Object number1983.24

Ptelea trifoliata [Wafer ash]

Datec. 1845

Artist Anna Atkins (English, 1799-1871)

CultureEnglish

MediumCyanotype

DimensionsImage: 9 15/16 x 7 3/4 in. (25.3 x 19.7 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, E. Powis and Anne Keating Jones, class of 1943, Fund

Period19th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

InscribedWithin image, by artist, lower center: Ptelia tifoliata / Am[erica (likely)]

BibliographyLombino, Mary-Kay. Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College, 2019, p. 12 ProvenancePurchased from Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery

Vassar Exhibitions

The Botanist at Vassar

Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Mastering Light: From the Natural to the Artificial

Photography as Data: Augmentation, Extraction, Objectification

Art, Science, & Technology at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Botany

Exhibition HistoryModeling Femininity: Art and the Moral Education of Nineteenth-Century Women, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, January 27 - March 15, 2000; Mastering Light: From the Natural to the Artificial, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 11 - June 29, 2014; Shape of Light: Defining Photographs from the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, September 20 - December 15, 2019; Photography as Data: Augmentation, Extraction, Objectification, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, April 9 - September 15, 2024

Label TextIn 1842, English chemist John Herschel invented the cyanotype, an early photographic process in which paper was coated with a photosensitive chemical compound that has a vibrant, blue color. English botanist Anna Atkins used the process to make impressions of plant specimens, laid directly on the sensitized paper and exposed to light, yielding detailed images that revolutionized botanical illustration. Before the nineteenth century, botanical illustrations were only drawn by hand. While hand-drawn botanical illustrations continued as a means of plant study after the advent of photography, Atkins’s cyanotypes illustrated the texture, translucency, and scale of plants in a unique way.

DescriptionA light blue thin stem with multiple leaves and flowers against a deep, bright blue background.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu