D.O. Hill and W.B. Johnstone
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937
Accession Number
37.98.2.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
**D.O. Hill and W.B. Johnstone** (1843–47) is a captivating salted paper print from a paper negative, created by pioneering Scottish partnership of David Octavius Hill and Robertson. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Photographs, this work captures the two men—Hill, a prominent painter, and Johnstone, a fellow artist—in a poised portrait that exemplifies early photographic portraiture. The calotype process, using paper negatives, allowed for subtle tonal gradations and artistic softness, marking a shift from painting to this revolutionary medium. Hill and Adamson's coll...
About the Artist
David Octavius Hill|Robert Adamson|Hill and Adamson · 1802–1870
David Octavius Hill (1802–1870) was a Scottish painter, photographer, and arts administrator whose pioneering photography partnership with Robert Adamson from 1843 to 1847 transformed the medium into an art form. Born in Perth and trained in Edinburgh, Hill established himself as a landscape painter and became secretary of the Royal Scottish Academy, a position he held for nearly forty years. His ...