Sargassum Bacciferum

by Anna Atkins

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Artist Statement

When Portuguese sailors first encountered this particular algae, they named it after a plant that grew in their wells at home: sargaço. Sargassum grows throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. It floats freely on the surface of the water in large groups, which can be miles long. The Sargasso Sea, home to a large population of the algae, is named after it.

Atkins created her cyanotype photograms by placing the specimen onto light-sensitive paper, and then exposing paper and subject to the sun for a period of time. She then developed the image using the cyanotype process, resulting in a rich blue background.

Details

Read our introduction to this edition, "Anna Atkins' Botanical Beauties".

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Medium:

Museo Portfolio Rag

Edition Structure:
10"x8" | edition of 20
14"x11" | edition of 200
20"x16" | edition of 50
30"x24" | edition of 5

Anna Atkins

Anna Atkins (1799 - 1871) was an English botanist and photographer, best known for her "cyanotype impressions", or cyanotype photograms. Atkins grew up under the tutelage of her father, scientist John George Children, which led her to find her passion in botany. Both her father and her husband, John Pelly Atkins, were friendly with some of the inventive minds of the time. These included William Henry Fox Talbot, inventor of the photogram, and Sir John Herschel, developer of the cyanotype photograph process. Though these men taught Anna Atkins how to use their inventions, only she brought them together in scientific... Read More
and artistic study. Using her extensive collection of dried plants, Atkins created enough cyanotype photograms to self-publish Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions, the first-ever book illustrated with photographs. She later published two other books of cyanotype impressions as well as other non-photographic books before her death in 1871.
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