Rubel Collection. Inventing a New Art: Early Photographs from the Rubel Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Malcolm Daniel.

Issued as Metroplitain Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1999. Illustrations of exceptional daguerreotypes, calotypes, and albumen silver prints by Antoine Claudet; William Henry Fox Talbot; Robert Hunt; Nevil Story-Maskelyne; Hill & Adamson; Roger Fenton; Gustave Le Gray; Julia Margaret Cameron; John Adams Whipple; Platt Babbitt; Felix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin; Southworth & Hawes, et al. Wraps, 56 pages, fine. Summary:

Inventing a New Art: Early Photographs from the Rubel Collection is a 56-page exhibition catalog and monograph written by senior curator Malcolm Daniel. Issued as the Spring 1999 edition of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, it documents the Museum’s major acquisition of 78 seminal 19th-century photographs from the private collection of William Rubel.

Context and Collection History

Daniel outlines how the core of the Rubel Collection was formed during a unique window between 1977 and 1981, when a sudden influx of forgotten 19th-century photographic albums emerged from European estates and institutions into London auction houses. The publication charts how the acquisition allowed the Metropolitan Museum to retroactively fill massive historical gaps in its collection of early photography.

The Pioneers of "A New Art"

The essay centers on how mid-19th-century practitioners elevated photography from a scientific experiment into a self-conscious fine art. It tracks this aesthetic evolution through the masterpieces of four foundational "giants" of British photography:

• William Henry Fox Talbot: The inventor of the paper-based calotype process, represented by rare, softly rendered early experiments, photograms, and architectural studies.

• David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson: The pioneering Scottish partnership that was the first to establish a vast, artistically driven body of work, recognized for their Rembrandtesque portraits and rare genre scenes.

• Roger Fenton: Master of Victorian-era landscapes, architecture, and still lifes, highlighted by rare, large-format prints from his personal albums.

• Julia Margaret Cameron: The acclaimed portraitist whose spiritual and tightly framed close-ups of intellectual figures challenged standard conventions.

Material and Scope

Beyond the core British masters, the text explores early global variations of the medium. It details a select group of rare French paper prints alongside early American daguerreotypes from prominent studios like Southworth & Hawes.

Publication Design

Serving as both a historical narrative and an exhibition checklist, the Bulletin features high-quality duotone and color plates of the works on display. It pairs technical analysis of early photographic processes—such as salted paper and albumen silver prints—with critical insights into the medium's rapid aesthetic maturity.