Camera Work: A Photographic Quarterly (1903 (Heft 4))

OUR ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE SUCCESS of American photography having been achieved mainly
through portraiture and figure-work, the earlier numbers of Camera
Work have been devoted chiefly to these; we therefore present in this
number the work of Mr. Frederick H. Evans, of England, noted as the
greatest exponent of architectural photography, as a contrast to our previous
numbers and in order to show the possibilities of pictorial treatment in this
realm of the inanimate.
It has often been charged that devotion to the pictorial in photography
carried with it an utter disregard of photographic technique, but the fact
that Mr. Evans is a firm believer in and practitioner of the purest forms of
photography disproves this assertion. He stands alone in architectural
photography, and that he is able to instil into pictures of this kind so much
feeling, beauty, and poetry entitles him to be ranked with the leading
pictorial photographers of the world. His work once more exemplifies the
necessity of individuality and soul in the worker, for of the thousands who
have photographed cathedrals, none has imbued his pictures with such poetic
qualities coupled with such masterful treatment. We regret that our purse
is not long enough to place before our readers a more complete set of
examples of the work of this photographer who has produced hundreds of
cathedral pictures, each more charming than the other.
The gravure and half-tone plates were made and the edition therefrom
printed in England under the personal supervision of Mr. Evans, who
evidently preferred this to entrusting his valuable negatives to the risks of
crossing the Atlantic. Much against our inclinations we acceded to his wishes
after having seen a sample-proof of gravure-work done to his satisfaction,
which met with our entire approval. Feeling that Mr. Evans would be
quite as particular in his supervision as we would be, we permitted him to
go ahead upon these lines. In due course proofs were submitted which
delighted us. Imagine our consternation upon the arrival of the edition to
find that the work was uneven, not up to proof, and in most cases far below
that standard which we had every reason to expect. It was then too late to
do aught than make the best of a bad job, feeling that we have only ourselves
to blame for having broken our rule. It is with deep regret that we publish
the edition, which, undoubtedly, in part is open to the criticism of Mr. Shaw
that the reproductions do not do justice to the originals of Mr. Evans.
For our own sakes, who have striven to make the illustrations of Camera
Work as perfect as possible, having spared no expense or pains, we feel
disappointed that this number should leave our hands and we not satisfied
with it. It shall never happen again.
In contrast to the antiquity of the architectural subjects of Mr. Evans, we
reproduce the extreme of architectural modernity in " The Flat-iron,” by
Alfred Stieglitz. If such a subject were treated with any regard to detail it
would be pictorially meaningless, but treated as a mass in relation to its

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