Cyanotypes

Anna Atkins

Work Package 3

In addition to Photographs of British Algae, Atkins published five fictional novels between 1852 and 1863. These included The Perils of Fashion, Murder will Out: a story of real life, and A Page from the Peerage.

In the 1850s, Atkins collaborated with Anne Dixon (1799–1864), who was "like a sister" to her, to produce at least three presentation albums of cyanotype photograms:

Atkins retained the algae, ferns and other plants that she used in her work and in 1865 donated the collection to the British Museum.

She died at Halstead Place in 1871 of "paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion" at the age of 72.

Work Package 1

Sir John Herschel, a friend of Atkins and Children, invented the cyanotype photographic process in 1842. Within a year, Atkins applied the process to algae (specifically, seaweed) by making cyanotype photograms that were contact printed "by placing the unmounted dried-algae original directly on the cyanotype paper".
Detail of title page of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions

Atkins self-published her photograms in the first installment of Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions in October 1843. She planned to provide illustrations to William Harvey’s Manual of British Algae which had been published in 1841. Although privately published, with a limited number of copies, and with handwritten text, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions is considered the first book illustrated with photographic images.

Eight months later, in June 1844, the first fascicle of William Henry Fox Talbot's The Pencil of Nature was released; that book was the "first photographically illustrated book to be commercially published" or "the first commercially published book illustrated with photographs".

Work Package 2

John George Children and John Pelly Atkins were friends of William Henry Fox Talbot. Anna Atkins learned directly from Talbot about two of his inventions related to photography: the "photogenic drawing" technique (in which an object is placed on light-sensitized paper and exposed to the sun to produce an image) and calotypes.

Atkins was known to have had access to a camera by 1841. Some sources say that Atkins was the first female photographer, while others attribute this title to Constance Fox Talbot. As no camera-based photographs by Anna Atkins, nor photographs by Constance Talbot, survive, the issue may never be resolved.

Work Package 3

In the 1850s, Atkins collaborated with Anne Dixon (1799–1864), who was "like a sister" to her, to produce at least three presentation albums of cyanotype photograms:

Atkins retained the algae, ferns and other plants that she used in her work and in 1865 donated the collection to the British Museum.

She died at Halstead Place in 1871 of "paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion" at the age of 72.

Work Package 1

Team members and positions

Anna Atkins

PI
anna.atkins@cyanolabo.com

Atkins was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England in 1799. Her mother, Hester Anne Children, "didn't recover from the effects of childbirth" and died in 1800. Anna was close to her father John George Children, a renowned chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist. Anna "received an unusually scientific education for a woman of her time." Her detailed engravings of shells were used to illustrate her father's translation of Lamarck's Genera of Shells. In 1825, she married John Pelly Atkins, a London West India merchant, county sheriff, and proponent of railways; during this same year, she moved to Halstead Place, the Atkins family home in Halstead, near Sevenoaks, Kent. They had no children. Atkins pursued her interests in botany by collecting dried plants, which were probably used as photograms later. She was elected a member of the London Botanical Society in 1839.

Last Publications

Prussian blue: artists' pigment and chemists' sponge

Journal Of Chemical Education, vol. 85, p.612, 2008

Ware Mike

the accidental discovery over 300 years ago of the artists' pigment prussian blue, iron(iii) hexacyanoferrate(ii), opened up a whole new area of chemistry\textemdash that of the cyanide radical. the variable composition of prussian blue has tantalized chemists, until investigations by x-ray crystallography in the late 20th century determined its structure. the open 'zeolytic' lattice can act as host to small molecules and ions, making the substance useful as an antidote to certain poisons, notably thallium and radiocaesium. the redox chemistry of the 'mixed valence' iron atoms in prussian blue confers the property of electrochromism on the solid, which can therefore serve in electronic digital displays. photochemical production of the pigment is the basis for the cyanotype or blueprint reprographic process. inclusion of redox-active species in the prussian blue lattice can 'fine-tune' its color, by shifting the electronic charge transfer band in the visible absorption spectrum. thus, photographic artists unknowingly employ coordination chemistry to tone the hues of their cyanotypes.

From ultraviolet to prussian blue: a spectral response for the cyanotype process and a safe educational activity to explain uv exposure for all ages

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, vol. 13, p.1753-1764, 2014

Turner J., Parisi A. V., Downs N., Lynch M.

engaging students and the public in understanding uv radiation and its effects is achievable using the real time experiment that incorporates blueprint paper, an ``educational toy'' that is a safe and easy demonstration of the cyanotype chemical process. the cyanotype process works through the presence of uv radiation. the blueprint paper was investigated to be used as not only engagement in discussion for public outreach about uv radiation, but also as a practical way to introduce the exploration of measurement of uv radiation exposure and as a consequence, digital image analysis. tests of print methods and experiments, dose response, spectral response and dark response were investigated. two methods of image analysis for dose response calculation are provided using easy to access software and two methods of pixel count analysis were used to determine spectral response characteristics. variation in manufacture of the blueprint paper product indicates some variance between measurements. most importantly, as a result of this investigation, a preliminary spectral response range for the radiation required to produce the cyanotype reaction is presented here, which has until now been unknown.

Why does prussian blue fade? understanding the role(s) of the substrate

Journal Of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, vol. 28, p.1600-1609, 2013

Gervais Claire, Languille Marie-angélique, Réguer Solenn, Gillet Martine, Pelletier Sébastien, Garnier Chantal, Vicenzi Edward P., Bertrand Loïc

prussian blue (pb) and its analogues are widely studied because of their interesting and promising magnetic and optical properties. the pigment prussian blue, found in different types of artworks (paintings, watercolors and photographs), is also studied in the area of heritage science, where its capricious fading behavior under light or anoxia treatment poses problematic conservation issues. pb fading is due to the reduction of iron(iii) to iron(ii) and depends significantly on the artefact. this paper focuses on the roles of the substrate in affecting the pb structure and modifying the redox process. in particular, x-ray absorption experiments at the fe k-edge of unfaded and faded pb\textendash paper samples show that changes in the pb structure can happen by simple contact with the substrate, prior to the fading treatment. spectrophotometric measurements on a series of model pb\textendash paper samples further demonstrate the multiple influences of the substrate and show that not only its chemical composition but also its role as a dispersion and textured medium significantly alter the fading behavior of pb. a potential roadmap is proposed to rationally investigate the complex fading process of prussian blue on a substrate.

Anna atkins: photographs of british algae

Bulletin Of The Detroit Institute Of Arts, vol. 84, p.8-15, 2010

Saska Hope

Prussian blue: artists' pigment and chemists' sponge

Journal Of Chemical Education, vol. 85, p.612, 2008

Ware Mike

From ultraviolet to prussian blue: a spectral response for the cyanotype process and a safe educational activity to explain uv exposure for all ages

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, vol. 13, p.1753-1764, 2014

Turner J., Parisi A. V., Downs N., Lynch M.

Cyanotype Laboratory

Britich Museum
Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG
United Kingdom

contact@cyanolabo.com

Cyanotypes

Anna Atkins

Work Package 3

Work Package 1

Work Package 2

Work Package 3

Work Package 1

Team members and positions

Anna Atkins

Eugène Delacroix

Charles Debureau

Charles Beaudelaire

Cat Woman

Eugène Delacroix

Charles Debureau

Charles Beaudelaire

Cat Woman

Eugène Delacroix

Charles Debureau

Charles Beaudelaire

Cat Woman

Last Publications

Journal Of Chemical Education, vol. 85, p.612, 2008

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, vol. 13, p.1753-1764, 2014

Journal Of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, vol. 28, p.1600-1609, 2013

Bulletin Of The Detroit Institute Of Arts, vol. 84, p.8-15, 2010

Journal Of Chemical Education, vol. 85, p.612, 2008

Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, vol. 13, p.1753-1764, 2014