David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) & Robert Adamson (1821-1848)

salt print from a paper negative, mounted, matted, 1844-45 

Christie's South Kensington, 9 November 1989, Sale MCA 2650/MPH 3651, Lot 276

Acquired by Hans P. Kraus, Jr., New York, from the above

Acquired by the Quillan Company from the above, 1990

Jill Quasha, The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs (New York, 1991), pl. 33 (this print)

Other prints of this image:

David Bruce, Sun Pictures: The Hill-Adamson Calotypes (Greenwich, 1973), p. 175

Sara Stevenson, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson: Catalogue of Their Calotypes Taken Between 1843 and 1847 in the Collection of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (Edinburgh, 1981), p. 196, Newhaven 1

In Focus: Hill and Adamson (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 1999), pl. 33

Grading this salt print on a scale of 1 to 10 - a 10 being a print that has rich, deep dark tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail - this print rates a 9. As is frequently seen in prints by Hill and Adamson, there is some fading at the very edges of this print. The print's dark tones are reddish brown, and the highlights a light cream color. It is in excellent condition. It is mounted to a stiff sheet of heavy paper, which shows some minor sporadic foxing that does not affect the image.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were among the first photographers to master William Henry Fox Talbot's negative-positive process, and the image offered here is a classic example of their talents in portraiture.  In the small fishing village of Newhaven, north of Edinburgh, Hill and Adamson made more than 100 calotypes depicting fishermen, 'fisher-lassies,' and 'fisher-laddies' in their picturesque surroundings.  The present study of one James Linton succeeds as both a document and as a work of art; its expressive renderings of light and dark, coupled with the sitter's natural pose, are characteristic of the artistry Hill and Adamson brought to all of their work.   In 1849, the year after Adamson's death, Professor Robert Hunt wrote, 'Photography has not yet been taken up by an artist with a view to its improvement, except by Mr. Hill, of Edinburgh, whose groups of the Newhaven fishermen, executed by the Calotype process, have been universally admired' (quoted in David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, p. 20).     

Hill and Adamson were praised not only by contemporary critics, but also by a number of twentieth-century photographers and curators.  Alfred Stieglitz included their work in three issues of Camera Work and in the International Exhibition of Pictorial Photography in Buffalo in 1910, and Beaumont Newhall showed a variety of their images in his landmark Museum of Modern Art exhibition, Photography 1839 - 1937.