| Dates: | 1819, March - 1869, 8 August | | Born: | Great Britain, Lancashire, Nr. Bury, Crimble Hall | | Died: | Great Britain, London | | Active: | England | | Gender: | Male |
English photographer - best known for his work March 8 to June 26, 1855 during the Crimean War (1854-1856). This however does not do justice to the range of photographs he took that include still lifes, royal portraits, landscapes, museum record shots and architecture. A richly varied output was achieved in the ten year period (1852-1862) that he was involved in photography.
He was the founder and first Secretary of the Photographic Society of London in 1854, Fenton terminated his photographic career in 1861, after which his equipment and negatives were bought by Francis Frith. Prior to this, he had a varied photographic career and was one of the first photographers to photograph scenic views, stately homes and art works with an eye to selling copies to the public. A perfectionist in all things, Fenton worried about his photographs fading but some of his prints in the Royal Photographic Society Collection are in near mint condition.
[With thanks to Pam Roberts]Preparing biographies
Roger Fenton was a key figure in the first generation of photographers, and was captivated by the aesthetic potential of the new medium. In the 1850's he went to Russia to photograph Kiev, St Petersburg and Moscow, and was the official photographer of the Crimean War. In 1853 he was a founder of the London Photographic Society, which is now the Royal Photographic Society. In later life Fenton was official photographer to the royal family, but also took landscapes and still lifes, taking a particular interest in English gothic architecture.
This biography is courtesy and copyright of the Victoria & Albert Museum and is included here with permission.
Date last updated: 11 Nov 2011.
SHARED BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION PROJECT
We welcome institutions and scholars willing to test the sharing of biographies for the benefit of the photo-history community. The biography above is a part of this trial.
If you find any errors please email us details so they can be corrected as soon as possible. |
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General reading
Hannavy, John, 1974, The Camera Goes to War: Photographs from the Crimean War, 1854-1856, (Edinburgh: Scottish Arts Council) [Δ]
Lawrence, James, 1981, 1854-56 Crimea: The War with Russia from Contemporary Photographs, (Van Nostrand) isbn-10: 0442245696 isbn-13: 978-0442245696 [Δ]
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Baldwin, Gordon, 1996, Roger Fenton: Pasha and Bayadere, (J. Paul Getty Museum) isbn-10: 0892363673 isbn-13: 978-0892363674 [Δ]
Baldwin, Gordon et al., 2004, All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852–1860, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art) [Δ]
Gernsheim, Helmut & Gernsheim, Alison, 1954, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the Crimean War, (London: Secker & Warburg) [Δ]
Hannavy, John, 1975, Fenton of Crimble Hall, (Boston: David R. Godine) [Δ]
Hannavy, John, 1993, ‘Roger Fenton and the Waxed Paper Process‘, History of Photography, vol.17, no.3, pp.233-243 [Δ]
Lloyd, Valerie, 1984, ‘Roger Fenton and the Making of a Photographic Establishment‘, in Haworth-Booth, Mark (ed.), The Golden Age of British Photography 1839-1900, pp.70-75 [Δ]
Lloyd, Valerie, 1988, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the 1850s, (London: South Bank Board) [Δ]
Lloyd, Valerie (ed.), 1988, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the 1850s, (New Haven: Yale) [Δ]
Pare, Richard, 1987, Roger Fenton, (New York: Aperture) [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com | |
Family history
If you are related to this photographer and interested in tracking down your extended family we can place a note here for you to help. It is free and you would be amazed who gets in touch.
alan@luminous-lint.com |
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Exhibitions on this website |
 | Roger Fenton: Balaclava - Balaklava |
|  | Roger Fenton: British Museum |
|  | Roger Fenton: Cooking House |
|  | Roger Fenton: Museums |
|  | Roger Fenton: Oriental series |
|  | Roger Fenton: Portraits from the Crimea |
|  | Roger Fenton: Rievaulx Abbey |
|  | Roger Fenton: Russia |
|  | Roger Fenton: Skeleton of Man and of the Male Gorilla |
|  | Roger Fenton: Still lifes |
|  | Roger Fenton: The artist's van |
|  | Roger Fenton: The Conway in the Stereoscope |
|  | Roger Fenton: Valley of the Shadow of Death |
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All photographs by this photographer
Roger Fenton
British, 1819-1869
Fenton had the good fortune of being born into a wealthy family. His father had an extensive cotton mill and amassed a fortune. It was assumed that Fenton, after he completed his studies at University College London, would join his father manufacturing cotton. Instead, Fenton decided to study painting and wound up in Paris studying under Paul Delaroche. It was in Delaroche's studio that Fenton was introduced to photography by several eminent daguerreotypists who frequented Delaroche's studio. Upon his return to England, Fenton took up the calotype process and began making photographs. In 1847 Fenton, together with other photographers, formed the Calotype Club, the first photographic club in England. Although Fenton practiced photography for only ten years, he produced a large body of work photographing landscapes, still lives, architectural studies, portraiture, and oriental costume studies. However, it was his expedition to the Crimea in 1855 for which Fenton is best known
The appalling conditions suffered by the British troops in Sebastopol in the winter of 1854-5, due to mismanagement, was widely reported in The Times. The British people had little confidence in the government's ability to carry out the war and although the government tried to counter accusations, casualty lists showed otherwise. Of those who died, seven-eighths died from disease, while only an eighth died from battle wounds. It is not known if Fenton went to Sebastopol for political or commercial reasons, or both. His trip was made under the patronage of Queen Victoria, but was financed by newspaper publisher Thomas Agnew who wanted photographs which would be of historical interest and could be sold to the public. In order to not be offensive, Fenton could not portray the ravages of war. Instead he photographed the various encampments, the railway yard, the trenches and batteries, and groups of soldiers and officers. Although the photographs do not show the carnage of war, the barren landscape, the meager accommodations, and the shabbiness of the soldiers, tell of the devastation of war. In June of 1855 after spending three months near the battlefield, Fenton could take no more, and returned home.
His health was not good, he had contracted cholera, and he was depressed by the loss of friends on the battlefield. Upon his return to England, he was summoned for an audience with Queen Victoria to recount his adventures. When the Queen paid a state visit to Paris in August of that year, she took with her twenty of Fenton's photographs to show Napoleon. Soon after, Fenton was asked to visit Napoleon and Fenton presented his entire collection of 360 photographs from Crimea. The photographs from Fenton's Crimean expedition were frequently exhibited in late 1855 and early 1856. They were also published, in the form of engravings, in the Illustrated London News. Despite that they were widely viewed and much admired, the commercial sale of the photographs was very weak and Agnew lost money on the project. Undaunted, Fenton quickly moved on to other photographic projects.
[Contributed by Lee Gallery]
Roger Fenton
http://www.loc.gov ...
Excellent site for background information on the Crimean War photographer.
| Roger Fenton
http://www.geh.org ...
| Roger Fenton 1
http://www.rps.org ...
| Roger Fenton 2
http://www.rps.org ...
| Roger Fenton, English (1819-1869)
http://albumen.stanford.edu ...
| Roger Fenton
http://www.rogerfenton.org.uk
Roger Fenton‘s Letters from the Crimea
| Roger Fenton
http://www.tate.org.uk ...
Exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London (21 September 2005 - 2 January 2006)
| Roger Fenton - Crimean War Photographs
http://lcweb2.loc.gov ...
"Roger Fenton's Crimean War photographs represent one of the earliest systematic attempts to document a war through the medium of photography. Fenton, who spent fewer than four months in the Crimea (March 8 to June 26, 1855), produced 360 photographs under extremely trying conditions. While these photographs present a substantial documentary record of the participants and the landscape of the war, there are no actual combat scenes, nor are there any scenes of the devastating effects of war."
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The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
• Auer, Michele & Michel 1985 Encyclopedie Internationale Des Photographes de 1839 a Nos Jours / Photographers Encylopaedia International 1839 to the present (Hermance, Editions Camera Obscura) 2 volumes [A classic reference work for biographical information on photographers.]
• Beaton, Cecil & Buckland, Gail 1975 The Magic Eye: The Genius of Photography from 1839 to the Present Day (Boston and Toronto: Little, Brown & Company) p.44 [Useful short biographies with personal asides and one or more example images.]
• Capa, Cornell (ed.) 1984 The International Center of Photography: Encyclopedia of Photography (New York, Crown Publishers, Inc. - A Pound Press Book) p.191-192
• Lenman, Robin (ed.) 2005 The Oxford Companion to the Photograph (Oxford: Oxford University Press) [Includes a short biography on Roger Fenton.]
• Weaver, Mike (ed.) 1989 The Art of Photography 1839-1989 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press) p.456-457 [This exhibition catalogue is for the travelling exhibition that went to Houston, Canberra and London in 1989.]
• Witkin, Lee D. and Barbara London 1979 The Photograph Collector’s Guide (London: Secker and Warburg) p.142-143 [Long out of print but an essential reference work - the good news is that a new edition is in preparation.]
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If there is an analysis of a single photograph or a useful self portrait I will highlight it here. |
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