Description:
portrait of girl; girl looking down at camera; white dress; child
Label Text:
Julia Margaret Cameron started her photographic career later in life at the age of 48. As a member of the upper class she was surrounded by artists, writers, and high society, which gave her access to many of the important figures of the day who were part of her circle. Here she portrays her great niece Florence Fisher with an idealized innocence and poetic sensuality. Like the Pre-Raphaelites, Cameron often used classical themes or subjects, including Arthurian legends and famous poems, in her work.
Photography at the time had yet to be fully understood as an art form, and photographers were free to make it their own. Unsurprisingly, they looked to the established art forms of painting and sculpture for inspiration. Because the new medium was more realistic and immediate, photographers who used classical themes common to other art forms often produced surprisingly erotic works—even by modern standards—during the “prudish” Victorian Age. HKDV
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1982.38.1 |
