FADING AWAY

FADING AWAY

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HENRY PEACH ROBINSON

Format Tableau

Date 1858

Location UK

Format Albumen print

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“Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901) specialized in combination printing, a technique he learned from Oscar Rejlander. Robinson used this process of combining separate negatives in a single print for much of his career as regarded the technique as an indispensable tool for proving that photography could archive the status of art.

Robinson created many elaborate tableaux from multiple negatives. The above image was his first and best-known combination print – a narrative tableau comprising five separate negatives. It depicts the final moments of a young woman dying from tuberculosis. Her sister stands behind her; her mother sits at her feet, the book in her hand is closed – the story has come to an end. In the background, a male figure – perhaps her father or her fiancé – gazes out of the window at the setting sun, the dying light a metaphor for the young woman as she too fades away.

When this image was first exhibited, some critics appeared, but other considered the subject matter morbid and intrusive. Robinson’s skilful blend of theatricality, sentimentality and artifice did, however, appeal to Prince Albert, who purchased a copy for the British Royal Collection.”(CH)

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