Global Pre-Raphaelitism and the Morbid Composition of Photography

Abstract

Borwein examines the fascinating complexity of how changing, often-experimental, technologies and techniques affect gothic atmospheres in Pre-Raphaelite photography of the Victorian age and beyond—thus constituting a gothic subgenre. The analysis delineates the gothic distortions, binaries, and ethereal forms created in the long nineteenth century, variously through daguerreotype, calotype, potassium cyanide or salt, in collodion and albumen, to multiple negatives and photogravure, and photo-forgery processes that employ the Magic Lantern. After tracing the development of the gothicising processes involved in this branch of photography, Borwein explores the Global reaches of Pre-Raphaelitism in relation to set cultural conditions of aesthetic and ideology that transform compositions from harsh juxtapositions to romantic gothic atmospheres.