| Frederick H. Evans Fr: Sec: Spine of Echinus x. 40 1887 (ca) Platinum print 4 3/4 x 4 11/16 ins (12.1 x 11.9 cm) (image) 13 5/8 x 10 5/16 ins (34.6 x 26.2 cm) (mount) Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchased with funds contributed by Dorothy Norman, 1973, 1973-197-65 LL/40656 Philadelphis Museum of Art accompanying text [Accessed: 24 Oct 2010]
Unlike many beginning photographers of the nineteenth century who experimented with straightforward portrait or landscape compositions, Evans's earliest trials with photography involved minute organic matter and required the use of a microscope. His complicated "photo-microgram" process allowed him to capture the intricate structures of objects including a water beetle's eye, tiny sea shells, and this section of a sea urchin's spine. Although classified as scientific rather than artistic imagery by the Photographic Society of Great Britain, this photo-microgram demonstrates Evans's ability to delineate the magnificence of organic patterns and presage his photographs that depict the structural beauty of cathedrals.
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