Bloom...away an exhibition of botanical photography
Sarah Wheeler
gallery
Bloom...away
an exhibition of botanical photography “I believe that this new art will be a great help to botanists…..especially useful for naturalists since one can copy the most difficult things with a great deal of ease” William Henry Fox Talbot, 1838
As Talbot, the founder of photography suggested, the invention of the medium lent itself to the scientific study and categorisation of botanical specimens and it can be no coincidence that many of the early practitioners were botanists, naturalists, gardeners and nature lovers. Charles Jones was the head gardener of a large estate, Bertha Evelyn Jaques was an active member of the Wild Flower Preservation society in America and Edwin Hale Lincoln was renowned for his care in returning the plants he captured on his camera back to their natural habitat. Each of these photographers also recorded their specimens in the tradition of botanical illustration and scientific classification. Continuing the tradition of documenting specimens into the 20th century, photographers such as Karl Blossfeldt and Richard Tepe focused on the repetitive patterns and abstract aesthetics which could be found in nature.
On the other hand, early photographers such as Adolphe Braun and Charles Aubry appropriated the artistic practice of still life painting to produce images of scattered flowers and floral arrangements which could be used for commercial and industrial application rather than fine art, while photographers such as Pietro Guidi, Kasumasa Ogawa and Martindale echoed the botanical illustrators, hand colouring their elegant plant portraits. When considered together, it is notable that many of the 19th and early 20th century photographers included in Bloom...away may not have considered themselves to be “artists.” The rapid increase in amateur photography clubs and the reproducibility of photographic images meant that many interesting botanical images were never signed; the anonymous photographers perhaps unaware of the artistic value of their images.
From out of the amateur clubs, however, certain members increasingly promoted photography as an art form and towards the end of the 19th century the Pictorialists promoted their ideas via an international community which arranged exhibitions and shared ideas. One of Pictorialism’s main proponents, Alfred Stieglitz, used his journal Camera Notes and later Camera Work to champion the movement’s ideals. Heinrich Kühn and Adolf de Meyer, European photographers who were published in these journals, are noted for their painterly soft-focus and romantic rendering of their floral subjects. Artistic arrangement was key. Later photographers rejected this sentimentality and sought to engage with the world as clearly and precisely as possible. Despite being known for his “rayographs” (photograms) which were made experimenting with camera-less photography, Man Ray also produced seemingly straightforward images of plants and Albert Regner-Patzsch used the whole plant as inspiration - clearly and effectively highlighting the plant from root to flower. The immobility of flowers and plants, their natural shapes and the ease of moving them around within a studio made them ideal subjects for experimentation and novel techniques. The dentist Dr Albert Richards used X-rays to produce floral radiograms,
while Lou Landauer created photograms which combined botanical subjects and geckos, and the unidentified microscopic photographer represented in the exhibition took cross sections of trees. The following selection of photographs all date from the 1850s to the early 1960s and were chosen primarily on their aesthetic merit. Although many of the photographers included here might have been surprised to learn of their inclusion in such an exhibition, we hope that you enjoy this collection of images and their combination of scientific exploration and artistic vision.
Paeonia cv. 1. Photographer unidentified Untitled, 1850s. Salt print, 22.9 x 16.7 cm
Hyacinthus orientalis 2. Captain Horatio Ross (1801-1886) Mr Livewright’s First Prize Hyacinth, 1857.
Albumen print, 24.5 x 19.1 cm
Floral wreath 3. Adolphe Braun (1812-1877) Untitled, ca. 1855. Albumen print, 33.6 x 44.7 cm
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Tulipa x gesneriana 4. Charles Hippolyte Aubry (1811 - 1877) Untitled, ca. 1864. Albumen print, 45 x 27.4 cm
Paeonia cv. 5. Charles Hippolyte Aubry (1811 - 1877)
Untitled, ca. 1864. Albumen print, 46 x 26 cm
Ipomoea purpurea 6. Constant Alexandre Famin (1827 - 1888) Volubilis, ca.1860s. Albumen print, 25.3 x 17.8 cm
Olea europaea 7. Pietro Guidi (active 1870s) Olea Europaea, VarietĂ Taggiasca, ca. 1870s. Hand-coloured albumen print with titled captions, 27 x 21 cm
Schinus molle 8. Pietro Guidi (active 1870s) Schinus molle, Pianta del PerĂš, ca. 1870s. Hand-coloured albumen print with titled captions, 28 x 21 cm
Papaver rhoeas
Narcissus papyraceus
10. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854) No. 17130. Castello. Papaver rhoeas, ca. 1880 Albumen print, 23.5 x 18.5 cm
11. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854) No. 518. Firenze. Narcissus, 1870s-1880s Albumen print, 23.4 x 19.2 cm
Paphiopedilum veitchii 9. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854) No. 1336. Firenze. Cypripedium veitchi, ca. 1880s. Albumen print, 18.4 x 25 cm
Nymphaea alba 12. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854)
No.15544. Sesto. Ninfea alba, ca. 1870s-1880s Albumen print, 20 x 25.3 cm
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Studies of ferns 13 - 14. Photographer unidentified
Untitled, ca. 1880s. Two cyanotypes, 65.9 x 52.2 cm; 60 x 52.5 cm
Ficus carica 15. Photographer unidentified Figuier, ca. 1890s. Gold-toned gelatin silver print, 28.5 x 23 cm
Nelumbo nucifera 16. Kasumasa Ogawa (1860–1929) Lotus, ca. 1890s. Hand-coloured collotype, 39.3 x 27.9 cm
Lilium cv. 17.
Kasumasa Ogawa (1860–1929) Lily, ca. 1890s. Hand-coloured collotype, 39.3 x 27.9 cm
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Morus rubra; Acer platanoides; Pyrus aucuparia; Salix nigra; Acer saccharinum; Quercus alba; Betula lenta 18. Photographer unidentified Clockwise: Red Mulberry; Norway Maple;
Mountain Ash; Black Willow; Silver Maple; White Oak; Sweet Birch, circa 1890s. Cyanotype prints and dried leaves, various sizes
Orchid sp. 19. Louis F. Stephany (1873-1952) Untitled, ca. 1900. Platinum print, 10 x 13.5 cm
Prunus cerasifera 20.
Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848 - 1938) Wild Red Cherry, ca. 1904. Platinum print, 23.8 x 18.6 cm
Cornus florida 21. Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848 - 1938) Flowering Dogwood, ca. 1904. Platinum print, 23.8 x 18.6 cm
Solidago caesia 22. Bertha Evelyn Jaques (1863-1941) Wreath Golden Rod, 1906. Cyanotype, 36.8 x 24.7 cm
Iris hartwegii 23. Martindale (dates unknown) Iris Hartwegi, ca. 1930s. Hand-coloured matt gelatin silver print, 23.3 x 15 cm
Hyacinthus cv. 24. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959) Hyacinth, Single Red, ca. 1900. Gold-toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.5 x 16.5 cm
Tulipa x gesneriana 25. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959) Untitled, ca. 1900.
Gold-toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.8 x 16.2 cm
Tulipa x gesneriana 26. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959) Tulip, May Flowering, ca. 1900. Gold toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.8 x 16.2 cm
Swietenia macrophylla 27. Photographer unidentified Meliaceae, Swietenia macrophylla. Trasverse section of wood, ca. 1910. Gelatin aristotype print, 16.5 x 21.7 cm
Laburnum vulgare 28. Photographer unidentified Leguminosae, Laburnum vulgare. Trasverse section of wood, ca. 1910.
Gelatin aristotype print, 16.5 x 21.7 cm
Jasminum polyanthum 29.
Adolph de Meyer (1868-1946) Still Life, 1908. Photogravure from Camera Work XXIV, 22 x 16.5 cm
Lathyrus odoratus 30. Emmanuel Sougez (1889-1972) Untitled, 1930.
Gelatin silver print, 33 x 25.4 cm
Dahlia cv. 31. Heinrich Kühn (1866 - 1944) Still Life with Flowers, 1924. Oil pigment transfer print, 22.7 x 17.4 cm
Polygonatum officinale 32. Richard Tepe (1864-1952) Polygonatum officinale, ca. 1900-1940. Gelatin silver print, 12.4 x 15 cm
Salix sachalinensis ‘Sekka’ 33. Richard Tepe (1864-1952) Bandvorming of Fasciate by Elzentakken, ca. 1900-1940.
Gelatin silver print, 22 x 16.4 cm
Clockwise
Papaver orientale 34. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) Papaver orientale, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 80, 26 x 19.4 cm
Scabiosa columbaria 35. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) Scabiosa columbaria, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 91, 26 x 19.4 cm
Saxifraga willkommniana 36. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) Saxifraga willkommniana, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 35, 26 x 19.4 cm
Asclepias speciosa 37. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) Asclepias speciosa, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 113, 26 x 19.4 cm
Cynara cardunculus 38. Man Ray (1890 - 1976) Untitled, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 23.1 x 18.2 cm
Helianthus cv. 39. Man Ray (1890 - 1976) Bonne AnnĂŠe, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 23.2 x 18 cm
Lilium cv. 40. Man Ray (1890 - 1976) Lilies, 1925. Gelatin silver print, 28.7 x 22.8 cm
Lillium cv. 41. Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) Lily, 1933. Gelatin silver print, 24 x 18 cm
Schinus molle 42. Lou Landauer (1897-1991) Wild Pepper, ca. 1940. Gelatin silver print, 30 x 24.2 cm
Narcissus pseudonarcissus 43. Dr Albert G Richards (1917- 2008) Untitled, 1962. Gelatin silver print, 24.8 x 20 cm
Hyacinthus orientalis 44. Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897–1966) Hyacinthe, 1952 - 1956. Gelatin silver print, 47.5 x 28 cm
Commentaries on the Plates
1. Photographer unidentified (active 1850s) Despite being printed so early, this anonymous photograph is reminiscent of works by Josef Sudek who was working over fifty years later. Using the salt print process developed by William Henry Fox Talbot (the inventor of photography on paper) from a glass negative, this striking print is unlike other photographs from the period in its composition, clarity and detail.
2. Captain Horatio Ross (British, 1801-1886) Named after his godfather Admiral Horatio Nelson, Ross served in the military and as a politician alongside William Henry Fox Talbot, before taking up photography. A founding member of the Photographic Society of Scotland, Ross was a prolific amateur photographer who favoured taking pictures of the Scottish Highlands and who aimed to persuade fellow photographers away from traditional portrait painting to landscape photography. The image is likely to have been taken at a local flower show in his beloved Scotland. This image, not dissimilar to Jones’s hyacinth (plate 24) taken nearly fifty years later, is the only botanical photograph Ross is known to have taken.
3. Adolphe Braun
(French, 1812-1877) One of the most successful commercial photographers of the 19th century, Braun
started his career as a textile draftsman producing floral lithographs for fabric design before he turned to photography in 1848. Braun originally intended his floral compositions to be used for textile designs but his use of the newly developed wet collodion process (which rendered clearer images) and the publication of his book Fleurs photographiées in 1855 (which arranged field and garden flowers in the Dutch style as wreaths and bouquets or scattered across the frame) soon caught the attention of fashionable Parisians.
4 - 5. Charles Hippolyte Aubry
(French, 1811 - 1877) It is unclear whether Aubry knew Braun personally but he also started working as a designer of wallpaper and fabrics. Perhaps because of Braun’s commercial success Aubry turned his hand to photography ten years later but sadly was not as well received. There are fewer than two hundred known negatives of his work, so prints are scarce and prized today. Examples of his work are held at the Metropolitan Museum, and the Musée d’Orsay (amongst others).
6. Constant Alexandre Famin
(French, 1827 - 1888) Trained as a painter by his father, Famin went on to become a commercial photographer known for his rural scenes, landscapes, tree and animal studies. He also produced botanical studies which may have been used as reference material by artists.
A large collection of his work is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Musée d’Orsay.
7 - 8. Pietro Guidi
(Italian, active 1870s) Little is known about Pietro Guidi except that he came from San Remo and took architectural and landscape photography. His hand-coloured photographs echo the tradition of 18th century botanical illustrators such as Georg Ehret.
9 - 10 - 11 - 12. Fratelli Alinari (Italian, founded 1854) Fratelli Alinari, founded in Florence in 1854, is the world’s oldest photographic firm still in existence. Brothers Romualdo, Leopoldo and Giuseppe Alinari extensively photographed Italian architecture, artistic heritage and landscape and it is notable that these prints include details about the garden from which they were taken along with the names of the gardeners.
13 - 14. Photographer unidentified (active 1880s/1890s) These striking large format cyanotypes of ferns were found in America in their original frames. The paper watermark Johannot et Cie. ANNONAY on the back of each, along with the frame, indicate a date of circa 1880s/1890s. The paper was hand varnished which suggests the cyanotypes were made for artistic rather than commercial purposes. These prints are unusually large and we do not know of any other 19th century botanical cyanotypes of this size. One of the earliest forms of photography, cyanotypes are made without a camera by placing objects on paper impregnated with light sensitive iron salts instead of silver and are characterised by their Prussian blue backgrounds.
15. Photographer unidentified
(active 1890s) This gold-toned gelatin print of fig leaves originates from France. Titled in the negative the simply composed image follows the tradition of botanical illustration. Despite the image being stamped on the back we have not been able to identify the photographer.
16 - 17. Kasumasa Ogawa
(Japanese, 1860-1929) Having opened a photography studio in 1884, this Japanese photographer became known for developing the photomechanical processes he learnt during his studies in the United States. A founding member of the Japan Photographic Society, Ogawa also worked as an editor on various photographic magazines. His delicate hand-coloured floral prints were part of his 1896 book, Some Japanese Flowers which featured flowers native to Japan such as the lotus and lily, as well as garden scenes.
18. Photographer unidentified (active 1890s/1900s) These unusual album pages seem to be part of a cataloguing or educational study. The inclusion of the specimens on the pages assists with the identification of the plants and also enables us to visualise the cyanotype process. Many of the images are reminiscent of Matisse’s cutouts.
19. Louis F. Stephany
(American, 1873-1952) Following his establishment of the Camera Club of Pittsburgh, naturalist photographer Stephany visited Alfred Stieglitz in New York and the two photographers agreed to have their respective groups co-sponsor the Carnegie Exhibition in Pittsburgh in 1904. Despite being somewhat overlooked in the history of photography, the beauty of this
simple platinum print goes some way to explain Stieglitz’s interest in Stephany and why he became the sole Pittsburgh member of the Photo-Secession.
20 - 21. Edwin Hale Lincoln
(American, 1848-1938) Whilst the pictorialist tendency at the time was for soft focus and atmospheric images, these highly detailed prints, made for Lincoln’s great opus, Wildflowers of New England (eight volumes with 400 prints), clearly illustrate the luminous range of tones the platinum printing process can produce. Having started a photographic business in 1876, it was his move to Pittsfield in Massachusetts that pricked his interest in wild flowers. He is known to have been very careful not to harm his models, replacing them in their natural habitat once he had photographed them.
22. Bertha Evelyn Jaques
(American, 1863 – 1941) A talented and respected artist known more for her etchings than her botanical photography, Jaques was self taught, had a deep interest in nature and was an active member of the Wild Flower Preservation Society. Between 1906 and 1908 she produced over a thousand cyanotypes of different plants. The largest collection of Bertha Jaques’ work is held by the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Iowa.
23. Martindale
(active 1930s) Unfortunately we have not been able to uncover any details about Martindale and little is known about this elegant print other than that it originated from an American library. It is, however, representative of the fashion for hand-coloured prints which were popular before the Depression with the middle classes in America.
24 - 25 - 26. Charles Jones
(English, 1866-1959) The now celebrated photographer Charles Jones was a gardener working at Great Ote Hall in Sussex over one hundred years ago. Known for his sensitive images of the produce and plants that he cultivated, Jones is perhaps less well known for his floral photography. Jones’ careful cataloguing enabled him to produce a horticultural reference bank but he has also created a wealth of images which deserve greater recognition. The luminescent images are surprisingly modern yet pre-date photographers such as Karl Blossfeldt and Edward Weston. Jones left no records or diaries about his photography and the photographs were not discovered until 1981 in Bermondsey Antique Market.
27 - 28. Photographer unidentified
(active 1910s) Not immediately identifiable as botanical images these beautifully abstract prints magnify the grain of the wood using a microscope. The crossover between science and art is evident here although the photographer likely may not have considered themselves an ‘artist’. Both images are signed on the back of the mount but unfortunately the signature is illegible.
29. Baron Adolf de Meyer
(French, 1868 - 1946) De Meyer’s biographical history is murky. Notoriously vague about his origins it is unknown whether De Meyer was born in France or Germany and he assumed the title Baron after marrying into the British aristocracy. De Meyer’s early association with Alfred Stieglitz and his Pictorialist style is clearly visible in this photogravure which appeared in the pre-eminent journal Camera Work in October 1908. He later made his name as a fashion and celebrity photographer.
30. Emmanuel Sougez (French, 1889-1972) Sougez originally studied sculpture and painting at the School of Fine Arts Bordeaux but soon discovered photography and started his career as a freelance photographer in Paris after the First World War. Founder of Photographie Pure (a group which held similar ideals of straight photography as American group f64), Sougez later became mentor to Picasso’s muse Dora Maar and urged her to continue her exploration of photography rather than focus on painting. This print originally came from the collection of Julian Levy, one of the first art dealers to champion photography, and the delicate still life is typical of Sougez’ rigorously composed large format prints.
31. Heinrich Kühn
(Austrian, 1866 - 1944) A lifelong interest in the technical and theoretical aspects of photography may have stemmed from Kühn’s early study of medicine and natural science. After abandoning his medical studies Kühn devoted himself to photography and began to develop his Pictorialist style, becoming one of Europe’s biggest proponents of the movement and a close friend of Alfred Stieglitz. The painterly quality of this print partly derives from the multi-layered technique employed by Kühn which creates the tonal range and soft focus for which he is known. The Sütterlin (historical German script) annotations at the bottom of the print detail his triple layered use of turpentine and varnish which contribute to this effect.
32 - 33. Richard Tepe
(Dutch, 1864-1952) An extensive collection of Tepe’s work is held by the Rijksmuseum but this nature loving Dutch photographer fell into obscurity after his death in 1952. Finding inspiration in the
natural world, Tepe focused on birds, animals and plants and has been credited with professionalising both nature photography and nature protection. Unlike some of his contemporaries these surprisingly modern images show his focus on shape and form and plate 33 could easily be attributed to Blossfeldt but may pre-date him. Not enough is known about Tepe to know whether the two photographers knew or were influenced by each other.
34 - 35 - 36 - 37. Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865-1932) The scientific tradition of documenting and publishing botanical specimens continued into the 20th century, and Blossfeldt worked with a series of homemade cameras to showcase the artistic and architectural structure of plants as seen through the microscope’s lens. Used primarily as teaching tools, Blossfeldt’s images reached a wide audience through his book Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature) which was published in German and English in 1928 and 1929 and was soon regarded as a seminal book on photography. These photogravures are from this book and these characteristic images show frontal details of the plants against neutral backgrounds, beautifully and starkly composed.
38 - 39 - 40. Man Ray
(American, 1890 - 1976) One of the most innovative artists of the 20th century, Man Ray initially studied painting before discovering Dadaism with Marcel Duchamp in 1915. After his move to Paris in 1921 he began experimenting with photography. The unusual photograph of an artichoke (38) with its blacked out background and strange white rectangular sort of vase could be seen as a testament to the cubist and constructivist influences he was surrounded by at the time.
By contrast, the sunflower shown here (39), became the front of Man Ray’s Happy New Year card in 1936 and radiates optimism for the year ahead. The lilies (40) taken ten years earlier and reminiscent of the Flemish still life tradition, is recognised to be one of his most sophisticated images of flowers, and may have provided inspiration for his later solarised calla lilies.
41. Constantin Brancusi
(Romanian, 1876-1957) Born in Romania, Brancusi lived and worked in Paris from 1904 until his death in 1957. Known best for his sculptures, Brancusi’s interest in photography was sparked in 1921 when Man Ray moved to Paris and taught him to take, develop and print his own photographs. Documenting his studio and sculpture through his photography, Brancusi also experimented with the medium taking numerous self-portraits and still-lifes. In this image the main focus of the composition turns to the lily, stark against the black background. The original 13 x 18 cm glass plate negative is held in the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and there are only three known prints.
42. Lou Landauer
(German, 1897-1991) Born in Germany, Lou Landauer studied photography in both Munich and Berlin before emigrating to Palestine in 1933 with her husband and parents. Scant information is available about Landauer’s photographic practices but we know that she started working as a press photographer before teaching at the New Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in the 1940s. It is most likely here that she experimented with photograms and produced this print. She returned to Europe in 1955, and, unfortunately, it was during this period that many of her negatives were lost.
43. Dr Albert G. Richards
(American, 1917-2008) The only example of a radiograph included in this catalogue was taken by Dr Richards, a keen amateur gardener and a dentist by trade, who began to use his x-ray machine to photograph flowers as an experiment. His images were first published in 1962 in the National Geographic Society School Bulletin before appearing in the Smithsonian Magazine. The extraordinary radiographs can also be found in Richards’ book The Secret Garden - 100 Floral Radiographs. By the end of his life he had radiographed over 3,700 subjects.
44. Albert Renger-Patzsch
(German, 1897-1966) A leading proponent of the New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement in Germany, Renger-Patzsch was a photographer intent on showing the unsentimental realism of the everyday object. While Renger-Patzsch’s photographs of plants from the 1920s are depicted with the clarity of scientific illustrations with their neutral backgrounds and close up focus, this image taken ten years before his death is a more gentle still life, yet his ideals of detail, sharpness, and form are still very much present. The eye is drawn not just to the stem and flower of the plant but also to its bulb and bare roots.
Notes: Not all the photographs in the show are included in this catalogue. To the best of our knowledge all the photographs in the exhibition and catalogue are vintage prints, meaning that they were printed at the time or within ten years of them being taken. We have titled each plate with the Latin name of the botanical specimen. These are not the true titles of the works which are included in their catalogue descriptions when known. The measurements of the works are the image measurements and exclude any mount or frame.
We would like to thank plantsman Bernard Dogimont for his invaluable botanical expertise in giving us the Latin names for each plant.
Catalogue edited, designed and produced by Jessica Lawson, Valentina Volpi and Sarah Wheeler (Sarah Wheeler Gallery)
Price list for the catalogue plates Paeonia cv. 1. Photographer unidentified Untitled, 1850s. Salt print, 22.9 x 16.7 cm £ 3,700.00
Hyacinthus orientalis 2. Captain Horatio Ross (1801-1886)
Mr Livewright’s First Prize Hyacinth, 1857. Albumen print, 24.5 x 19.1 cm £ 2,400.00
Floral wreath 3. Adolphe Braun (1812-1877)
Untitled, ca. 1855. Albumen print, 33.6 x 44.7 cm £ 4,500.00
Tulipa x gesneriana 4. Charles Hippolyte Aubry (1811 - 1877) Untitled, ca. 1864. Albumen print, 45 x 27.4 cm £ 4,500.00
Paeonia cv. 5. Charles Hippolyte Aubry (1811 - 1877) Untitled, ca. 1864. Albumen print, 46 x 26 cm £ 3,600.00
Ipomoea purpurea 6. Constant Alexandre Famin (1827 - 1888) Volubilis, ca.1860s. Albumen print, 25.3 x 17.8 cm £ 600.00
Olea europaea 7. Pietro Guidi (active 1870s)
Olea Europaea, Varietà Taggiasca, ca. 1870s. Hand-coloured albumen print with titled captions, 27 x 21 cm £ 550.00
Schinus molle 8. Pietro Guidi (active 1870s)
Schinus molle, Pianta del Perù, ca. 1870s. Hand-coloured albumen print with titled captions, 28 x 21 cm £ 550.00
Paphiopedilum veitchii 9. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854)
No. 1336. Firenze. Cypripedium veitchi, ca. 1880s. Albumen print, 18.4 x 25 cm £ 1,200.00
Papaver rhoeas 10. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854)
No. 17130. Castello. Papaver rhoeas, ca. 1880. Albumen print, 23.5 x 18.5 cm £ 700.00
Narcissus papyraceus 11. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854)
No. 518. Firenze. Narcissus, 1870s-1880s. Albumen print, 23.4 x 19.2 cm £ 650.00
Nymphaea alba 12. Fratelli Alinari (founded 1854)
No.15544. Sesto. Ninfea alba, ca. 1870s-1880s. Albumen print, 20 x 25.3 cm £ 2,500.00
Studies of ferns 13 - 14. Photographer unidentified
Untitled, ca. 1880s. Two cyanotypes, 65.9 x 52.2 cm; 60 x 52.5 cm £ 10,000 for the pair
Ficus carica 15. Photographer unidentified
Figuier, ca. 1890s. Gold-toned gelatin silver print, 28.5 x 23 cm £ 600.00
Nelumbo nucifera 16. Kasumasa Ogawa (1860–1929)
Lotus, ca. 1890s. Hand-coloured collotype, 39.3 x 27.9 cm £ 700.00
Lilium cv. 17. Kasumasa Ogawa (1860–1929)
Lily, ca. 1890s. Hand-coloured collotype, 39.3 x 27.9 cm £ 700.00
Morus rubra; Acer platanoides; Pyrus aucuparia; Salix nigra; Acer saccharinum; Quercus alba; Betula lenta 18. Photographer unidentified Clockwise: Red Mulberry; Norway Maple; Mountain Ash; Black Willow; Silver Maple; White Oak; Sweet Birch, circa 1890s. Cyanotype prints and dried leaves, various sizes £ 3,500.00 composition of 9 album sheets
Orchid sp. 19. Louis F. Stephany (1873-1952) Untitled, ca. 1900. Platinum print, 10 x 13.5 cm £ 2,500.00
Prunus cerasifera 20. Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848 - 1938) Wild Red Cherry, ca. 1904. Platinum print, 23.8 x 18.6 cm £ 500.00
Cornus florida 21. Edwin Hale Lincoln (1848 - 1938) Flowering Dogwood, ca. 1904. Platinum print, 23.8 x 18.6 cm £ 450.00
Solidago caesia 22. Bertha Evelyn Jaques (1863-1941) Wreath Golden Rod, 1906. Cyanotype, 36.8 x 24.7 cm £ 2,000.00
Iris hartwegii 23. Martindale (dates unknown)
Iris Hartwegi, ca. 1930s. Hand-coloured matt gelatin silver print, 23.3 x 15 cm £ 300.00
Hyacinthus cv. 24. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959)
Hyacinth, Single Red, ca. 1900. Gold-toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.5 x 16.5 cm £ 6,000.00
Tulipa x gesneriana 25. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959)
Untitled, ca. 1900. Gold-toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.8 x 16.2 cm £ 5,500.00
Tulipa x gesneriana 26. Charles Jones (1866 - 1959)
Tulip, May Flowering, ca. 1900. Gold toned gelatin silver print on printing out paper, 21.8 x 16.2 cm £ 5,500.00
Swietenia macrophylla 27. Photographer unidentified
Meliaceae, Swietenia macrophylla. Trasverse section of wood, ca. 1910. Gelatin aristotype print, 16.5 x 21.7 cm £ 500.00
Laburnum vulgare 28. Photographer unidentified
Leguminosae, Laburnum vulgare. Trasverse section of wood, ca. 1910. Gelatin aristotype print, 16.5 x 21.7 cm £ 500.00
Jasminum polyanthum 29. Adolph de Meyer (1868-1946)
Still Life, 1908. Photogravure from Camera Work XXIV, 22 x 16.5 cm £ 600.00
Lathyrus odoratus 30. Emmanuel Sougez (1889-1972)
Untitled, 1930. Gelatin silver print, 33 x 25.4 cm £ 6,000.00
Dahlia cv. 31. Heinrich Kühn (1866 - 1944)
Still Life with Flowers, 1924. Oil pigment transfer print, 22.7 x 17.4 cm £ 6,500.00
Polygonatum officinale 32. Richard Tepe (1864-1952)
Polygonatum officinale, ca. 1925. Gelatin silver print, 12.4 x 15 cm £ 1,200.00
Salix sachalinensis ‘Sekka’ 33. Richard Tepe (1864-1952)
Bandvorming of Fasciate by Elzentakken, ca. 1920. Gelatin silver print, 22 x 16.4 cm £ 3,000.00
Papaver orientale 34. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932)
Papaver orientale, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 80, 26 x 19.4 cm £ 400.00
Scabiosa columbaria 35. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932)
Scabiosa columbaria, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 91, 26 x 19.4 cm £ 400.00
Saxifraga willkommniana 36. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932)
Saxifraga willkommniana, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 35, 26 x 19.4 cm £ 400.00
Asclepias speciosa 37. Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932)
Asclepias speciosa, 1929. Photogravure from Urformen Der Kunst, plate 113, 26 x 19.4 cm £ 400.00
Cynara cardunculus 38. Man Ray (1890 - 1976)
Untitled, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 23.1 x 18.2 cm £ 12,000.00
Helianthus cv. 39. Man Ray (1890 - 1976)
Bonne Année, 1936. Gelatin silver print, 23.2 x 18 cm £ 12,000.00
Lilium cv. 40. Man Ray (1890 - 1976)
Lilies, 1925. Gelatin silver print, 28.7 x 22.8 cm Price on request
Lillium cv. 41. Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) Lily, 1933. Gelatin silver print, 24 x 18 cm Price on request
Schinus molle 42. Lou Landauer (1897-1991)
Wild Pepper, ca. 1940. Gelatin silver print, 30 x 24.2 cm £ 3,000.00
Narcissus pseudonarcissus 43. Dr Albert G Richards (1917- 2008) Untitled, 1962. Gelatin silver print, 24.8 x 20 cm £ 2,500.00
Hyacinthus orientalis 44. Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897–1966) Hyacinthe, 1952 - 1956. Gelatin silver print, 47.5 x 28 cm £ 9,000.00
To the best of our knowledge all the photographs in the exhibition and catalogue are vintage prints, meaning that they were printed at the time or within ten years of them being taken. Please note all the photographs in this catalogue are framed and this is included in the price. The measurements of the works are the image measurements and exclude any mount or frame. There is no VAT to pay on the photographs. We have titled each plate with the Latin name of the botanical specimen. These are not the true titles of the works which are included in their catalogue descriptions when known. Not all the photographs in the show are included in this catalogue. We have another 50 flower photographs that will be on display at the exhibition. For more information, please contact: info@sarahwheelergallery.com