DARWIN | photograph signed, c. 1871

PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT

105 by 65mm., depicting the naturalist seated, by Oscar Gustave Rejlander, carte-de-visite albumen print, SIGNED BY DARWIN, on the original mount, c. 1871

"THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHS OF ME HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY MR REJLANDER"

(Darwin, 12 October [1871])

A REMARKABLE SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF THE FATHER OF EVOLUTION TAKEN BY THE FATHER OF ART PHOTOGRAPHY.

Darwin was very interested in the science of photography and its uses, and sat for many portraits during his lifetime. The theme of expression also had long held interest for Darwin. Over the course of several years, he pursued and developed this preoccupation, employing his vast network of correspondents as he asked friends and colleagues to send images and descriptions of the representation of emotions. This culminated in the publication of Darwin's work Expression and Emotions in Man and Animal, published in 1872.

Oscar Gustave Rejlander (1813-1875), a pioneer in Victorian art photography, collaborated with Darwin on Expression and Emotions, including contributing to photographs. Of the thirty photographs selected to illustrate his theories, nineteen were by Rejlander. It was this collaboration that cemented Rejlander's place in the history of psychiatry and behavioural science. 

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