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FENTON COLLECTION AT HANS KRAUS W/1CUT

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NEW YORK CITY — “Roger Fenton: A Family Collection,” on view April 26–June 10 at Hans P. Kraus Jr Inc, features previously unknown photographs by one of the most accomplished British photographers of the Nineteenth Century.

Featured are selections from a collection of 100 Fenton photographs of Russia, 1852, the Crimean War (1855), British architecture and landscape, 1854–1859, family portraits, 1850s, and a still life, “Fruit and Flowers,” 1860.

The exhibition is scheduled to coincide with the traveling retrospective “All the Mighty World: The Photography of Roger Fenton, 1852–1860,” which opens at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in May.

Fenton (1819–1869) had an extraordinary career as a photographer for one brief decade, yet he became one of Britain’s most influential photographers. Although trained in law, he was an aspiring painter seduced by the new art of photography.

He was a founder of the organization that became the Royal Photographic Society. By 1858, the Journal of the Photographic Society asserted, “No one can touch Fenton in landscape: he seems to be to photography what Turner was to painting.”

The year Fenton turned to photography, 1852, he traveled to Russia and amid rugged conditions made some of the first photographs of that country. Framed with precariously angled columns, “Post House, Kief,” 1852, depicts the provocative architecture Fenton encountered on his journey.

Continuing to refine his photographic technique after his return to England, Fenton gravitated to the familiar and picturesque countryside where he made sophisticated landscapes. His salt print, “Pool below the Strid, Bolton Abbey,” 1954, illustrates gentlemen at one with the natural world. The rushing water of the River Wharf parallels the gracefully composed foliage that surrounds the contemplative fishermen in top hats.

Some of the most significant portraits Fenton made throughout the 1850s were of his family. From figures in the landscape to traditional seated portraits, these photographs are an intimate glimpse into Fenton’s personal life. “John Fenton, Father of the Artist,” depicts an elderly gentleman with a tender expression full of vitality and wisdom. An equally formal portrait of Fenton’s wife, “Grace Elizabeth Fenton,” reflects her strength as a wife and mother sustaining the family at home during Fenton’s travels.

In 1855, Fenton sailed to the Black Sea where he photographed the Crimean War, the first extensive photographic documentation of war. Among more than 350 glass negatives taken of officers from the allied British, French and Turkish armies, harbor views, barren landscapes and camp scenes, “A quiet day in the Mortar Battery” captures a moment of calm in the midst of a tumultuous conflict.

Towards the end of Fenton’s photographic career, he produced modern images, most notably “The Lily House, Botanic Garden, Oxford,” 1859. This richly toned albumen print, framed with precision and infused with spectacular sunlight, showcases a variety of exotic lily plants teeming in the refuge of a greenhouse.

The long-established tradition of the classic still life was also an alluring subject to Fenton’s progressive vision. His rare “Fruit and Flowers” is unique to the market. This exquisite print with plump grapes and flowers in full bloom, lush and meticulously composed, serves as a testament to Fenton’s abilities.

An accompanying catalog, Roger Fenton: A Family Collection, illustrates the entire collection. Research and text is by Larry J. Schaaf with an introduction by Roger Taylor. It is the 14th in Kraus’s Sun Pictures series that examines the lives and work of photography’s pioneers.

The gallery is at 25 East 77th Street and is open Monday–Friday, noon to 6 pm. For information, 212-794-2064.

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slug: Lawrence Brothers To Exhibit New Work At PMW Gallery

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STAMFORD, CONN. — Stamford-reared brothers Dylan James Lawrence and Wilson Harding Lawrence will be presenting recent drawings and paintings at an exhibition entitled “A Different Time and Place” at PMW Gallery, 530 Roxbury Road.

The Lawrences will attend the opening reception on Sunday, May 1, 1 to 4 pm; the exhibition will run through Sunday, June 19. Gallery hours are by appointment; telephone 203-322-5427.

Dylan and Wilson have lived in Stamford for most of their lives. Both attended the Mead School. Dylan graduated from Greens Farms Academy in Westport, and Wilson from the King & Low-Heywood Thomas School in Stamford. Dylan studied art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, from which he graduated in 2002. Wilson is a junior majoring in art at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.

Wilson had a very successful solo exhibition at the age of 13 of his “pure paint paintings” at PMW Gallery in 1997.

The recent works of the Lawrence Brothers include abstract paintings and representational works in paint, pencil, graphite and collage.