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A Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral


Frederick Henry Evans, A Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral, 1903 (negative); ca. 1910 (print), gelatin silver print, Gift of Peat Bakke in memory of Paul and Jayne Wilhelm, public domain, 2010.84

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Details
Title

A Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral

Artist

Frederick Henry Evans (English, 1853-1943)

Date

1903 (negative); ca. 1910 (print)

Medium

gelatin silver print

Dimensions (H x W x D)

image/sheet: 9 1/8 in x 7 1/2 in

Collection Area

Photography

Category

Photographs

Object Type

photograph

Culture

British

Credit Line

Gift of Peat Bakke in memory of Paul and Jayne Wilhelm

Accession Number

2010.84

Copyright

public domain

Terms

gelatin silver prints

photographs

Description

Frederick Henry Evans, a respected London bookseller, sold his business in 1898 in order to turn his full attention to creating photographs. His images of cathedrals and England and France earned him a reputation as one of the premier architectural photographers of the early twentieth century. Evans preferred to spend days or even weeks studying his subjects at various times of day to capture a particular lighting and compositional effect. A Sea of Steps, Wells Cathedral, one of Evans’s most famous images, demonstrates his strict attention to details of light and space. It also reveals his occasional manipulation of post-camera prints: unlike other versions of this photograph, Evans heavily retouched the light passing through the windows at the top left of the composition, thereby moving attention to the softly undulating steps at center as well as the soothing light that emerges from the arched doorway.

History
Exhibitions

2011 Riches of a City: Portland Collects Portland Art Museum

2012 Emerging: New Photography Acquisitions Portland Art Museum

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