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Julia Margaret Cameron: Photographer Of Genius
By Richard Moss
12/02/2003
Left Call, I Follow, I Follow, Julia Margaret Cameron © V&A Picture Library, picture courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum
A stunning new exhibition of the work of the Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron is currently showing at the National Portrait Gallery until May 26.
Julia Margaret Cameron: 19th Century Photographer of Genius showcases the work of one of the true giants of photographic portraiture.
Right The Parting of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere (from Idylls of the King), Julia Margaret Cameron, 1874 © The Royal Photographic Society
Cameron began her extraordinary career in 1863 after being given a camera by her daughter in law at the age of 48. She embraced photography with a passion bordering on obsession. In a little more than a decade she produced hundreds of searching portraits of some of the most eminent figures of the Victorian age.
Her remarkable photographs are today recognised as being decades ahead of their time, so it's surprising that this is the first major exhibition that brings together the finest of Cameron's prints.
Left Iago (Study from an Italian), Julia Margaret Cameron, 1867 © The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television/Science and Society Picture Library
The NPG has managed to collect an impressive range of works from museums and private collections throughout Europe and the United States representing the complete range of Cameron's oeuvre.
Visitors to the Gallery are treated to the full background and context of Cameron's work, which is arranged simply and thematically.
Right May Day, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1866 © V&A Picture Library, picture courtesy: Victoria and Albert Museum
There are the images strongly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood of Millais, Rossetti and Holman Hunt and there are the pre-requisite bearded Victorians dressed as Arthurian heroes in chain mail. But this exhibition finally allows us to view the full breadth, beauty and impact of her work.
Romantic portraits of literary figures such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Charles Darwin and Sir Henry Taylor, give way to beautiful portraits of women friends, servants and family - replete with the solemn eyes and long flowing locks.
Left Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1865 © National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford / Science and Society Picture Library
Cameron's religious tableaux are also well represented and beautifully displayed. There is even a rare outing for the photographer's portraits of the people of Ceylon where she lived for the final four years of her life.
Right The Mountain Nymph Sweet Liberty, Julia Margaret Cameron, 1866 © The Royal Photographic Society
This is the most definitive Cameron exhibition to date and it succeeds in matching the stature of a photographer with a singular vision and an ever growing reputation.
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE, England
T: 020 7312 2463
Open: Monday - Wednesday & Saturday - Sunday 10am - 6pm
Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm
Evening Openings Thursday & Friday 10am - 9pm
Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm
Closed: Good Friday, 24-26 December, 1 January
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