Laid Paper Black and White Photography

Young Girl Asleep in the Window - Poetry Reading 1904 - Photogravure Enchanting image of a young girl dozing off after a morning of poetry reading, the diamond of the photographic arts is the photogravure by Miss Emma Justine Farnsworth (American, 1860-1952). A rich and complex photographic image using the photogravure printing process. soft hues and rich blacks with eye catching detail. Miss Farnswaorth signed her work J.G. Farnsworth which is for middle name Justine and her mothers maiden name Sara Visscher Gourlay (Farnsworth) Signed by impression lower right "J. G. Farnsworth" (for Justine Gourlay Farnsworth) "Copyright 1904" lower left “Of all photoengraving methods there is none which produces such rich and satisfying results as photogravure. The reason for this is to be found in the method of printing. It is an intaglio process and, therefore, the quantity of ink which is transferred to the paper can be considerable, and it shares with mezzotint among hand engraving processes the resulting richness of tones.” Captain Herbert Mills Cartwirght, 1930 The photogravure process had its beginnings in the mid-19th century when Fox Talbot devised a method of producing intaglio (etching) plates by etching through a bichromated gelatin film. In 1879 Karl Klic introduced the first efficient and reliable method of producing photogravures. Emma Justine Farnsworth was born on October 16, 1860, in Albany, New York, where she lived her full ninety-one-year life. Her father was a successful lumber merchant and Emma never married. Farnsworth, who had modest art training, received a camera outfit as a gift one Christmas and began to use it the following summer. The earliest known record of her exhibiting photographs is the second Joint Exhibition of 1888, where three of her pictures were seen. Over the next five years, she also was successful in two newspaper competitions. Her work consisted primarily of genre scenes and figure studies. Early on, Farnsworth took to illustrating books with her sentimental photographs. In 1892, In Arcady appeared, featuring six tipped-in photogravures printed on tissue, picturing classically draped women in the open air, with birds, harps, and children. This thin, but large-scale volume includes verse by the ancient Greek poet Anacreon and others, selected by Farnsworth. Two other titles with images by her were published—both children’s books, also using tissue...