| Dates: | 1815, 12 May - 1894, 29 April | | Born: | Great Britain, London | | Gender: | Male |
A painter-turned-photographer who photographed in the tradition of the English watercolour artists, much of his work being reminiscent of Constable‘s paintings. He had worked with Talbot in the 1840s and was an excellent practitioner of the large format waxed paper negative.
[Courtesy of Pam Roberts]Preparing biographies
Benjamin Brecknell Turner (1815-94) was one of the first, and remains one of the greatest, British photographers. His images were highly praised during his lifetime for their rustic beauty and grandeur.
Turner was born in London in 1815. At 16 he entered work there in the family candle and saddle soap business. In 1849 he took out a licence to practice paper negative photography from its inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot, when the new art was barely 10 years old. Turner quickly mastered the art and exhibited at the world's first public photographic exhibition, held at London's Society of Arts in 1852, where he was singled out as one of the best contributors. In 1855 he won a medal at the Paris Exhibition Universelle and continued exhibiting his photographs until the 1880s.
Gentleman-amateur photographers like Turner contributed to the rapid technical and aesthetic development of the medium that occurred in the 1850s. They furthered discussion through meetings and journals, exchanged technical findings and photographic prints and exhibited in a network of clubs and societies devoted to the art of the photograph.
While basing his images on traditionally 'picturesque' styles and subjects of the generation of watercolour painters before him, Turner forged a new visual sensibility in which the capacity of photography to record the fine textures of the natural world became a new force of expression.
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Victoria & Albert Museum and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 11 Nov 2011.
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Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Barnes, Martin, 2002, Benjamin Brecknell Turner: Rural England Through a Victorian Lens, (London: Victoria & Albert Museum) isbn-10: 0810965836 isbn-13: 978-0810965836 [Exhibition catalogue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Jan. 22-April 21, 2002] [Δ]
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