[Carpenter and Apprentice]

William Henry Fox Talbot

ca. 1844 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

Though lacking the absolute precision of the daguerreotype and later photographic processes, the paper negative admirably rendered blocks of tone, describing form and space in terms of shaded planes, a quality exploited here to enhance the highly geometric structure of the image. Even with the reduced exposure time of Talbot's calotype process instantaneous, or "stop-action," views were beyond the grasp of the nascent medium; instead, Talbot sometimes sought the illusion of spontaneity through staged scenes such as this one.

Artist

William Henry Fox Talbot

Date

ca. 1844

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005