{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O75305"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O75305/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH8953/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH8953/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH8953","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AL3359","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O75305/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O75305","accessionNumber":"PH.54-1982","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Hawkhurst Church, Kent: A Photographic Truth","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Benjamin Turner was one of the first, and remains one of the greatest, British amateur photographers. He began practising photography in 1849 according to the technique patented in 1841 by the British inventor W. H. Fox Talbot (1800-1877). Turner's photographs were 'contact' printed from paper negatives (known as calotypes) of the same size as the print. He printed them on albumen paper, which is paper that has been floated on an emulsion of egg white containing light-sensitive silver salts. Between 1852 and 1854 Turner compiled 60 of his own photographs, including this one, in what is believed to be a unique album, 'Photographic Views from Nature'. It might have been a sample book, a convenient method for presenting photographs for personal pleasure, and for showing to colleagues or potential exhibitors. It remained in the Turner family until it was bought by the Museum.\r\n\r\nMany of Turner's photographs are of places with which he had some family connection. His younger brother William Frederick lived for a while with friends in Kent in order to learn about farming, which may explain Turner's visit to Hawkhurst and the surrounding area. Turner may also have been visiting the astronomer Sir John Herschel, who lived at Hawkhurst and contributed much to the early development of photography. In this photograph of Hawkhurst, Turner has made good use of the wide expanse of still water in the foreground to incorporate a reflection of the church. However, he has cropped the print to avoid an exact symmetry.","physicalDescription":"Sepia toned photograph depicting a stone church with a turret, the surrounding trees and their reflections in the still water abutting the structure","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Turner, Benjamin Brecknell","id":"A8931"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"},{"text":"calotype","id":"AAT53484"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print from calotype negative","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BH8953","2006AL3359"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"354","box":"E"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Hawkhurst","id":"x36227"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1852-1854","earliest":"1852-01-01","latest":"1854-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"RPS.1200-2018","id":"O1430925"},"association":""}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"26.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"36.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Albumen print from Calotype negative by Benjamin Brecknell Turner, 'Hawkhurst Church, Kent: A Photographic Truth', 1852-4","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Hoozee, Robert (ed.), <i>British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950</i>, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007","id":"AUTH354952"},"details":"190","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Ebloussants reflets. Normandie Impressionniste - Rouen</u> Rouen: musées des Beaux-Arts, 2013. ISBN: 9782711860623."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Hawkhurst","id":"x36227"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"church","id":"AAT7466"},{"text":"pond","id":"AAT8688"},{"text":"reflection","id":"AAT179488"},{"text":"graveyard","id":"x36229"},{"text":"water","id":"AAT11772"},{"text":"","id":""},{"text":"reflection","id":"AAT179488"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Photography Centre 2018-20:\n</b>\nBenjamin Brecknell Turner (1815–94)\r\nHawkhurst Church, Kent (A Photographic Truth)\r\n1852\r\n\r\nTurner took out a licence to practice ‘calotype’ photography from William Henry Fox Talbot in 1848. The positive images were contact-printed from paper negatives. The negative (above) and its corresponding positive (below) are reunited here to illustrate this process. The pairing as you see them would not have been the photographer’s original intention for display. Although negatives were sometimes exhibited in their own right, showing positive prints was the norm. \r\n\r\nCalotype negative; albumen print\r\nMuseum nos. RPS.1200-2018; PH.54-1982\r\n\r\nThe Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&amp;A, acquired with the generous assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund\r\n","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2011-2012, label text :\r\n\r\nBenjamin Brecknell Turner (1915-1894)\r\n‘Hawkhurst Church, Kent’\r\n1852-4\r\n\r\nHawkhurst Church is perfectly reflected here in\r\nthe village pond on a bright morning. Turner used\r\nthe alternative title ‘A Photographic Truth’ when\r\nexhibiting the photograph at the world’s first public\r\nphotographic exhibition at London’s Society of Arts\r\nin 1852. Turner’s title suggests the self-reflexive\r\nnature and philosophical possibilities of photography.\r\n\r\nAlbumen print\r\nMuseum no. Ph.54-1982\r\n","date":{"text":"07 03 2014","earliest":"2014-03-07","latest":"2014-03-07"}}],"partNumbers":["PH.54-1982"],"accessionNumberNum":"54","accessionNumberPrefix":"PH","accessionYear":1982,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-25","availableToBook":false}}