TOM FELS

Palms 3-3-19 (1), 2019

Unique cyanotype

£1,500.00

Signed, titled and dated on verso
Image and print size: 61 x 45.7 cm
Edition of 1

Only 1 Available

Fels’ cyanotype series stem from his lengthy engagement with a single subject: a tree in his garden and it’s dappled shadows. Previously he had addressed these through pencil drawings and photographs. The discovery of the availability of large-scale cyanotype paper, a medium to which he had been alerted through his work with photographs of the 19th century, took the experience in a new direction.

The cyanotype is an early process of great simplicity and unique colour – a deep blue. Typically, the method has been employed to produce silhouettes – of leaves, for example, as in the botanical illustrations of the pioneer British photographer Anna Atkins (1799-1871) – but the same process was also used to make photographic prints from negatives, as well as architectural blueprints.

Fels’ cyanotypes are camera-less photographs, popularly called “sun prints” or “shadow prints.” There is no negative; each is unique. The prints are life-sized, 1:1 scale renderings of their natural subject matter obtained directly, outdoors, from bushes and trees. The result of a technical process dependent on light and chemistry alone, these prints can be regarded on one level as simply un-manipulated records of the organic world. On another they are richly suggestive, capturing a deeply evocative sense of motion and form. This photograph is sold as print only. Other works are available by this artist, to see a wider selection please contact us.

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