Robinia pseudo-acacia (America), Anna Atkins

Exhibition Label: "Art for Kansas: Building the Collection, 1988-1998 (Recent Acquisitions)," Nov-1998, John Pultz and Susan Earle This photograph by Anna Atkins is an important addition to the Museum's holdings of works by ninetenth-century European photographers and by women. One of the medium's first female practitioners (in 1851 photography was barely tenyears old), Atkins learned the skills of photography from William Henry Fox Talbot and Sir John Herschel, two of its inventors and friends of her father, a curator at the newly founded British Museum. This photograph is a photogram. To make it, Atkins placed a sample of algae on cyanotype paper, a light-sensitive blue paper commonly used for blueprints, and exposed it to sunlight to record an impression of the object. She distributed this work between 1851 and 1854 as part of her British Algae Cyanotype Impressions, the first book illustrated with photographs. Archive Label 2003: Anna Atkins made an early significant contribution to photography with the publication of the first book illustrated with photographs, British Algae Cyanotype Impressions. She learned photography from William Henry Fox Talbot and Sir John Herschel, two of its inventors and friends of her father, a curator at the newly founded British Museum. This photograph is a photogram that was included in her book. To make it, Atkins placed a sample of algae on cyanotype paper (light-sensitive blue paper commonly used for blueprints) and exposed it to sunlight to record an impression of the algae. The resulting image is simple and at the same time is biologically accurate. Exhibition Label: "Summer in the Central Court," Jun-2006, Kate Meyer Blooming flowers, overhanging leaves, and fresh garden produce all suggest the beautiful abundance of summer. In her Sunflower quilt, Christina Hays Malcom transformed the complex head of a sunflower-a profusion of seeds and petals-into a familiar pattern of pieced cotton circles and a radiating burst of yellow color. A Currier and Ives lithograph showcases the typical yield of a summer garden, while the symmetry of a specific leaf from a locust tree might be preserved in the form of a cyanotype. Rose Kretsinger’s Paradise Garden quilt forms a gigantic bouquet from brightly colored floral designs. Linda Samson Talleur and Denise Low examine not only the recognizable pattern of Flower Garden quilts but also the communal process of their construction as quilters use small hexagonal pieces to create a “flower.” In these natural forms, artists capture seasonal beauty through timeless patterns.