Fruit and Flowers 1860

Roger Fenton produced this photograph of fruit and flowers using the wet collodion process, a popular method in the mid-19th century. Still life painting had long been a popular genre, especially amongst women artists. Photography presented a new challenge to painting’s dominance, particularly given the claims of photography to ‘truth’. What is interesting here is that Fenton, who came from a privileged background and was well connected to both the Royal family and intellectual society, took the idea of domestic artistry into a new realm by applying the latest technological advances to a traditional subject. He successfully exhibited his photographs as art at a time when this was not a foregone conclusion. To understand Fenton’s work better, we might consider it in light of research into exhibition history, the professionalization of art, and the emergence of photography as an accepted medium. We can then see it as a reflection of a society grappling with the changing landscape of art and technology.