Cameron, Julia Margaret. Julia Margaret Cameron: Sun Pictures. Catalogue Twenty.

Text by Larry J. Schaaf. Published by Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs. Issued in conjunction with an exhibit, October 4 - November 18, 2011. 61 pages, 25 plates superbly printed by Meridian Printing. Stiff illustrated wraps. Summary:

Published in 2011 by dealer Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Fine Photographs, Julia Margaret Cameron: Sun Pictures. Catalogue Twenty is an exhibition catalog featuring text by photo-historian Larry J. Schaaf. The 61-page volume presents 25 selected albumen prints by the pioneer Victorian photographer, many originating directly from her family’s collection. The catalog offers scholarly commentary and full-page plates depicting Cameron's intimate portraits of prominent 19th-century cultural figures—such as Charles Darwin, Thomas Carlyle, Sir John Herschel, Alice Liddell, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—alongside her allegorical studies of women and family members. It serves as a fine-art reference highlighting Cameron’s expressive, soft-focus aesthetic and her significance in the development of early photography.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–1879) was a British photographer who became one of the most innovative and influential portraitists of the 19th century. Born in Calcutta, India, she did not begin her photographic career until age 48, when her daughter gifted her a camera in 1863. Working out of her home on the Isle of Wight, Cameron rejected the sharp-focus studio standards of her era in favor of dramatic lighting, close-cropped compositions, and purposeful soft-focus to capture the spiritual and emotional essence of her subjects. Over a decade and a half, she produced a legendary body of work that included portraits of leading Victorian intellectuals, artists, and scientists, as well as elaborate narrative tableaus depicting biblical, literary, and Arthurian motifs. Her pioneering approach broke from conventional commercial aesthetics and established photography as a legitimate fine-art medium.

Copies available:

• Very good with some wear along spine and a small scratch on cover, interior fine. 
• New in original shrink wrap.