A Misty Morning at Norwich
1890-1891, printed 1893
Medium
photogravure
Dimensions
image: 15.2 × 19.7 cm (6 × 7 3/4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert B. Menschel and the Vital Projects Fund
Accession Number
2013.55.1.1
Art Historical Context
Peter Henry Emerson’s " Misty Morning at Norwich" the quiet poetry of rural East Anglia in the late nineteenth century. Created between 1890 and 1891 and printed in 1893, the photogravure reflects Emerson’s commitment to naturalistic photography—recording the landscape and its inhabitants with an unromanticized eye. Working in Norfolk, Emerson sought to elevate photography to the status of fine art by embracing atmosphere, light, and the subtle textures of everyday scenes rather than staged compositions. The choice of photogravure was significant. This intaglio printing process allowed Emerso...
About the Artist
Peter Henry Emerson · 1856–1936
Peter Henry Emerson (1856–1936) was born on May 13 at his family's sugar plantation, La Palma Estate, near Encrucijada, Cuba, to an American father, Henry Ezekiel Emerson, and British mother, Jane Harris Billing. A distant relative of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Samuel Morse, he spent his early childhood amid the island's landscapes before moving to Wilmington, Delaware, during the American Civil War ...