The Approach; In the Wood; By the Lake
1853–56
Medium
Salted paper print
Dimensions
Image: 5.5 × 5.4 cm (2 3/16 × 2 1/8 in.) (a), circular Image: 5.6 × 5.5 cm (2 3/16 × 2 3/16 in.) (b), circular Image: 15 × 11.9 cm (5 7/8 × 4 11/16 in.) (c)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Gift of The Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.382 (38a–c)
Tags
Art Historical Context
James Knight’s “The Approach; In the Wood; By the Lake” (1853–56) is a rare early photographic series that captures fleeting moments in a forest landscape. Created as three salted paper prints—two small circular images and one slightly larger rectangular view—the work depicts deer moving through wooded surroundings, evoking a quiet narrative of approach, concealment, and observation by the water’s edge. Salted paper prints, among the first photographic processes, were prized for their soft tonal range and matte surface, lending a painterly quality to these intimate scenes. Produced just over ...