In Focus: William Henry Fox Talbot – Photographs From the J.Paul Getty Museum

William Henry Fox Talbot - a scientist, mathematician, author and artist - is credited with being the inventor of photography as we know it. In mid-1834 he began to experiment with light-sensitive chemistry, and in January 1839 he announced his invention of the photogenic drawing, two weeks after Louis-Jacques Mande Daguerre's daguerreotype process debuted in France. Talbot's improved process, the calotype, was introduced in 1840. This invention, which shortened exposure times and facilitated making multiple prints from a single negative, became the basis for photography as it is practised today. The Getty Museum's collection of photographs includes approximately 350 by Talbot, and approximately 50 are reproduced here in colour with commentary on each image by Larry J. Schaaf. Schaaf also provides an introduction to the volume and a chronological overview of the artist's life. This volume includes an edited transcript of a colloquium on Talbot's career with participants Schaaf, Michael Ware, Geoffrey Batchen, Nancy Keeler, James Fee, Weston Naef and David Featherstone.