The Exhibition of Recent Specimens of Photography was an 1852 exhibition organised by the

Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

. It was the first exhibition in the world dedicated solely to photography. Earlier exhibitions had been done as part of a larger general exhibition, e.g. at the 1851

Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...

of London. It was held at the House of the Society of Arts in London from 22 December 1852 until 29 January 1853 and featured the work of 76 photographers, for many of whom this was their first public exhibition. It led directly to the creation of the

Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

Details

The exhibition was proposed by

Joseph Cundall Joseph Cundall (22 September 1818 – 10 January 1895) was a Victorian English writer under the pseudonym of "Stephen Percy", a pioneer photographer and London publisher of children's books. He provided employment for many of the best artists o ...

and agreed upon by the Society of Arts on 17 November 1852. Organised mainly by Cundall and

Philip Henry Delamotte Philip Henry Delamotte (21 April 1821 – 24 February 1889) was a British photographer and illustrator. Delamotte was born at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, the son of Mary and William Alfred Delamotte. Philip Delamotte became an artis ...

, it opened on 22 December 1852 at the House of the Society of Arts in London.

Roger Fenton Roger Fenton (28 March 1819 – 8 August 1869) was a British photographer, noted as one of the first war photographers. Fenton was born into a Lancashire merchant family. After graduating from London with an Arts degree, he became interested i ...

gave at the night of the opening a lecture titled "On the Present Position and Future of the Art of Photography", which was also included in the catalogue. Some 400 photographs were initially on display. Originally intended to only stay open for a week, it was extended until 29 January 1853 due to the greater than expected success, including visits from well-known painters like

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

. This also lead to the addition of 400 further photographs and a reprint of the catalogue. In total, 76 photographers had their work shown at the exhibition, many of them British but with a large representation of Continental, mainly French artists as well. The exhibition wanted to focus on the artistic aspect of photography, not the commercial side, and excluded

daguerreotype Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...

s. Technology was still fast developing at the time, and the exhibition came at the moment that the older calotype process, with paper negatives, was being replaced by the new

collodion process The collodion process is an early photographic process. The collodion process, mostly synonymous with the "collodion wet plate process", requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed, and developed within the span of about ...

, first described in 1850 and 1851 and already getting very popular. Some 460 exhibited photographs were made with the calotype process, against some 300 for the other processes, mainly the collodion process and

albumen print The albumen print, also called albumen silver print, was published in January 1847 by Louis Désiré Blanquart-Evrard, and was the first commercially exploitable method of producing a photographic print on a paper base from a negative. It us ...

s. The exhibition lead directly to the creation of the

on 20 January 1853. One of its first endeavours was a follow-up exhibition of 83 works that would travel around the United Kingdom, starting in September 1853 and lasting until April 1854. Further similar touring exhibitions were organised in 1854 and 1855.

Participants

Frederick Scott Archer ] Frederick Scott Archer (1813 – 1 May 1857) was an English photographer and sculptor who is best known for having invented the photographic collodion process which preceded the modern gelatin emulsion. He was born in either Bishop's Stortfor ...

(1813–1857) *Cornelius Birch Bagster (1815–1893) *George Barker *Either

Edmond Becquerel Alexandre-Edmond Becquerel (24 March 1820 – 11 May 1891), known as Edmond Becquerel, was a French physicist who studied the solar spectrum, magnetism, electricity and optics. He is credited with the discovery of the photovoltaic effect, the op ...

or Pierre-Emile-Joseph Pecarrere (catalogued as E. Pec or as Ed. Pecquerel), contributed 47 prints * Frederick W. Berger, one of the first council members of the new Photographic Society *Giovanni Bianchi (1811–1893) Swiss-born but active in Russia, also known as Jean or Ivan * Robert Jefferson Bingham (1824 or 1825–1870) *

Samuel Buckle Samuel Buckle (14 September 1808 – 1860) was an early English photographer. Biography Samuel Buckle was born in Orton Longueville in 1808 as the son of the jockey Francis Buckle. Samuel Buckle was the manager of a brewery in Peterborough betwe ...

(1809–1860) * Giacomo Caneva (1813–1865), Italian *Archibald Lewis Cocke (1824–1896) * Eugène Constant, French but active in Italy * James Contencin (1814–1879) * Louis Crette (1823–1872) French-Italian active in Nice, also known a Luigi Cretté or Lodoïsch Crette-Romet *John Cumming, 1824–1908, father of

William Skeoch Cumming William Skeoch Cumming (28 December 1864 Edinburgh – 10 April 1929 Edinburgh), was a Scottish watercolourist, mainly of portraits, military subjects and Scottish Military History. Between 1912 and his death, he turned his hand to the d ...

(1818–1895) * Henry Cundell (1810–1886), early Scottish photographer; two of his brothers were also pioneer photographers *

(1821–1889) *Delatouche, photographic company in London *

Hugh Welch Diamond Hugh Welch Diamond (1809 – 21 June 1886) was an early British psychiatrist and photographer who made a major contribution to the craft of psychiatric photography. Early life Diamond was educated at Norwich School and later studied medic ...

(1809–1886) *

Maxime Du Camp Maxime Du Camp (8 February 1822 – 9 February 1894) was a French writer and photographer. Biography Born in Paris, Du Camp was the son of a successful surgeon. After finishing college, he indulged in his strong desire for travel, thanks to ...

(1822–1894) *

Patrick Dudgeon Patrick Dudgeon of Cargen FRSE DL (1817–1895) was a British landowner, mineralogist and meteorologist. He was co-founder with Matthew Forster Heddle of the Mineralogical Society in Great Britain in 1876. He had a specialist interest in mine ...

(1817–1895) * Thomas Damant Eaton (1799 or 1800–1871) *

contributed 41 photographs * Claude-Marie Ferrier (1811–1889) and Hugh Owen (1808–1897) contributed 72 photographs of

The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...

* Frédéric Flacheron (1813–1883) *M. Flech * Peter Wickens Fry (1795–1860) *Robert Cameron Galton (1830–1902), cousin of

Francis Galton Sir Francis Galton, FRS FRAI (; 16 February 1822 – 17 January 1911), was an English Victorian era polymath: a statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto- ...

* Thomas Minchin Goodeve (1821–1902) (also known as T. M. Goodeve), writer on mechanics, professor at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

and lecturer at the

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...

* Thomas Henry Hennah (1826–1876) * Nicolaas Henneman (1813–1898), Dutch *J. Heritage * George Hilditch (1803–1857) * Fallon Horne (1814–1858), from the company Horne, Thornthwaite, and Wood *Captain

Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson Captain Levett Landon Boscawen Ibbetson (1799 – 8 September 1869) was an English 19th century geologist, inventor, organiser and soldier. He is particularly associated with early developments in photography. He was a member of the London ...

(1799–1869) * Baynham Jones Jr. (1806–1890) *

Calvert Jones Calvert Richard Jones (4 December 1804 – 7 November 1877) was a Welsh mathematician and painter, best known for his seascapes. Life and work Jones belonged to a wealthy Swansea family. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, a ...

(1804–1877) * Edward Kater (1816–1866), son of

Henry Kater Henry Kater FRS, FRAS (16 April 1777 – 26 April 1835) was a British physicist of German descent. Early life He was born at Bristol. At first he intended to study law; but he gave up the idea on his father's death in 1794. He entered the a ...

*N. Leberg *C. L. Le Blanc *

Gustave Le Gray Jean-Baptiste Gustave Le Gray (; 30 August 1820 – 30 July 1884)Le Corre, Florence "Translated from the catalogue ''Une visite au camp de Châlons sous le Second Empire: photographies de Messieurs Le Gray, Prévot...'', Paris: musée de l'Armée, ...

(1820–1884) *

Henri Le Secq Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq des Tournelles (18 August 1818 – 26 December 1882) was a French painter and photographer. After the French government made the daguerreotype open for public in 1839, Le Secq was one of the five photographers selected ...

(1818–1882) *Lodoisck = Luigi Crette * Frédéric Martens (1806–1885) also known as Frédéric Vincent de Martens *William Clapham Meates (1815–1893) * Juan, Count of Montizón (1822–1887) *Lady Henrietta Augusta Nevill (1830–1912) *Lady Isabel Mary Frances Nevill (1831–1915) *

William John Newton Sir William John Newton (1785–1869) was an English miniature-painter, in fashion in the early part of the 19th century. Life Born in London, he was the son of James Newton the engraver, and nephew of Willam Newton (1735–1790) the architect. ...

(1785–1869) *Lieutenant Robert Petley (1809 or 1812–1869) * Eugene Piot (1812–1890 or 1891) *J. Player * Pierre Victor Plumier, one of the Plumier brothers, from Belgium * Paul Pretsch (1808–1873), Austrian, important in the early printing processes for photographs with his photogalvanography (or Photoelectrotype) * Walter Waters Reeves (1819–1892) *

Henri Victor Regnault Henri Victor Regnault (21 July 1810 – 19 January 1878) was a French chemist and physicist best known for his careful measurements of the thermal properties of gases. He was an early thermodynamicist and was mentor to William Thomson in ...

(1810–1878) * François-Auguste Renard (1806–1890) * Alfred Rosling (1802–1882) * Ross & Thomson (James Ross and John Thompson) photographers to the queen, from Edinburgh, won a medal at the Exhibition (c. 1851) *J. C. Sanford *

George Shaw George Shaw may refer to: * George Shaw (biologist) (1751–1813), English botanist and zoologist * George B. Shaw (1854–1894), U.S. Representative from Wisconsin * George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), Irish playwright * George C. Shaw (1866–196 ...

(1818–1904) *

William Sherlock William Sherlock (c. 1639/1641June 19, 1707) was an English church leader. Life He was born at Southwark, the son of a tradesman, and was educated at St Saviour's Grammar School and Eton, and then at Peterhouse, Cambridge. In 1669 he became r ...

(born 1813) *

Thomas Sims Thomas Sims was an African American who escaped from slavery in Georgia and fled to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1851. He was arrested the same year under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, had a court hearing, and was forced to return to enslavement. ...

(1826–1910), active in Tunbridge Wells, brother-in-law to

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural se ...

* John Spencer (John Alexander Spencer) (1827–1878) * John Stewart (1800–1887), brother-in-law to

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...

* George B. Stokes (born 1805) *

Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot FRS FRSE FRAS (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later ...

(1800–1877), contributed six prints and an album with 59 reproductions of very early photographs *B. A. Thoms *Merton Thoms (The porcelain collector?) *

William John Thoms William John Thoms (16 November 1803 – 15 August 1885) was a British writer credited with coining the term "folklore" in 1846. Thoms's investigation of folklore and myth led to a later career of debunking longevity myths, and he was a pioneer ...

(1803–1885) * Warren T. Thompson (active 1840–1870) *

Benjamin Brecknell Turner Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815–1894) was one of Britain's first photographers and a founding-member of the Photographic Society of London which was formed in 1853. His images were based on the traditionally 'picturesque' styles and subjects of ...

(1815–1894) * John Urie (1820–1910 or 1920) *George Weddell *Joseph Wilks

References

{{reflist Royal Society of Arts Art exhibitions in London Photography exhibitions 1852 in art 1852 in England