Julia Margaret Cameron: 19th century photographer of genius Colin Ford, National Portrait Gallery, 拢25, ISBN 1855143321 Reviewed by Adam Goff
AT 48, Julia Margaret Cameron was a late starter in a new technology, photography, but her pioneering portraits still have a modern feel. Her stark and powerful portraits of contemporaries such as Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle and Ellen Terry are instantly recognisable as her work.
One of her subjects was John Herschel (above), son of astronomer William Herschel. He was a lifelong friend and supporter who shared her love for the medium 鈥� it was he who showed Fox Talbot how to fix photographs using hyposulphite in 1839. When Cameron took up photography in 1863, the technical challenges were still immense. It took minutes to expose plates, for example, which makes the immediacy of some of Cameron鈥檚 photographs all the more surprising 鈥� and explains why none of her sitters smiles.
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Cameron鈥檚 other strand of work was inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites, and involved elaborate styling and costumes for her sitters. Not all her fans approved. Reviewing an exhibition of her work after her death, George Bernard Shaw described her photographs of children as 鈥渋nartistically grouped and artlessly labelled as angels, saints or fairies鈥�. They were, he said, 鈥渃hildish trivialities鈥�.
Since her death in 1879 the critical perception of her photography has varied with fashion. But the exhibition at London鈥檚 National Portrait Gallery and Colin Ford鈥檚 Julia Margaret Cameron celebrate her achievements and reaffirm her status as one of the most influential photographers of the 19th century.