Cyanotypes were invented in 1842 by astronomer John Herschel as a way to copy his notes. The cyanotypes here are attributed to Anna Atkins, who was trained as a botanist and used this method of photography to record plant specimens—producing the first illustrated books using cyanotypes. Atkins is sometimes considered to be the first female photographer!

Cyanotype paper is still available today—only requiring water to develop and fix an image on the page. Many contemporary artists including Christine Nguyen, Jessica Ferguson, and John Metoyer use cyanotypes in their work. 

The New Cars, 1964, Lee Friedlander

Russian ballerina Tamara Karsavina, Paris, 1911

Tattoo

William M. Vander Weyde, photographer (American 1871-1929)

courtesy of George Eastman House

There’s some kind of magic inside all books. But certain books have more magic than others…

Pau-Bertolini

Folding chantilly lace parasol with carved ivory handle, 1870’s

(via whattheywore)

This impressive Twelfth Cake, is ornamented with gum paste devices printed from original eighteenth century moulds.The icing is coloured with cochineal in the manner of the day. The two crowns, standard decorations used on cakes of this kind, were constructed from ten individual shapes pressed from the mould below, a rare survivor from the late eighteenth century. The other ornaments were all printed from two carved wooden moulds or confectioner’s boards.Designs for these cakes varied considerably, but that above made with the tools of the Georgian confectioners trade gives a pretty fair impression of these remarkable precursors of the Victorian Christmas Cake, which seems to have usurped the role of the Twelfth Cake in the 1860s.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Alberto Giacometti, 1961

Frances Farmer, C.1930’s

ZIMMERMANN SPRING 2016 | MARIA BORGES

Charles Harper Illustrations for Betty Crocker’s ‘Dinner for Two’

Julie Newmar

Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud