photogenic drawing negative from a manuscript original, framed, Buhl Collection and Guggenheim Museum exhibition labels on the reverse, before April 1840 (Schaaf 604)

Collection of André Jammes

Hans P. Kraus, Jr., Inc., New York, 1997

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection, June - September 2004, and 4 other international venues through 2007 (see Appendix 1)

West Palm Beach, Norton Museum of Art, A Show of Hands: Photographs and Sculpture from the Buhl Collection, January - March 2008

Seoul, South Korea, Daelim Contemporary Art Museum, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Asian tour), March - May 2009, and 2 other Asian venues through 2011 (see Appendix 1)

Jennifer Blessing, Speaking with Hands: Photographs from The Buhl Collection (Guggenheim Foundation, 2004), pp. 22 and 250 (this negative)

Larry J. Schaaf, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot (Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 79 (this negative)

This photogenic drawing negative is on watermarked J. Whatman Turkey Mill paper, manufactured in the 1830s. The tones are bold and strong, and Byron's writing, which appears white here, stands out in bold relief. As visible in the catalogue illustration, there is some unevenness in tone in the print; given that the borders, visible at the top and left edges, remain bold and strong, the unevenness is likely due to the nature of the paper of Byron's manuscript which was used to create the present image. There is a soft crease in the upper left corner. The lower edge is somewhat rough, indicating that this sheet was torn by hand from a larger sheet.
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This photogenic drawing, made before April 4^th, 1840, is the earliest photographic object in the Buhl Collection.  It is also an early surviving effort by one of the inventors of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, and demonstrates, in its conception and execution, his forward-thinking understanding of the new medium.  In addition to capturing scenes from nature, Talbot envisioned photography as a tool for the reproduction of writing.  In a letter to fellow scientist and photographic experimenter, Sir John Herschel, Talbot stated that his technique had the potential to make ‘every man his own printer and publisher’ (quoted in Schaaf, The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot, p. 78).

To make this image, Talbot used an original manuscript by Lord Byron, likely loaned to him by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.  Talbot laid the manuscript upon a sheet of ordinary paper coated with solutions of salt and silver nitrate, and then exposed it for a period of time to sunlight.  The image would have begun appearing on the sensitized sheet during exposure, allowing Talbot to check and guide the process.  The resulting photograph is, in essence, a contact print for which Byron’s manuscript served as the negative. 

🌌This wonderful photograph, from the dawn of photography, is an adventurous choice for the Buhl Collection.  Here we have notᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ the actual hand of the great poet Byron, but lines written by his hand.  In the bold lines and confident rhythm of the words across the page, this image presents as apt a study of the man as any portrait.