  About the Artwork
  
  
  Anna Atkins was one of the earliest photographers to experiment with cyanotypes, creating this work just a year or two after the process had been invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842. Combining her interests in botany, photography, and artistic expression, Atkins used the blue-print process to record intimate details of specimens from the seas surrounding the British Isles, which she privately published in her book Photographs of British Algae. Atkins gave her books to friends and family interested in botany.  


The Detroit Institute of Arts was one of the first major art museums to acquire Photographs of British Algae.
  
  
  Title
  Cystoseria granulata
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1843 or 1844
  
  Artist
  Anna Atkins
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1797-1871
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  English
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Cyanotype
  
  
  Dimensions
  Page: 10 3/8 × 8 1/8 inches (26.4 × 20.6 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Photographs
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; Photographs
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  F1983.12.8
  
  
  Copyright
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