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Tate International Touring Exhibitions
The Photographs of Roger Fenton 1852 - 60
Roger Fenton was the most celebrated photographer in England during the 1850s. In a single decade, he excelled in every area of photography. He produced images of England’s stately homes and ruined abbeys, atmospheric countryside views, reportage of the Crimean War, portraits of Queen Victoria and her family, Orientalist studies, and still lifes.
Born in 1819 near Rochdale in Lancashire, Fenton moved to London at the age of nineteen to study law. But during the 1840s he changed direction, and decided to study painting.
Like many British artists, Fenton decided to take up photography after seeing examples of the new art form at the Great Exhibition in 1851. He trained in Paris with a leading photographer, and was making his first successful photographs by February 1852.
Fenton was a passionate advocate for photography throughout his short career. He founded what became the Royal Photographic Society, organised public exhibitions and pushed for copyright protection for photographs. He proved that photography was a worthy rival to the traditional arts of drawing and painting.
Exhibiting at:
• Tate Britain (21
September 2005 - 2 January 2006)
Having shown previously in Washington, Los Angeles, and New York.
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