Algae, Anna Atkins, Cyanotype, Female photographer, Photography, Plants, Prussian blue, Royal Society, Seaweed

Anna Atkins: The first female photographer

1st July

 “Looking at Atkins’ book today, what is most striking is not the outlines of the algae, however beautifully and delicately they crawl across the pages; it is the glorious depth of the Prussian blue backdrop to the images.’   Photography has always been on the cusp between science and art. Someone like Anna Atkins has...

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blue horizon, Blue Verditer, cobalt blue, Goethe, Indigo, John Ruskin, luminosity, oil on canvas, pigments, Prussian blue, The Fighting Temeraire, The Royal Academy of Arts, Theory of Colours, Turner, white sails

Watching the White Sails in the Heart of the Ocean…

23rd November

“Do we dream, or does the white forked sail drift nearer, and nearer yet, diminishing the blue sea between us with the fullness of its wings?” John Ruskin on Turner In The Fighting Temeraire, it has long been presumed that Turner’s viewpoint would have been the London Embankment, watching as the famous and victorious Temeraire ship...

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