Smallmouth Beach
1860/94
Medium
Albumen print
Dimensions
Image/paper: 12.6 × 20 cm (5 × 7 7/8 in.)
Classification
albumen silver print
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
38265
Art Historical Context
**Smallmouth Beach** by Francis Bedford (18151894) is a captivating albumen silver print from the mid-to-late 19th (ca. 1860–94), now housed in the Art Institute Chicago's Department of Photography and Media. a modest 12.6 × 20 cm, this landscape captures the serene allure of a coastal scene, showcasing Bedford's skill as one of Britain's pioneering photographers. Renowned for his early adoption of photography in the 1850s, Bedford documented, travel vistas, and natural wonders, often accompanying royal expeditions that elevated the medium's prestige. The albumen print technique, dominant fro...
About the Artist
Francis Bedford · 1816–1894
Francis Bedford (1816–1894) was a pioneering British photographer, born in London as the eldest son of the church architect Francis Octavius Bedford.) He trained as an architectural draughtsman and lithographer, exhibiting drawings of architectural subjects from his late teens and listing "Lithographic Artist" as his profession in the 1851 census.) In the early 1850s, Bedford turned to photography...