A Developed Vision: Pioneering Scottish and French photography from the RSA collections

RSA Library Exhibition

Mondays 10 - 5 or by appointment (0131 225 3922)

This exhibition will feature the Royal Scottish Academy's collection of early photographic material from the pioneers of the medium. With varying techniques invented almost simultaneously in Britain and France in the mid 19th Century, a convergence of ideas, methods and experimentation occurred. Within Victorian Edinburgh, social gatherings of scientists and artists were instrumental in developing new processes and advancing the discipline, while ideas and techniques were exchanged throughout Europe. The exhibition will look at early photographic techniques, development and uses and photography's growth through social networks. Included will be works by Hill and Adamson, Dr Thomas Keith, John Stewart of Pau, John Dudgeon, Henri Le Secq, Bisson Frères and Charles Nègre.

Preceding the exhibition, in the RSA Member's Lobby, will be a showcase of the photographic album believed to have been compiled by James Drummond RSA, which recently featured in a ground-breaking international exhibition on British Calotypes. Having returned from its travels to New York, Washington and Paris, visitors to the RSA now have the chance to see the amazingly fresh images from this important record of early Scottish photographers' work.