in the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year Events 1220 - Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula. Year 1869 ( MDCCCLXIX) is a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 Photography (fә'tɒgrәfi or fә'tɑːgrәfi (from Greek φωτο and γραφία is the process and Art of recording pictures by means of capturing

Roger Fenton was born in Heywood, Lancashire. Heywood is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, in Greater Manchester, England Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea His grandfather was a wealthy Lancashire cotton manufacturer and banker, his father a banker and member of Parliament. Fenton was the fourth of seven children by his father's first marriage. His father had 10 more children by his second wife.

In 1838 Fenton went to University College London where he graduated in 1840 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, having studied English, mathematics, literature, and logic. University College London ( UCL) is a multi-faculty university institution based in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London In 1841, he began to study law at University College, evidently sporadically as he did not qualify as a solicitor until 1847, in part because he had become interested in studying to be a painter. In Yorkshire in 1843 Fenton married Grace Elizabeth Maynard, presumably after his first sojourn in Paris (his passport was issued in 1842) where he may briefly have studied painting in the studio of Paul Delaroche. Hippolyte Delaroche, commonly known as Paul Delaroche ( July 17, 1797 &ndash November 4, 1856) was a French painter When he registered as a copyist in the Louvre in 1844 he named his teacher as being the history and portrait painter Michel Martin Drolling, who taught at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, but Fenton's name does not appear in the records of that school. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Michel Martin Drolling ( March 7 1789 - January 9 1851) was a neoclassic French painter, painter of history and portraitist École des Beaux-Arts ("School of Fine Arts" refers to a number of influential Art schools in France. By 1847 Fenton had returned to London where he continued to study painting now under the tutelage of the history painter Charles Lucy, who became his friend and with whom, starting in 1850, he served on the board of the North London School of Drawing and Modelling. Charles Lucy (b 1814 in Norton Canon Herefordshire - 1873 in Hereford) was an English historical painter of the Victorian era. In 1849, 1850, and 1851 he exhibited paintings in the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy. This article refers to an art institution in London For other meanings of Royal Academy see Royal Academy (disambiguation.

Fenton visited the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in London in 1851 and was impressed by the photography on display there. He then visited Paris to learn the waxed paper calotype process, most likely from Gustave Le Gray, its inventor. Calotype or talbotype is an early Photographic process introduced in 1841 by Henry Fox Talbot, using Paper coated with Silver iodide Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (August 30 1820 – July 30 1884 has been called "the most important French Photographer of the nineteenth century because of his technical By 1852 he had photographs exhibited in England, and travelled to Kiev, Moscow and St. Petersburg making calotypes there, and photographed views and architecture around Britain. Year 1852 ( MDCCCLII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Kiev, also known as Kyiv ( Ukrainian:, Kyiv, ˈkɪjiw Russian:, Kiyev; see also Cities' alternative names) is the Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Saint Petersburg ( tr: Sankt-Peterburg,) is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River He published a call for the setting up of a photographic society.

Col. Doherty, Officers & Men, 13th Light Dragoons by Roger Fenton, 1855
Col. Doherty, Officers & Men, 13th Light Dragoons by Roger Fenton, 1855

In 1855 Fenton went to the Crimean War on assignment for the publisher Thomas Agnew to photograph the troops, with a photographic assistant Marcus Sparling and a servant and a large van of equipment. Year 1855 ( MDCCCLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Eastern War (Восточная война Vostochnaya Vojna) (March 1854–February 1856 was fought Despite high temperatures, breaking several ribs, and suffering from cholera, he managed to make over 350 usable large format negatives. Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic cholera or epidemic cholera, is an infectious Gastroenteritis caused by the Bacterium An exhibition of 312 prints was soon on show in London. Sales were not as good as expected, possibly because the war had ended. According to Susan Sontag, in her work Regarding the Pain of Others (ISBN 0-374-24858-3) (2003), Fenton was sent to the Crimean War as the first official war photographer at the insistence of Prince Albert. Susan Sontag ( January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American Literary theorist, Philosopher, Regarding the Pain of Others (ISBN 0374248583 was Susan Sontag 's last published book before her death in 2004 The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Eastern War (Восточная война Vostochnaya Vojna) (March 1854–February 1856 was fought The photographs produced were to be used to offset the general aversion of the British people to an unpopular war, and to counteract the antiwar reporting of The Times. The Kingdom of Great Britain, also known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain, was a State in northwest Europe, in existence from 1707 to 1800 The term anti-war usually refers to the opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. The photographs were to be converted into woodblocks and published in the less critical Illustrated London News and published in book form and displayed in a gallery. The Illustrated London News was a Magazine founded by Herbert Ingram and his friend Mark Lemon, the editor of Punch Fenton avoided making pictures of dead, injured or mutilated soldiers.

Valley of the Shadow of Death, with road cleared of cannonballs, by Roger Fenton, 1855
Valley of the Shadow of Death, with road cleared of cannonballs, by Roger Fenton, 1855
Valley of the Shadow of Death, with road full of cannonballs, by Roger Fenton, 1855
Valley of the Shadow of Death, with road full of cannonballs, by Roger Fenton, 1855

Due to the size and cumbersome nature of his photographic equipment, Fenton was limited in his choice of motifs. And because of the not very photosensitive material of his time, he was only able to produce pictures of unmoving objects, mostly posed pictures. But he also photographed the landscape, including an area near to where the Light Brigade - made famous in Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" - was ambushed, called The Valley of Death; however, Fenton's photographs were taken in the similarly named The Valley of the Shadow of Death. Alfred Tennyson 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892 was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and remains one of the most popular English poets The Charge of the Light Brigade is an 1854 Narrative poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson about the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle Two pictures were taken of this area, one with several cannonballs on the road, the other with an empty road. Opinions differ concerning which one was taken first. Filmmaker Errol Morris wrote a series of essays canvassing the evidence. Errol Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American Academy Award winning Documentary film director He concluded that the photo without the cannonballs was taken first, but he remained uncertain about who moved the balls onto the road in the second picture - were they deliberately placed on the road by Fenton to enhance the image, or were soldiers in the process of removing them for reuse? [1][2][3]

Several of Fenton's pictures, including the two versions of The Valley of the Shadow of Death, are published in The Ultimate Spectacle: A Visual History of the Crimean War by Ulrich Keller (ISBN 90-5700-569-7) (2001).


Seated Odalisque by Roger Fenton
Seated Odalisque by Roger Fenton

In 1858 Fenton made studio genre studies based on romantically imaginative ideas of Muslim life, such as Seated Odalisque, using friends and models who were not always convincing in their roles. Year 1858 ( MDCCCLVIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion

Fenton is considered the first war photographer for his work during the Crimean War, for which he used a mobile studio called a "photographic van". The Crimean War, also known in Russia as the Eastern War (Восточная война Vostochnaya Vojna) (March 1854–February 1856 was fought In recognition of the importance of his photography, Fenton's photos of the Crimean war were included in the collection, 100 Photos that Changed the World.

References

  1. ^ Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg? (Part One) The New York Times. September 25, 2007.
  2. ^ Which Came First? (Part Two) The New York Times. October 4, 2007.
  3. ^ Which Came First? (Part Three) The New York Times. October 23, 2007.

External links

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