Mercredi 26 Novembre 2014 15:54:13 par actuphoto dans Expositions

Revered for its permanence and subtle beauty, the platinum print played an important role in establishing photography as a fine art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Composed of platinum metal embedded in the uppermost fibers of the paper, platinum photographs are characterized by luminous, textured surfaces that vary from a velvety matte to a lustrous sheen. The photographs are also prized for their extraordinary tonal range — from creamy shades of whites to delicate gray midtones and warm, sepia browns to the deepest blacks. These qualities made platinum prints a preferred choice among the pictorialists, an international group of turn-of-the-century photographers who championed the medium as a means for artistic expression. While some pictorialists advocated for the unmanipulated platinum photograph, others experimented with platinum printing by combining it with different processes to create evocative, multilayered works. Drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Art, this group of outstanding photographs from the 1880s to the 1920s reveals the aesthetic qualities and delicate nuances of the platinum process.

Clarence H. White, American, 1871–1925, George Borup, 1909, platinum print, Patrons’ Permanent Fund