Chasing that Quotation
Originally Posted: August 2013
Lady Elizabeth Eastlake
by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson
I’ve mentioned Lady Elizabeth Eastlake before [ HERE … ] – the author of one of my favourite quotations ‘Photography, thy name is disappointment’. And I must admit that, looking at this photo of her, it’s tempting to assume that her entire life was a disappointment. Certainly I’ve been quite disappointed trying to find out something about her quickly and easily – or do I just mean lazily? If you Google her, several ‘helpful’ suggestions pop up as soon as you get to ‘Lady’. Firstly, Google suggests Lady Gaga – then Lady Jane Grey, Lady Antebellum and finally, more prosaically, ladybird. And then, when you do get further, you find out a lot more about her husband than you do about her! Fortunately the online Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (the DNB) came up trumps – written, coincidentally, by one of Ian’s former colleagues
The reason that I’d heard about Lady E is that she wrote an essay on Photography in the London Quarterly Review in 1857, some 18 years after the news of photography became public. And this essay is much quoted in many/most/all books on the history of photography. (The wonders of the internet now make the essay freely, easily available – maybe that explains why it’s much quoted in many/most/all books on the history of photography).
Anyway.
According to the DNB she was the first woman to write regularly for the LQR, mostly about art and travel but also covering such eclectic topics as the dangers of drink, the reform of the British Museum (not sure whether those topics were related) women’s education and photography. And obviously it’s her views on photography that interest me most – certainly more than her views on alcohol!
I downloaded her essay some months ago and then regressed 40 years, to being a 20-year old student and adopting one particular student habit. The age-old optimism that getting a book out of the library, putting it in your bag and taking it home for the vacation would somehow enable it to transfer into my brain by osmosis – and with no other effort needed on my part. And hey, 40 years later, I’m still doing it – and because it’s now the 21st century, I can do it even more quickly and easily. I’d downloaded it – printed it – filed it. And then ignored it! But actually, getting it out the other day and engaging with it properly turned out to be quite a treat, allowing me to gain a little more context surrounding her famous quotation.
She describes the vagaries and frustrations of those early days of photography so eloquently – filling me with admiration for the persistence and doggedness of those Victorians, writing:
“Every sanguine little couple who set up a glass-house at the commencement of summer, call their friends about them, and toil alternately in broiling light and stifling gloom, have said before long, in their hearts, “Photography, thy name is disappointment!”
You go out on a beautifully clear day, not a breath stirring, chemicals in order, and lights and shadows in perfection; but something in the air is absent, or present, or indolent, or restless, and you return in the evening only to develop a set of blanks. The next day is cloudy and breezy, your chemicals are neglected, yourself disheartened, hope is gone, and with it the needful care; but here again something in the air is favourable, and in the silence and darkness of your chamber pictures are summoned from the vasty deep which at once obliterate all thought of failure.”
Pausing only to pay tribute to Ian, that he recognised the reference to Shakespeare, Henry IV and the ‘vasty deep’ in this abstract, what a beautifully measured way to describe those frustrating days, when nothing in photography seems to work.
Now I'll just tell you that "something in the air was … indolent, or restless" but then reassure you that tomorrow will be different, when "something in the air is favourable."
Take care
Paddy xx