Wrack
Medium
Salted paper print
Dimensions
22 x 17.5 cm (8 11/16 x 6 7/8 in.), irregularly trimmed
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936
Accession Number
36.37 (25)
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Henry Fox Talbot's *Wrack* (1839) captures the intricate textures of seaweed—known as "wrack" washed ashore—in one of the earliest surviving photographs. This salted paper print, measuring 22 x 17.5 cm and irregularly trimmed, reveals Talbot's pioneering "photogenic drawing" technique, where light-sensitive paper directly recorded the subject's form without a camera lens in some cases. The delicate fronds and veined surfaces evoke a sense of scientific wonder, aligning with the era's fascination with botany and natural history. Created just months after the public announcement of phot...
About the Artist
William Henry Fox Talbot · 1800–1877
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877), a British polymath whose ingenuity transformed visual representation, was born on 11 February 1800 at Melbury House, Dorset, the only child of William Davenport Talbot of Lacock Abbey and Lady Elisabeth Fox Strangways, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Ilchester. His father died shortly after his birth, leaving the family in financial straits until his formidable mo...