Enteromorphia compressa, ß prolifera
ca. 1853
Medium
Cyanotype
Dimensions
Image: 25.3 x 20 cm (9 15/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.557 (110)
Art Historical Context
**Enteromorphia compressa, ß prolifera** *Anna Atkins, ca. 1853* Cyanotype; Image: 25.3 x 20 cm Step into the pioneering world of Anna Atkins, a British botanist and photographer whose innovative work bridged science and art in the mid-19th century. This delicate cyanotype captures the intricate form of *Enteromorphia compressa*, a type of green seaweed, rendered in Atkins' signature Prussian blue tones. Created around 1853, it exemplifies her groundbreaking *Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions* (1843–53), the first book ever illustrated entirely with photographs. Atkin...
About the Artist
Anna Atkins
Anna Atkins (née Children), born on March 16, 1799, in Tonbridge, Kent, England, grew up immersed in the world of science thanks to her father, John George Children, a prominent chemist, zoologist, and curator at the British Museum. After her mother Hester's death shortly after childbirth in 1800, Anna formed a close bond with her father, receiving an exceptional scientific education rare for wome...