David Young and Unknown Man, Newhaven

Robert Adamson|David Octavius Hill|Hill and Adamson

1845 · Salted paper print from paper negative · Photographs

This double portrait by the painter David OctaviusHill and the early photographer Robert Adamson is one of some 130 images they would make of the inhabitants of Newhaven and other small fishing villages near Edinburgh, Scotland. Entitled “The Fishermen and Women of the Firth of Forth,” their project constitutes the first sustained use of photographs for a social documentary purpose. During the age of the Industrial Revolution and its attendant social problems, Hill and Adamson presented Newhaven as an exemplar of village life—a community bound by tradition, mutual support, honest labor, and the continuity of generations. The artists attempted to emphasize these qualities by the careful posing of figures and by embracing the graphic strength and gritty effect of the paper negative (calotype) process. Here the focus is on a pair of young fishermen and the traditional willow basket used to haul their catch up the hill to the bustling market in Edinburgh.

Artist

Robert Adamson|David Octavius Hill|Hill and Adamson

Date

1845

Medium

Salted paper print from paper negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Bequest of Maurice B. Sendak, 2012