Vesper Bells, No. 6 from the portfolio "American Pictorial Photography, Series I" (1899); edition 146/150
Medium
Photogravure
Dimensions
Image: 18.9 × 14.7 cm (7 1/2 × 5 13/16 in.); Paper: 21.2 × 16 cm (8 3/8 × 6 5/16 in.); Mount: 38 × 28 cm (15 × 11 1/16 in.)
Classification
photogravure
Department
Photography and Media
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
103516
Art Historical Context
**Vesper Bells** by Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr., captures the poetic hush of evening in this 1897 photogravure, the sixth image from the prestigious portfolio *American Pictorial Photography Series I* (published 1899). Printed in a limited edition of 150 (this is no. 146), the work exemplifies the late 19th-century push to elevate photography as fine art. Eickemeyer, a prominent American photographer, embraced Pictorialism—a movement that sought painterly effects through soft focus, atmospheric tones, and emotional resonance, blurring the line between snapshot and masterpiece. Photogravure, the me...