Presa da una litografia 1839 - 1840

William Henry Fox Talbot made this photogenic drawing titled "Presa da una litografia" using paper, and silver salts. In this early photographic process, the paper was coated with light-sensitive chemicals. Consider the labor involved: each print required careful preparation and exposure, a far cry from the instant snapshot we know today. The slightly blurred quality and limited tonal range of the image are due to the technology, but they also lend the image its unique character, its texture, weight and form. Talbot's experiments were as much about the craft of image-making, as they were about scientific advancement, challenging the established hierarchy between fine art and more applied practices. Talbot was not only pointing his lens at the world, but also shaping a new way of seeing through chemistry and light.