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Roger Fenton had the good fortune of being born into a wealthy family. His father had an extensive cotton mill and amassed a fortune. It was assumed that Roger Fenton, after he completed his studies at University College London, would join his father manufacturing cotton. Instead, Roger Fenton decided to study painting and wound up in Paris studying under Paul Delaroche. It was in Delaroche's studio that Roger Fenton was introduced to photography by several eminent daguerreotypists who frequented Delaroche's studio. Upon his return to England, Roger Fenton took up the calotype process and began making photographs. In 1847 Roger Fenton, together with other photographers, formed the Calotype Club, the first photographic club in England. Although Roger Fenton practiced photography for only ten years, he produced a large body of work photographing landscapes, still lives, architectural studies, portraiture, and oriental costume studies. However, it was his expedition to the Crimea in 1855 for which Roger Fenton is best known
The appalling conditions suffered by the British troops in Sebastopol in the winter of 1854-5, due to mismanagement, was widely reported in The Times. The British people had little confidence in the government's ability to carry out the war and although the government tried to counter accusations, casualty lists showed otherwise. Of those who died, seven-eighths died from disease, while only an eighth died from battle wounds. It is not known if Roger Fenton went to Sebastopol for political or commercial reasons, or both. His trip was made under the patronage of Queen Victoria, but was financed by newspaper publisher Thomas Agnew who wanted photographs which would be of historical interest and could be sold to the public. In order to not be offensive, Roger Fenton could not portray the ravages of war. Instead he photographed the various encampments, the railway yard, the trenches and batteries, and groups of soldiers and officers. Although the photographs do not show the carnage of war, the barren landscape, the meager accommodations, and the shabbiness of the soldiers, tell of the devastation of war. In June of 1855 after spending three months near the battlefield, Roger Fenton could take no more, and returned home.
His health was not good, he had contracted cholera, and he was depressed by the loss of friends on the battlefield. Upon his return to England, he was summoned for an audience with Queen Victoria to recount his adventures. When the Queen paid a state visit to Paris in august of that year, she took with her twenty of Roger Fenton's photographs to show Napoleon. Soon after, Roger Fenton was asked to visit Napoleon and Roger Fenton presented his entire collection of 360 photographs from Crimea. The photographs from Roger Fenton's Crimean expedition were frequently exhibited in late 1855 and early 1856. They were also published, in the form of engravings, in the Illustrated London News. Despite that they were widely viewed and much admired, the commercial sale of the photographs was very weak and Agnew lost money on the project. Undaunted, Roger Fenton quickly moved on to other photographic projects.
Bibliography:
- Gordon Baldwin, Roger Fenton: Pasha and Bayadere, Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 1996.
- Gordon Baldwin, Malcolm Daniel, Sarah Greenough, Richard Pare, Pam Roberts, Roger Taylor, All The Mighty World : The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852-1860, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art; Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2004.
- Helmut and Alison Gernsheim, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the Crimean War, London: Secker and Warburg, 1954.
- Lynne Green, Muriel Walker, Roger Fenton: Photographer of the 1850’s, London: South Bank Board, 1988.
- John Hannavy, Roger Fenton of Crimble Hall, Boston: David R. Godine, 1976.
- Larry Schaaf, Sun Pictures: Catalogue Fourteen, Roger Fenton Family Collection, New York: Hans P. Kraus, Jr., 2005.
Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)
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