Anna Atkins
English, 1799–1871
South America
1851–1854
Anna Atkins was a botanist and one of the first people to successfully use the medium of photography as a scientific tool. Using the cyanotype printing process, named for its vivid blue color, Atkins placed dried fern specimens directly onto the surface of a piece of light-sensitive photographic paper, which she exposed to light to create a one-of-a-kind negative image. Atkins compiled her photographs into albums and distributed them privately to amateur scientists who shared her botanical interests. Atkins’s albums included cyanotypes of specimens from several continents, which she likely acquired by trading with her colleagues.
| Portfolio | Cyanotypes of British and Foreign Flowering Plants and Ferns (1854) |
| Medium | cyanotype |
| Dimensions | image: 13 3/4 x 9 15/16 in. (35 x 25.2 cm) sheet: 19 1/8 x 14 3/4 in. (48.5 x 37.5 cm) |
| Object Number | 2004.2 |
| Acquisition | Acquired by the Clark, 2004 |
| Status | Off View |
Image Caption
Anna Atkins, South America, 1851–1854, cyanotype. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 2004.2
Select Bibliography
Schaaf, Larry. Sun Gardens, Victorian photograms by Anna Atkins. New York: Aperture; New York: Viking Penguin. 1985.
Schaaf, Larry. "Anna Atkins' cyanotypes, an experiment in photographic publishing" History of Photography. 6 no. 2. 04/1982:151-172.
