Snipe-Shooting from Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads (London, 1886)
Peter Henry Emerson
British, born Cuba. 1856–1936
T. F. Goodall
British
c. 1885
A platinum print by Peter Henry Emerson showing snipe‑shooting on the Norfolk Broads, made to present a truthful, naturalistic study of rural life and the subtle tonal effects of marsh light.
Your eye is caught by the bowler‑hatted hunter and his dog in the foreground and their crisp reflection in the shallow water, while two other shooters dissolve into the soft, silvery landscape of reeds and mist, creating a quiet, anticipatory mood.
Emerson’s work argued that photography could observe nature with artistic sensitivity, shaping late‑19th‑century debates about photography’s purpose and helping to establish naturalistic approaches that influenced both pictorial and documentary practices.
Medium
Platinum print
Dimensions
7 5/16 × 11 5/16" (18.5 × 28.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of William A. Grigsby
Accession
543.1967.10
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
