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PHOTOGRAPHER · 1815–1879 · UNITED KINGDOM

Julia Margaret Cameron

Soft-focus, close-cropped Victorian portraits and allegorical scenes.

Born
1815
Died
1879
Country
United Kingdom
Field
Photographer
Julia Margaret Cameron
Portrait: Henry Herschel Hay Cameron / Adam Cuerden, Public domain

KNOWN FOR

  1. 1867Julia Jackson
  2. 1867Sir John Herschel
  3. 1874Illustrations for Tennyson's Idylls of the King

WHY THEY MATTER

Leading Victorian portrait photographer; her work is held by major collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum.

THE LIFE

Cameron took up photography in her late forties after receiving a camera as a gift. She photographed the leading figures of Victorian Britain, including Tennyson, Darwin and Herschel, in tight, often deliberately soft close-ups. She also staged allegorical and literary scenes, among them illustrations for Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Her approach broke the technical rules of the day and is now seen as an early assertion of photography as art.

Source: Wikipedia

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