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Paris edition

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Photographers / Roger Fenton
Landscape & reportage

Roger Fenton

1819–1869 · United Kingdom

The beginnings of wartime reportage.

Explore 10 works ↓
The Valley of the Shadow of Death — version with cannonballs on the road, 1855 — Roger Fenton
The Valley of the Shadow of Death — version with cannonballs on the road, 1855
Roger Fenton · 1855-04-23

Public domain · Artwork record

The story

Fenton approached photography after training in art and played a role in organising the medium in Britain. His journey to Crimea produced portraits, encampments and landscapes associated with the war. He also photographed architecture, collections and the royal family. His images invite us to place reportage within its constraints: heavy equipment, exposure times and conditions of circulation shaped what could be shown.

Understanding the work

Read the landscape in relation to its caption and historical context. The absence of action or bodies does not mean war is absent from the image.

Key works and series

The Valley of the Shadow of Death; photographs of the Crimean War.

Sources & further exploration

A journey through images.

10 works

Click an image to enlarge it. Captions, collections and reuse conditions appear below each work. Captions describe the photographs; the source records retain catalogue titles and provide context.

The Valley of the Shadow of Death — version with cannonballs on the road, 1855 — Roger Fenton
The Valley of the Shadow of Death — version with cannonballs on the road, 1855
Roger Fenton · 1855-04-23

Public domain · Artwork record
L'Entente cordiale — Roger Fenton
L'Entente cordiale
Roger Fenton · 1855

Public domain · Artwork record
[Landscape with Clouds] — Roger Fenton
[Landscape with Clouds]
Roger Fenton · probably 1856
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Falls of the Llugwy, at Pont-y-Pair — Roger Fenton
Falls of the Llugwy, at Pont-y-Pair
Roger Fenton · 1857
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Field Marshall Lord Raglan, Crimea — Roger Fenton
Field Marshall Lord Raglan, Crimea
Roger Fenton · édition Thomas Agnew & Sons · 1855
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Landing Place, Railway Stores, Balaklava — Roger Fenton
Landing Place, Railway Stores, Balaklava
Roger Fenton · 1855
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
[Still Life with Fruit] — Roger Fenton
[Still Life with Fruit]
Roger Fenton · 1860
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
[Orientalist Study of a Woman] — Roger Fenton
[Orientalist Study of a Woman]
Roger Fenton · 1858
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Landing Place, Ordnance Wharf, Balaklava — Roger Fenton
Landing Place, Ordnance Wharf, Balaklava
Roger Fenton · 1855
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record
Ely Cathedral, from the Grammar School — Roger Fenton
Ely Cathedral, from the Grammar School
Roger Fenton · 1857
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Open Access
CC0 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Reuse conditions · Artwork record

Works in collections.

10 records

Photographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.

  1. MoMA · 1850s

    Peterborough, The West Front

    Albumen silver print, printed 1864

  2. MoMA · 1854

    Princess Alice as Spring

    Albumen silver print

  3. MoMA · 1855

    General Bosquet and Staff

    Salted paper print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  4. MoMA · c. 1855

    Lichfield Cathedral, Porch of the South Transept

    Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  5. MoMA · 1856-57

    September Clouds

    Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  6. MoMA · 1856

    Major General Lockyer and Two of His Staff

    Albumen silver print

  7. MoMA · 1857

    Kirham Abbey

    Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  8. MoMA · 1857

    Rivaulx Abbey

    Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  9. MoMA · 1857

    Wicklow Railway

    Albumen silver print from a wet-collodion glass negative

  10. MoMA · c. 1860

    Salisbury Cathedral: The Spire

    Albumen silver print from a glass negative

Other perspectives.

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